Rating: * * * *
It's not easy to be one of the best instrumental bands on the planet ... because, though there aren't many around, the ones that are - such as Tortoise, Mogwai, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor - are mighty fine. Though noisy Chicago quartet Pelican have been together since the early 2000s, this fourth album proves once and for all they are among the best.
It starts out mellow and reasonably composed, akin to the rich textural noise-scapes of Napier's Jakob, only more metal with a frayed fuzziness to it. And it's business as usual, then. But on The Creeper things start to escalate with many morphs and twists of glowering grooves, thudding beats, and a taut tranquillity. While they have always had grunt, What We All Come To Need has a refined ferocity that's different from Pelican's loud-soft wall of noise onslaught of old.
It gets even heavier on Ephemeral, with a nasty rogue riff that's just as beastly as the one they came up with on Drought from 2003 debut Australasia; the opening panicked frenzy of Specks of Light gives way to exquisite glacial soundscapes; and Strung Up By The Sky is a whimsical trip bringing together gentle guitar ambience, piercing melodics and, best of all, epic raging riffs.
While the album is spoilt a little by a vocal track at the end - what were they thinking? - Pelican succeed in creating something beautifully brutal. So turn it up.
