Pelican: City Of Echoes

"Art metal" is a hard term to swallow, but it sadly tags a genre birthed by Neurosis, furthered by Isis, and copied by who knows how many indie-gone-headbanger charlatans. Pelican strutted into this game early enough to make a credible impact with exactly what the style needed: no vocals. Fans will quickly notice that City Of Echoes is Pelican's "pop" album, 80 percent succinct and sporadically bordering on modern hard rock without any epic waits for heaviness or acousti-filler mood pieces. And unlike The Fucking Champs, which operate in an equally narrow sonic spectrum, Pelican has now skillfully avoided a facsimile of its last album.