Track Listing

1. NightEndDay
2. Drought
3. Angel Tears
4. gw
5. Australasia
6. Hidden Bonus Track

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58277 in Music
• Released on: 2004-08-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .11 pounds

Customer Reviews

Shear Unadulterated Quality
The much eagerly anticipated debut full length album by this instrumental four piece from Chicago finally arrives and it’s certainly well worth the wait!

Following on from their truly excellent (bordering on classic) Untitled EP reissued earlier this year also on Hydrahead, Australasia contains only six tracks but clocking in at a tad over 50 minutes it is a quite stunning piece of work. The production is again absolutely faultless, the guitars and bass sound Massive and the drums are as heavy as you could possibly want or even conceive. The overall affect is a truly magnificent sound, of which you probably couldn’t better in my opinion.

The opening track NightEndDay is a whopping 11 minutes long and as soon as you hear the reverb and bass line you know that Pelican are going to take you somewhere special. Pelican themselves say the album has a start middle and end; I like to call it a journey. The band’s sound is all about total immersion and huge great epic sweeping landscapes of sound (soundscapes?!) that sometimes leave you wondering what the hell you have just experienced but knowing full well you just have to listen to it again, and again and again…….

The album appears to be almost in two halves, NightEndDay sets it up nicely before the pummelling, thunderous and downright scary riffs of Drought leave you gasping as the incessant power of the band shine through in a track that I thought was similar in style and tone to Mammoth on the Untitled EP. The third track Angel Tears is a more “traditional” doom song, long chord sustain and slow rhythmic drumming prevail here until six and half minutes in and the tempo changes to a chug-a-thon with double kick bass drums going into overdrive.

The second half of the album sees a change in style and mood as the fierce riffs are replaced with more melodic but equally powerful and groove driven songs. Fourth track GW is definitely this album’s Pulse with its climbing and soaring structure leaving you wanting more, as at less than 4 minutes, this is by far the shortest song on the album. What follows next is the laid back acoustic number Untitled with some nice delay, echo and what sounds like a Theramin put to good use; (even the infamous violin bow and SG combo gets an outing here!). A departure from the rest of the album for sure but it sets up the scene for the climax of the album; the title track itself. The down tuned electric guitar riffage is back in a big way again and for ten minutes you can only sit back and be pulled along as the journey draws to an end. Cascading riffs and chords interspersed with trademark palm muting and acoustic breakdowns; (even the infamous violin bow and SG combo gets an outing here!), leave you feeling triumphant and optimistic as Pelican majestically deliver you to that “other place”.

If Kyuss are the perfect Summer band then Pelican are the perfect Winter/Spring band. Bleak and melancholy at times but as you go with them the experience changes and evolves emerging as something truly beautiful. I cannot rate this album and band highly enough so do your ears a favour and join me in worship at the altar of Pelican by getting Australasia and the Untitled EP from trusty old Amazon because these lot are gonna be big and deservedly so. Long live the mighty Pelican!!!

P.S. Any chance of a UK tour soon?!

Pelican's Most Complete Album
Pelican's career is an interesting one for me. Being both a fan of post-rock and sludge/stoner metal (call it what you will), they often hit the spot perfectly. Their debut EP quenched my unabashed desires for monumental heaviness, sounding reminiscent of the most thunderous Isis or Neurosis climax, and the two latest releases ("The Fire In Our Throat..." and "City Of Echoes") are more geared towards the post-rock fan in me. Ultimately, I like these albums for different reasons. "Australasia", on the other hand, manages to combine these aforementioned qualities rather splendidly. It can whisk me up into ethereal places with its progressive post-rock styling, but equally, it can take my face off with outrageously powerful grooves.

Opener "Nightendday" is a perfect example of this. The song showcases airy, gentle, almost ambient moments - then there are typically Pelican melodic chord progressions - and then it is all shattered down with huge monolithic doom riffs. Perfect. And the rest of the album tends to follow suit. There is the utter groove-based sludge metal throughout "Drought" (quite possibly Pelican's most brutal and endearing piece to date) contrasting to the beautiful melodic strumming of "Angel Tears" and the serene acoustic untitled piece. The band really balances the album, giving just enough moments of splendid tranquillity to combat the monolithic heaviness. It is for this reason that I feel "Australasia" is Pelican's finest album to date. It manages to combine all the other standout elements of other releases, making it their most interesting and varied release. Fans of bands such as Isis, Neurosis, Mogwai, Red Sparrowes, Old Man Gloom etc will enjoy this.

Majestically Awesome. Huge.
This is a behemoth. I'm sure that word has been used to describe it before, but nothing can do justice to how enormous and crushing this music is. There's not a moment of causticity, simply jaw-dropping low end masterwork. Riffs are repeated and then expanded upon, combined, and used to create a hair-raising crescendo that will leave you shivering. The structuring on the longer (and better) songs is distinctly classical in nature. These guys can write a tune. The lack of vocals is the perfect choice - this is PERFECT as it is. For fans of... Isis, "Pretty Soon..." by Norma Jean, Neurosis, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, most other Hydrahead releases and minimalist composers in the vain of Steve Reich, Philip Glass et al. A work of art.