REVIEW: PELICAN

The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (Reissue) #FamilyAffair spotlights familial relationships within bands, and there may not be a more important fraternal bond in post-metal than the Herweg brothers of Chicago’s Pelican. Along with guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec, the Herweg boys—Bryan on bass and Larry on drums—continue to […]

The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (Reissue)

#FamilyAffair spotlights familial relationships within bands, and there may not be a more important fraternal bond in post-metal than the Herweg brothers of Chicago’s Pelican. Along with guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec, the Herweg boys—Bryan on bass and Larry on drums—continue to expand instrumental metal’s boundaries since their first recording way back in 2001.

Their second album, 2005’s The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw on then-Boston indie metal leader Hydra Head Records, added acoustic guitar for the first time, thus creating a different layer of melodicism that would lead to one of Pelican’s career-defining moments. The record topped many year-end lists, and Decibel named it their #1 album of 2005.

On July 21, Pelican’s remixed and remastered The Fire in Our Throats will be released on Chicago’s Thrill Jockey Records with bonus tracks: demos of “Autumn Into Summer,” “Last Day of Winter,” and “Sirius,” as well as the rarity “Ran Amber” (an early acoustic version of “Red Ran Amber”), previously only available on the 2005 vinyl-only split with Mono on Temporary Residence & Hydra Head.

Remixed by Greg Norman (who helped Steve Albini build his Electrical Audio Studios) and remastered by Josh Bonati (vinyl cutter and mastering guru from Brooklyn), the album’s sound  is now clearer, more expansive, and easier to discern the individual contributions of each musician. Click below to watch the video for the track “Ran Amber” from Pelican’s reissue of The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw!

by Chris Ayers

 Originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook