Isis and Pelican

by Jack Diablo
Look up any progressive or post-metal band and they will undoubtedly be compared to two groups, Isis and Pelican. Each considered to be pioneers of avant-garde metal, both appeared at Jack Rabbits on May 27th in front of a full crowd.
The genre of metal no doubt conjures specific stereotypes if you are not intimately familiar with the genre. I know it used to for me. I have only just begun my foray into the scene and have discovered it to be infinitely more diverse than I ever thought. After years of observing from the outside and scoffing at a style and culture I completely misunderstood, my opinion changed a few months ago when I watched Mehkago N.T. blow the roof off of Shantytown when they played in February. The intensity of the show was something I hadn’t experienced in years, if ever for that matter and at that point it became a matter of respect. Later I had the opportunity to attend Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta and it was there that I saw first-hand just how general the term metal is. There were just as many different styles on display as there were different walks of people in attendance. From the sludgy, stoner-metal of bands like Boris to the high-adrenaline thrash of Warbringer, I found music I really liked and learned to appreciate some of the stuff I had never given a chance.
But it wasn’t until the other day, watching Isis, Pelican and Tombs do their thing, that I decided to pay a lot more attention to what goes on in the local and national metal scene.
The first band, Tombs, was one of the most impressive opening acts I’ve seen. They bridge the gap between some of the darkest metal and the most shoegaze with an impressive delicacy you don’t see too often. If you catch a Tombs song in the middle, you might be fooled into thinking you can pigeonhole it into one of metal’s sub-genre’s. But wait a minute and they will throw you for a loop, gracefully segueing into something harder/softer/slower/faster.
Pelican are pretty good at defying classification as well. When they came on stage they sure didn’t look very metal. They all had short to medium-length hair, were average in stature, and altogether pretty unassuming. But they can shred like no other. Being an instrumental band with a distinctly metal sound, they tend to get lumped into the catch-all instrumental prefix of “post” (as in post-metal) as if eliminating vocals served as a means in and of itself to reexamine a style of music. But the title actually does fit considering Pelican create music that is more melodic than most metal music and with a heavy focus on structure and repetition. The result is a cerebral sound that elicits more head nodding than banging. In their own words, they “blend aggression with a pop sensibility.”
Pelican played their entire set with very few words in between which can be a great thing when the music is able to speak for itself but at times I found my mind wandering and actually had to force myself to pay attention. Which isn’t to say the set was boring in any way, quite the contrary. In fact, it seems that without vocals to focus your attention on, their music has the ability open doors in the mind that demand exploration.
But in the end, it was Isis who really blew my mind. They take the somewhat psychedelic, avant-garde way of playing hard progressive music to the next level of intensity and ferocity. They could accurately be described as a grimier, angrier Tool. Aaron Harris plays drums with the same level of technicality and precision as Tool’s Danny Carey and when vocalist Aaron Turner isn’t mightily roaring into the microphone his voice is comparable to Maynard James Keenan’s. But the influence of Tool, whom the band toured with in 2006, is only that – an influence. Isis’ sound is unique and leans more to the metal side of the spectrum than plain old hard rock. Watching them on Jack Rabbits humble stage was was a spectacle of simplicity. While great for its intimacy, this band is probably best experienced with complex visual accompaniment of lights, smoke and video in a festival or arena setting. Their songs are known for their length but it never feels like they drag and rather you find yourself listening and watching in anticipation of where they will take you next. There was more head-banging going on than during Pelican’s set but it was still sludgier than most metal with a half-time feel during most of it.
So don’t be like me and write off this incredibly diverse and intriguing dark corner of the music world. You might be surprised to find something you really enjoy or at least appreciate if you give it the chance to impress you as it has for me.