Forever Becoming

While it's possible for an instrumental band to coast along by making their albums frenzied celebrations of the fine art of the guitar riff, the slower, more thoughtful tempo of Pelican's glacial metal instrumentals has required them to be a cut above the rest. On Forever Becoming, the fifth album from the band, as well as the first not to feature founding guitarist Laurent Lebec (who was replaced by touring guitarist Dallas Thomas after an amicable split with the band), the quartet create a series of musical journeys for listener's to embark upon, creating songs that, while slow, have a feeling of movement about them. This helps to give Pelican's sprawling epics a sense of momentum that allows the songs to feel inviting rather than impenetrable. Where they have really refined their craft, however, is in their pacing. Where their earlier work often found them creating these impossibly heavy gravity wells that seemed to pull the listener in deeper and deeper with their relentless repetition, Forever Becoming has more finesse to it. No passage ever seems to overstay its welcome as the songs move briskly from section to section, often evolving into something vastly different along the way. A change in membership, especially a member as essential to the band's sound as Lebec, can often create a sense of uncertainty that seems to bleed into the songs. For Pelican, though, it seems the change in membership has reinvigorated them, providing their songs with a sense of stability that shines through on an album that easily ranks as some of the band's most exciting work in recent years. ~ Gregory Heaney