What We All Come to Need, the latest album from Chicago instrumental rock quartet PELICAN, continues the trend begun on its last couple of records. As it’s grown and evolved, the band has moved away from dissonance and tricky-for-tricky’s sake arrangements and more towards melody and groove. Tunes like “Strung Out From the Sky,” “Ephemeral” and the title track are almost catchy, like dreamy psychedelic metal songs stripped of any distracting vocals. Except on “Final Breath,” in which the group recruits singer ALLEN EPLEY of the LIFE & TIMES to add lyrics inspired by poet ROBERT BURNS – but never fear, Epley’s ethereal croon fits in perfectly and the song is one of Pelican’s (dare it be said) prettiest. Old school Pelican fans might miss the unrelenting heaviness and clashing riffs of the early years, but to my eardrums the band’s embrace of melody has made it all the more enticing and attractive.
