Since the beginning of the century Pelican has shone in the making of dark, fascinating and slow sounds that float somewhere between doom-metal and post-rock. It's no accident that the foursome, originally from Chicago, have already found a roof over their heads at Hydra Head Records (for their first EP 'Australasia' (2003)), the label of Isis-brain Aaron Turner, where they reside in the good company of bands like Jesu, Knut and Khanate. After years of intensive touring and a further refining of their vocabularium with the masterful 'The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw' (2005), they surprised us last year with the album 'City of Echoes'. They left their beaten path, instead of continuing in the same vein with their heavy riff-carried music. Pelican sounds lighter in 2008 but still pays a tribute to their heroes; Neurosis and Black Sabbath. The songs are more melodious, rhythmic and more dynamic, and 70's and 80's heavy metal influences peek around the corner, yet still without renouncing the typical Pelican sound. Live they remain a sledgehammer to your ears.

Label-mates Torche are also adept in sharing out the heavy blows. Have you had enough of the ever repeating Queens of the Stone Age and the unfortunately rundown Monster Magnet? Then Torche is the alternative. This foursome from Miami arose from the ashes of stoner/sludge cultbands Floor and Cavity and they know the secret of sounding not only lead-heavy but also super-catchy. Heavy Melvins and Earth riffs are shamelessly embellished with sweet pop-harmonies in true Beach Boys style. This apparently impossible but infectious synthesis is committed in what could be called the corridors of Doom Pop, a sort of doom/stoner metal that bends those typically heavy and darker sounds into quite a cheerful genre. All this amongst the dingy undergound sounds of the late 80's, that we know so well from Soundgarden's 'Louder than Love' and Melvins' 'Stoner Witch'. Just listen to the EP 'In Return' and their first full CD 'Meanderthal', a record full of primal doom with catchy kinks.

TIMING:

8pm: Torche

9pm: Pelican