AMG Review of March into the Sea

Greg Prato
All Music Guide

There was a time when an "all instrumental rock" album' meant a long-haired, spandex-toting chap shredding away on an expensive signature-series guitar. But as evidenced by the emergence of such acts as Pelican, the all-instrumental genre is wide open once more. Descriptions wouldn't do justice to what lies within Pelican's second EP overall, March Into the Sea, but if forced to -- how does a merger of Red-era King Crimson and Ritual de lo Habitual-era Jane's Addiction sound? While priced and advertised as an EP, the two songs here stretch over a half-an-hour -- longer than your average Weezer album. While a remix of "Angel Tears" (originally a track on their 2003 full-length debut, Australasia) by ex-Godflesh leader Justin K. Broadrick is worth inspecting, it's the title track that is the star attraction here -- twisting and turning for over 20-minutes. There is still much ground to be broken as far as instrumental rock music goes, and Pelican are just the guys to do it.