After the massive critical success of 2005's sophomore effort The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, Instrumental-Hard Rock/Metal band Pelican finally return with their heavily anticipated follow-up City of Echoes.

Echoes finds the band picking up right where they left off riffing with devil horns a blazing. The first couple of tracks however, "Bliss in Concrete" and the self-titled track, are unfortunately two of the weakest tunes Pelican have concocted in their career. Terribly disjointed and all over the place, they never seem to find that delicate balance between the heavy and the melodic.

After that though, City of Echoes starts to get damn good. The mellow jamming on "Spaceship Broken – Need Parts" is wonderful and the mellow acoustics that flourish on "Winds With Hands" show that once again just when you think that Pelican can be pigeon-holed they throw a wicked change-up right over the plate. Overall, City of Echoes is probably the weakest release so far for these Metal masters, but it's still an affable record that will surely keep fans sated until what will surely be another release a couple years down the road.