Something hits different when a band fully reawakens. Not just emerges after a period of silence with a new album and an obligatory single round of tour dates to support it before pissing right off back into oblivion, but fully commits to their renewed sense of creative purpose by nourishing that energy. Ascending is proof in that kind of resurrection.

Closely following Pelican’s 2025 return effort — and one of last year’s best albums — Flickering Resonance, the Chicago post-metal institutions are back in full force with nothing but momentum beside them in continuing to push their sound barrier forward to no regard but their own instincts. A compact extended play comprised of four melodically barreling, transcendent tracks — two of which were originally released exclusively as a limited 2024 cassette — the listen doesn’t feel so much like a mere companion piece to its predecessor, but rather a continuation of feeding the spark that birthed Flickering Resonance, now fully engulfing the atmosphere.

Among the highlights is Geoff Rickly of post-hardcore greats Thursday laying down scorched earth vocals and violent spoken word over the Flickering Resonance track, “Cascading Crescent”. Originally, we saw this collaboration debuted live on the first night of their summer tour, but here, that energy has been singed into hi-def permanently over its fiery riptide. Given that Pelican’s catalog is almost entirely devoid of the human voice, the added layer of one here breaks down the walls in exploring more pronounced dimensions to their music by further collaborating with kindred souls.

Surrounded by the cloud-crushing deluge of its title track, the continuum of seismic-shifting waves within “Adrift”, and the heaviest of slow burns skyward on “Tending the Embers”, the EP sends a message to a music world that has never really known what exactly to make of a somewhat genre-agnostic instrumental metal band like Pelican in their 25 years of existence — acknowledged by their own “POST-EMO STONER DEATHGAZE” and “DEATH TO FALSE DOOM” tee merch — that blurring those lines is what continues to make them thrive in creating new matter.

Highlights: “Ascending”, “Cascading Crescent” (ft. Geoff Rickly), “Adrift”

Pelican’s Ascending is available now on Run for Cover Records.

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