Search - Pelican: After the Ceiling Cracked on DVD

A nice glimpse into Pelican live.

Nicholas Kiersted | 01/25/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Pelican's After the Ceiling Crack documents the concert at Kings Cross Scala in London on December 20th, 2005 as well as miscellaneous other live appearances. Being a moderate fan of Pelican and having never been to one of their concerts I immediately ordered the DVD as soon as it was up for pre-sale. When it arrived a few weeks later I watched through the entire London set as well some of the additional live footage. Most of the extra live footage is at least decent in quality, but the concert at Kings Cross Scala is definitely the center of attention on this disc, and for good reason. Pelican play through 7 songs at this epic concert, and each one weighs in at about 8 minutes at least. While there is nothing theatrically incredible about Pelican's live show it is good to see that a band can still play an amazing show simply based off of their showcase of their music. The sound is absolutely incredible as it was mixed by Justin Broadrick, the mastermind behind such bands as Jesu and Godflesh. The DVD also comes with a 3" CD featuring two takes of the song Pink Mammoth (one with These Arms Are Snakes), a major key remake of the song Mammoth from Pelican's untitled EP, and a Prefuse 73 remix of End of Seasons. Pink Mammoth is an incredible track, but it seems as if the version with These Arms Are Snakes was simply the plain Pink Mammoth track with These Arms Are Snakes recording parts over it. Either way both tracks are excellent. The Prefuse 73 remix is also another great piece of audio containing orchestral instruments and odd sounds. When all is said and done Pelican's After the Ceiling Cracked is one of the best live DVDs to be put out by a heavy metal band to date."

As close as you can get to actually seeing them live

Jared R. Myers | chicago | 02/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I didnt know this dvd existed until last week when i went searching for any new pelican news and i stumbled on this. I ordered it immediately. I consider myself a fairly big pelican fan, while i cant name the members or sometimes the song that is playing. ive seen them once and own all their albums and another live dvd of theirs from chicago (which lacks in quality but is worth seeing) this dvd is definately my favorite of all their material. This dvd is quality, everything from the video to case artwork. The live show in london is flawless and the bonus features are great as well, they arent so much bonus as they are a second feature from the band, while most dvds give you just an image gallery (which this one contains) they also put in live material from 2003-2006 containing songs from all 3 albums and their self titled ep, as well as a 3 track cd of pink mammoth, a version of mammoth off their self titled ep only done in major key and not minor. This dvd is excellent and any fan of pelican should not be without it."