Pendulum ‘In Silico’ Review
In Silico, by Australian drum-and-bass group Pendulum, is a strong example of diversity and how it can sometimes be more harmful rather the helpful. Touted as a collision between the smashing riffs of hard rock and the pounding beats of drum and bass, it’s unfortunate to say that this album will more than likely please neither crowd, with a sound too soft and melodic to satisfy the hard rock crowd, and not enough bass, a tempo too slow and a generic, commercial sound which will more than likely disappoint the drum and bass fans. I’m a real big fan of Pendulum, they are one my favourite bands, but I just cannot seem to connect and enjoy this album on the same level as Hold your Colour, Pendulum’s previous album which was released in 2006.
It really kills me to have to cut into this album as much as I will in this review, after the excellent live performance they put on in their hometown of Perth in mid-April. Even then, however, there was something that was very evident - their old material was a lot more enjoyable than their new material. You could even tell from the crowd at the event that everyone felt the same way, with people not moving about as much when the new material played. I really loved the live show and I would rate it as one of the best things I have done this year, but that is not going to weigh on my opinion of the songs in this album, in fact, it’s up against tough odds because of the high-reaching bar that has been set by Hold your Colour, and for the most part, I feel this album has failed to reach that bar. In fact, apart from Propane Nightmares, Granite and 9,000 Miles, this album is largely forgettable. The two singles from this album perform a hell of a lot better than the rest of the songs on this album.
The main problem Pendulum faced with this album was that they have built up a huge fan-base, which is the objective of 90% of the bands out there (the other 10% build a huge company-base and sell out, hard). However, they built that fan-base up from their drum and bass talents. The sound in In Silico is a departure from the hard drum and bass they have used almost entirely in their discography. The consequence of this would be that they may betray that fan-base that has been spoon-fed the Pendulum sound for nearly 5 years. The new Pendulum sound is no longer drum and bass, it is now electronic rock. This sort of sound has been creeping up ever since Blood Sugar, one of Pendulum’s earlier singles was released, which featured a distinct rock sound to it, even though it had a fast tempo and Pendulum’s main synth featured in it. Now it’s hear, and I just wish it weren’t. Another thing worthy of note is the title of the album, In Silico, and the meaning behind it. In Silico is an expression used to represent a performance on computer or computer simulation. The irony being Pendulum wanted to move away from their obvious comfort zone of using computer equipment to create their drum and bass and bring in more conventional music provided by real instruments. Who picked such an ironic name for the album? Who knows, but it does give some hint to this album’s lack of coherence.
The album opens up with Showdown, which starts off with an intro typical of most rock songs. A slamming of cymbals, crashes, snares and bass kicks open the song before the “drum and bass” begins. Rob Swire also sings in a distinct punk way before the song goes into full gear, even bringing on some screaming with it. When the “drum and bass” begins, however, the sound becomes very generic, lacking the bass distortion and shifting that they used to use. I dare say they used an actual bass guitar to do the basslines in this song. Different is the next song up, and it hardly sounds like a different sort of sound from other electronic music. They use a standard drum beat and the synth didn’t make me want to get up and dance like it should. It even uses some trance sounds there, so it’s more a downer than an upper.
Propane Nightmares is a glaring difference from the rest of the album as it seems to be a return to form. The rock sound is still in there, but it is very subtle and the drum and bass is powerful and catchy, as are the vocals. Hoping for the awesomeness to continue, Visions promptly throwed a heap of shit at me. The synth is teeth-grinding and sounds more like a sound from The Chemical Brothers, who I’m sure could pull it off better, and the song is way too slow for the sound they tried to portray. Midnight Runner actually starts off sounding quite good, with a trancey sound which matches the intros of Hold your Colour’s Fasten your Seatbelts and Girl in the Fire, but when the “drum and bass” begins, once again they use a generic drum beat and fail to make a catchy sound. Towards the end of the song, they use some pitch shifting and sliding in an attempt to make the song sound different, but it fails badly.
The Other Side brings in some more distorted and vocoder-driven vocals, and the chorus is somewhat catchy, but I could just not connect to the tune. Mutiny also has the same vocal style, but the vocals are a little kiss to The Terminal from their previous album, using the same lyrics as a drum and bass song I would’ve thought would’ve made the song a little better, but alas, I was wrong. A saving grace comes along in the form of 9,000 Miles, a song which had the charm of a different sound with a trance touch just like Girl in the Fire from the previous album. There’s minimal lyrics and the sound is rather soothing and catchy, a trait that is shared with the aforementioned Hold your Colour song. It also leads up into the awesome Granite, the first single from this album. It is once again a return to form, the skull-fucking drum and bass that we grew to love. It has a lot of vocals in it, but they do seem to meld into the song well. The final track of the album is The Tempest, which uses the riffs that Pendulum play during most of their live shows, mostly before they play Slam. However, unlike Slam, the song does not get your adrenaline flowing. It’s more of a rotten aftertaste that you get after eating something delicious. The previous 2 songs set up the great flavour, and now The Tempest has reverted that good flavour to a shit aroma.
It is hard to recommend In Silico to anyone other than people who have yet to listen to any of Pendulum’s previous work. You will enjoy this album a lot more if you do not realise that Pendulum were meant to be a drum and bass artist.
Related Posts
- 5th May, 2008: MacBook Pro Impressions with 0 comment(s)
- 2nd July, 2008: Scooter - piss off! with 0 comment(s)
- 24th July, 2007: Movie Reviews with 0 comment(s)
- 25th March, 2008: PHP Development with Linux with 2 comment(s)
rss