Pendulum ‘In Silico’ Review
May 2008
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.
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July 24th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I think I’d enjoy this album more of everyone else realised that they don’t have to stick to drum and bass, actually.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:04 am
So you’re basically saying that unless someone sets out to aim at and please a specific crowed, they’re failing? That’s what record company’s set out to do to boy bands, not bands that want admiration for being the origionators of making music history. Repetition makes the music world go round to a degree, but it doesn’t push it forward. You’ve tried very hard to go into as much detail as possible to cross-over analyse all the songs and the meanings from album to album, but you’ve totally missed the point?
It’s about the direction of the artist and what they want to do. In Silico has been one of the most important releases of the past decade as it has begun the cross genre and collaboration of two previously contrasting genres.
They wanted to be a band, a live band, note; one of the first bands to produce popular electronic drum and bass / rock live and successfully. I’ve been to see them dozens of times and instead of being one of those pretentious morons that say Pendulum have sold out, I actually embrace the fact that they do 14+ shows and that there are pre-rave teens enjoying this music that’s evolved from a previously underground genre into mainstream conciousness.
They are who they are, drum and bass fans will always have their drum and bass, and rock fans will always have their rock, but nothing will progress unless something comes along that breaks out of this horrific band cycle of ticking boxes to please certain crowds and flat out copying. So at least give respect to a band like Pendulum, whether you think they’ve let you down or not because personally, even though I absolutely love Hold Your Colour, If I wanted to hear a repeated of that album I’d simply listen to it again. Get out of your comfort zone and listen to In Silico for what it really is, an epic depiction of modern production, written extremely soulfully.
8/10
March 25th, 2009 at 2:05 am
As for your review: 4/10
March 25th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Thanks for your input, Rob – at least it didn’t degenerate into “u noob pendulum 4 lyfe lol!!!1″ like half the people who submitted comments put in their posts (that will never see the light of day cos I only post constructive criticism).
My main gripe was not that I believe Pendulum should not have strayed from the genre, it’s that I believe they did a piss-poor job at it. As I had stated in the first paragraph, the sound they went for, I believe, would not be to the taste of either genre’s fanbase. They were also quite repetitive throughout the album.
I have heard excellent genre-fusing music before, Hybrid’s ‘I Choose Noise’ album being an example off the top of my head, they fused progressive house with orchestral backings that sound fantastic – each song presenting a different mood and rhythm. Pendulum, however, didn’t variate enough with each song, using the same drum loop, same instruments in nearly every song and, to me, they all sounded the same (the one’s that strayed from the same sound were 9,000 Miles and, to a lesser extent, The Tempest). They did it in Hold your Colour, but didn’t do it here.
I can understand that Pendulum wanted to break new ground, and I do believe the music industry needs a shake-up in terms of originality, but I also believe Pendulum still could’ve brought new sound to the drum-and-bass arena. There’s plenty of artists presenting new material which sound fresh such as Sub-Focus or Evol Intent. But, this review was only my opinion after listening to the album back-and-forth countless times. And I do believe sales of the album have been quite high so there’s quite a few people who don’t believe me. But I stick by my opinion.
Also, when you rate a review, you oughta rate on how well the author got their point across and also stuck to their opinion, even if it doesn’t align with your own opinion. Even then, I’d probably admit it’s not the most well-written review, but hey, I don’t do this as a job
March 25th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I’ll continue with the statement that you don’t know what you like until someone puts something brand new to your ears. The only reason we have tastes is the fault of previous musical styles that we attach ourselves too; and more often than not, people get defensive when they don’t hear what they’re familiar with. This is often the case in pop music where the same old formulas are repeated, borrowed and sampled to give the illusion of a new sound whilst secretively pushing familiarity and dejavu onto people to help them like it.
Loads of artists sample orchestras and try to create hybrids, but In Silico is unique in the fact that it’s not just obviously sampling and blatantly genre crossing. I don’t think In Silico’s angle was to impress anyone in particular but to put across a new idea, which I think is quite a perfect way to write, then if others receive it well then viola, you’ve succeeded in not having to leech onto others originality in order to sell yourself.
In Silico isn’t going to show hundreds of varying electronic beats like in Hold Your Colour simply because In Silico was written with live band performance in mind whereas Hold Your Colour allowed itself to be more expressive and creative seeing as there wasn’t a “we need to keep this part simple otherwise we wont be able to replicate it live” restriction on the writing, so I see where you’re coming from and I agree to that extent.
I like both their albums for different reasons, but again I see your point as where Hold Your Colour delivers ground breaking melodic drum and bass and shows a really rich understanding of new and old sounds, In Silico delivers a very tame and somewhat sourly unique spin off the genre. I still stick to my opinion that it’s an extremely electric album, one that I know I’ll listen back to in 10 years with a smile on my face.
I think the Hold Your Colour and In Silico back and forth argument between D’n'B fans and others alike has been going on for too long. I’ll be really interested to see which direction their next album takes. Thanks for replying to my comment btw!