PENDULUM!!! I love this band when I heard their first LP 'Hold you colour'. Drum n bass (DnB) combined with some rock riffs, amazing!!! That was 4 years ago, now with a major label signing and more money to improve their music, you could only imagine the creativety that these guys are gonna come up with.
And so they release 'In Silico'. And when I heard the first track 'Showdown', I was mildy confused. Lyrics? Ok, fine why not. And then I was dissappointed. No DnB at all. That's what made them seperate from the rest.
Unfortunately, its like this for the rest of the album, they seem to leave their DnB roots and have gone for a rock electronica sound. Yep, I'd say its fair to call them a sell-out, its obvious they made this album to be 'radio friendly'. It's quite cheesy album, with tracks like 'Propane nightmare' using, I think trumpets, makes it quite cringey to listen to. However when it gets into the rock and amazingly fast drumming sound, it actually sounds pretty good. Although its cheesy, its some good cheese that you'd be happy to put on your pizza (I'm sorry). If you were to take this album as a rock electro album and forget their previous efforts using the DnB sounds. it's a pretty good listen (even if they have sold out). Tracks like 'visions' is really interesting using a electronic voice, although it sounds like its from a computer game, but its a tune that can be listen to anytime, whether you're relaxing or writing a review on the laptop :). 'Midnight Runner' is also a stand out tune, really cool and has quite a spaceshipy soundtrack, something not heard much on the mainstream scene. '9,000 miles' has a great sound to it, although the vocals are a bit weak and makes you just wanna say 'Dude allow singing please :) '. Great song though and does grow on you. 'Tempest' is a weird track in a way that all the other tracks were very electronica, but this sounds like it was done by the a punk rock band on acid. Still, a pretty decent track but not the best choice to be their last track in my opinion.
One word advice, stay away from 'Mutiny', sounds like something out of Power rangers, really weird and so random, its not cool at all. And 'granite' is just a crap song. What the hell is that mysterious whistle in the beginning all about, and the riff is so annoying but I guess it be good at a rave for some people. These tracks really let the album down, and if probably why some old DnB pendulum fans have criticised this album.
Overall, the album is a great rock electronic album, but if like me your a fan of their previous stuff with the amazing DnB sound, you'd think they took a step backwards. The sound has probably been done before by other rock electro groups out their, but the previous album 'Hold your Colour' was unheard of and that's what made pendulum one of the most epic bands at that time. I gave 'In silico' a high score, but imagine what I'd give 'Hold your colour'. Pendulum have obviously try to become more radio friendly to sell more record (this album did go gold and went to number one, unlike 'Hold your colour'). But hopefully in the future they will return to the DnB roots and creat some mental tracks. Get 'In silico' if you wanna listen to a good rave, get 'Hold your colour' if you wanna hear one of the greatest albums ever!
Overall rating: 8/10
Top tracks:
Propane nightmare (apart from the trumpets)
Visions
Midnight runner
9,000 miles
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