Pendulum

All sorts of clichés come to mind with this album – ‘A Curates Egg’ is probably the most appropriate, Good In Parts.
I was personally very disappointed with their last album ‘In Silico’ as it really doidn’t represent the dance heavy drum & bass outfit I had enjoyed so many times around the clubs but then it still sold over a million copies and thrust them into the superstar league.
‘Immersion’ is even further removed from their origins but it is also a million miles away from ‘In Silico’ and when it works it is absolutely electrifying.

Opening with what sounds like a theme to a movie like ‘Cocoon’ they seem to have developed the electronic side of the music but as ‘Genesis’ develops into ‘Salt In The Wounds’ you are assailed by a monstrous selection of beats and synths crossed with dance heavy basslines and carried along on a tide of musical eruption – possibly one of THE tracks of the year!
The next real monster is ‘Immunize’ featuring Liam Howlett and some huge drum ‘n’ bass-ery and machine gun synth attack and that leads into ‘The Island’ parts 1 & 2, altogether 9 and a half minutes of music that hits you on every level imaginable – I can see this one being an Ibiza favourite for years to come.
‘Witchcraft’ slows thing down for a minute or two (well about thirty seconds) and then the riff loaded ‘Self vs Self’ featuring Anders Friden of In Flames crosses their beats with metal and a dark masterpiece.
Steven Wilson pops up on ‘The Fountain’ without really making a mark and closer ‘Encoder’ sounds like the end of a night of clubbing and brings the album down nicely.

As I said before, when it is good it really is very good (another cliché) but when it is bland it is just ordinary. They have been brave and this really is a strong move on from ‘In Silico’ – development is a good thing.