I don't really know what to make of Pendulum. It feels like they threw the kitchen sink at the process of making music. Start with some drum and base, add some hard rock, mix in electro, dubstep, cheesy synths, video game soundtracks and top the whole thing off with a progressive atmosphere akin to the interior of the Mars Volta tour bus after a heavy curry session. And in a similar fashion to mixing all the colours of powder paint in the same palette, the whole thing comes out a bit on the brown side of gorgeous.
Imagine a DJ mixing Goldie, The Chemical Brothers, Muse, Depeche Mode, Rammstein and Erasue so seamlessly that they all appear simultaneously in the same song. It's not necessarily a terrible sound that results, but ultimately it's like playing football on ice; possible, but why bother? There's some enjoyable 'bits' however never enough to make a whole song and everything ends up sounding like Fatboy slim on steroids.
Having said all that, there's a feintly addictive quality to Pendulum. In the same way that motorists find it difficult to avoid rubber-necking at traffic accidents, 'In Silico' provides the sonic equivalent but in a far more pleasurable way. Something in my reptilian brain keeps saying this is great, whereas the remainder of my brain confirms the theory that it's rubbish. 'Different', 'Visions' and 'The Tempest' are the pick of the bunch and would possibly make teenage boys seriously happy.
Having just purchased the Celldweller album I'm a tad worried that it's a similar kettle of fish, but who knows, with a couple of tweaks and less 'ingredients' this rocked up dubstep could be a Bobby Dazzler of a genre. I doubt they care, but I can't say I recommend it.
I quite like the sound of this. Although having listened to the full track I'm not that convinced. It possibly sounds better as a one minute snippet on iTunes. It sounds a bit like Younger Brother on a bad day, i.e. the last album.
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