Pendulum - Immersion

Album number 3. After the rawk out of In Silico, we were promised a return to their dancey roots. There’s more of a dance slant than on the previous album, but they’ve by no mean shed their emo skin.
 
After a bold, dramatic, cinematic intro in the form of Genesis, that trademark whiney synth sound is soon brought into play on Salt In The Wounds – a Pendulum-by-numbers opener that could have been on either two album (Slam comes to mind) and initially shows little sign of progression – but it’s saved by a mid-way flip into weighty dubstep business, which was definitely the logical place to explore on this album. It’s soon back to the usual fodder though. Likewise, exploiting the same grating synth sound on Immunize (with Liam Howlett, showing he’s clean out of frsh ideas), and on the ill-advised sub-Deadmau5 naffness of The Island – Part 1 Dawn. Signature sound or not, it’s boring to hear after two albums already.
 
Now to the songs. Their lyrics are still pretty poor, but it’s almost style over substance – it sounds right and it works in the context, even if most of it seems pretty nonsensical and clichéd. Rob Swire makes for an unusual but refreshing and emotive lead voice, and the actual structure and melody of the songs is overall very strong. Watercolour’s lively horns and powerful vocal hook propel it along with vigour, Crush is cheesy as hell brilliantly executed, with powerful melodies and an anthemic quality. Witchcraft features one of the most impassioned performances, and married to trademark smashing beats and driving riffs, it’s a killer. Sounds more like The Qemists’ take on things almost.
 
Set Me On Fire is one of the strongest tracks, a heady mix of old skool breaks, none-more-epic dubstep and dub reggae singing, all combined in an incredibly potent way. Huge hoovers and face-smacking snares, wonderful blasts of electro synths and jagged LFO saw bass, all topped-off with a glorious gliding top line. Snarling, grunting, fizzing, explosive terror, it’s a testament to how far the different sectors of dubstep have diverged and the fact that this stadium-sized, euphoric strain is virtually a new sub-genre in its own right. The bright, quivering electro synths on Under The Waves are a joy, and The Island - Part II Dusk is an absolute riot of pumping synths and a masterclass in arranging a myriad of different bold sounds together. Rude as fuck, it almost makes you forgive Part I.Album closer Encoder is unforgivable however – laying on the cheesy at a slowed tempo, you can’t even forget about that an enjoy the energetic beats or bold leads. Ill-advised.
 
As for the blending of metal and D&B, it’s hit and miss. Comprachicos manages to combine the best of both worlds without sounding contrived or messy, but the smashy breaks and chugging guitars of The Vulture feels too much like a rework of Fasten Your Seatbelts, despite its undoubted charisma. The awesome guitar riffs on Self vs Self from Them Crooked Vultures are marred buy the fact that screeching metal vocals with Pendulum’s side-by-side just don’t work. Tongue-in-cheek for sure, but an uneven match. Steven Wilson of acclaimed prog rockers Porcupine Tree lends an almost Mars Volta feel to the classy, emotional The Fountain – a great song marred only by a lame spoken word background bit. 
 
It’s a tough one to call. When this album is good, it’s awesome, and when it’s bad, it leaves a nasty taste in your mouth. Lovers of the first album will find much to enjoy here but will still find the “other” stuff hard to swallow, while the converts to the metal & DnB sound if In Silico will probably lap this up even more than before. And we all know with which of those two albums they managed to elevate themselves to one of the world’s most acclaimed live stadium-sized acts…