Pendulum - In Silico

If you are expecting another Pendulum album like 'Hold Your Colour' (one of the biggest selling drum and bass releases of all time), then this might not be the album for you.

Pendulum are a drum and bass group originally from Australia. In 2003, they relocated to the United Kingdom and proceeded to turn out some wicked sounds. They have now, with the release of 'In Silico', turned into a rock/electronica band with only hints of their former DnB glory. I am sure that this album will sell a lot of records but be prepared for some drastic changes in the sound of the band (think Linkin Park with speed drum programming and too much vocoder!). I am all for a band growing and finding their sound, it's just...sometimes the audience doesn't want to continue on with them and their new direction.

The album starts off with 'Showdown', an high octane track with the 'Pendulum' sound you would expect from the band. Tracks like 'Visions' and Granite' could be better if the overused vocoded vocals were taken out. 'Midnight Runner' is another track that clings to the true DnB sound and is actually a pretty fierce track. '9,000 Miles', one of the high points of the album, is a nice jaunt through more laid back territory with no vocals (thank god!) .

The Linkin Park Effect™ (I just made that up) only really shows up in tracks like the current single 'Propane Nightmares', 'Different' (which seems to have ripped off Portishead's 'Only You' chord progression) and 'Mutiny', which has some groovy bass lines and even a guitar solo. The closing track, “The Tempest,” almost sounds like a cross between a bulked up, vocoded version of Toto's 'Africa' (nothing against Toto, but this is a bad thing) and a bad Tool cover.

'In Silico' is an album full of a few hits but many more misses than I care for. It's not a horrible album but I was expecting more.

6 out of 10