Pendulum
Immersion

The mission of Pendulum since 2002, the year of their formation when they were still a trio (consisting of Rob Swire, Gareth McGilleth, and Paul "El Hornet" as lead vocalist/synth player, bassist, and keyboardist/DJ in the current line-up), has always been to rejuvenate the complex world of DnB, which has been in decline.

With two albums under their belt, in which they have proven to be a versatile group capable of blending different streams of thought and mastering a multitude of musical genres with intelligence and taste, and with ever-growing success that has led some fans (unjustly) to label them "too mainstream," the group issues the ultimate challenge: to create an album that synthesizes the idea of Pendulum as a group without particularly concerning themselves with a too-precise musical line.

On May 24, 2010, the highly anticipated third album of the sextet titled "Immersion" was released worldwide simultaneously, and as was easily predictable, the challenge was won quite simply.

The album offers 15 tracks full of musicality and intelligence, without overdoing the experimentation, drawing all the good that the group had managed to propose in their previous albums and enriching it all with some new genres inserted here and there among the tracks (true, above all, dubstep, metalcore, and industrial) and various collaborations with exponents of disparate genres (In Flames in the same album in which Liam Howlett of the Prodigy also plays???): the result is a varied album, that rarely bores, that knows how to unleash with explosive songs (Salt In The Wounds, Immunize, The Island pt.2, The Vulture); demonstrates the group's artistic capabilities with inspired and quite unusual pieces for the group's standards (Crush, The Island pt.1, Witchcraft, The Fountain); offers the audience classic pieces à la "Hold Your Colour" with parts of acoustic guitar and slightly poppy clean vocals that have now become a classic of the Australian sound system (WaterColour, Set Me On Fire, Encoder) and, the cherry on top, the group pays a huge tribute to metal... yes to metal (CompraChicos which recalls a bit of Mr. Reznor's industrial and Self Vs. Self which is simply a concentrate of thrash/metalcore aggression) all this adds that extra touch to the usual DnB mélange, as the six have already accustomed us to in past records, making this their most complete and difficult work to classify in a precise genre (in doubt, I opt for a sterile and banal techno-rock) because in this work there is enough material to fit at least... a dozen genres? (drum and bass, punk-rock, acoustic rock, indie rock, dubstep, techno à la Justice, house, big beat, hip-hop, metalcore, industrial metal, and old-school techno rave thanks to the keyboards used by Swire and McGilleth).

In summary: Swire and company prove to be a group in constant evolution, capable of surprising and using music intelligently; this "Immersion" is the result of a difficult and meticulous work searching for the perfect alchemy between rock and electronics, it's not dancefloor music nor is it music for angry metalheads. Live, it certainly makes a great impression (especially if the audience has some bones and a few hectoliters of blood to throw in the pit).

Highly recommended.