Pendulum
Inertia

In 2025, Pendulum also made their comeback—the Australian drum’n’bass band hadn’t released an album since way back in 2010.

You may wonder what I have to do with Pendulum, given that I usually have little to do with heavy electronic music. Well, actually, I too have a flashy side; after all, I grew up in the Milanese suburbs, I also spent my post-adolescent years in nightclubs, living that world of over-amped speakers, sequins, hard liquor, and tight dresses. Having lived that world means that certain hyperelectronic sounds instantly transport me right back. Truth be told, I never appreciated the fake music that circulated in those places; I always found it empty and repetitive, devoid of ideas. It always felt like a hammer pounding and nothing more—to others it was everything, but for me it was nothing. But I knew that out there, there were bands capable of taking those same sounds and turning them into something creative, sensible, definitely more artistic—bands with a ‘flashy’ sound but creative in how they organized their ideas. Two bands struck me above all: Infected Mushroom, with their tracks stretched to the extreme and, almost in contrast, Pendulum, much more immediate and “condensed.”

But let’s talk about this comeback. “Inertia” is undoubtedly consistent with what they’ve done before—the drum’n’bass backbone and heavy electronics they got us used to are all present, still forming the skeleton, the framework on which their mighty sound rises. But it doesn’t stop there, because Pendulum put more effort than ever before into creating a more varied product, really working to break the monotony. We already know that there’s a rockier blood running through the band’s veins, which makes it not so wrong to label them as an “electronic rock” band; guitars and the like are, in a sense, a normal part of their toolkit, and they proved it mainly with their second album “In Silico,” which is probably the closest relative to “Inertia.” This time, though, they raise the bar and even venture into metal territories. We used to think that the collaboration with In Flames on the 2010 album was a one-off, an experiment never to be repeated—instead, it was just the beginning. Heavy guitars and frenzied screams show up multiple times on this record, and honestly, they fit perfectly with the relentless rhythms and over-the-top electronics. Anyone who loves to splash around in industrial metal will feel very much at home with this album. Honestly, I’ve never understood why young, wild clubbers never loved metal, despite it carrying the same energy as techno. Never got why the nightlife crowd calls techno “music” and metal “noise”—truly a mystery.

In any case, it’s from this perfect fusion that tracks like “Save the Cat,” “Cannibal” (where delicate female vocals and angry male vocals coexist perfectly), “Halo,” “Napalm,” and “Guiding Lights” are born. But don’t worry, there’s more: the album as a whole is actually quite varied. It’s impossible to stay indifferent to the mix of synthetic energy and dazzling melody in “Come Alive,” a true killer track that welcomes us into the album with incredible warmth. There’s an unmistakable ‘80s vibe in “Archangel,” whose verses are a dead ringer for the synth pop of that era. There’s also a successful attempt to sound more delicate without losing vivacity, and that goes by the name “Louder than Words.” “Silent Spinner” is also worth a listen—it brings the tempos down, going against the current of the rest of the album, while developing a darker, edgier electronic component that vaguely recalls some of Depeche Mode’s 21st century work. And, of course, more classic Pendulum moments aren’t missing, like “Driver” and “Colourfast.”

In conclusion, this was a much-needed return; we still needed the raw yet genuine energy of Pendulum—a real energy that stands in contrast to the artificial kind being sold today, an energy that manifests in all its might without sacrificing compositional quality and ideas.