Immersion

if you like drum and bass buy something else. If you like dance music with rock song structure this is great :O)

Since In Silico, there have been very different opinions about what Pendulum has done. They mentioned in an interview they wanted Immersion to be a combination of their favourite parts and concepts from both Hold Your Colour and In Silico - and from that perspective, I think they've done a pretty good job; some of it sounds like HYC while some of it is definitely more In Silico-era stuff. Immersion is an interesting album and definitely worth a listen, even if you were unsure about In Silico - there's a lot of variation on here, which is a good and bad thing.

Genesis is a good start to the album, with Salt in the Wounds continuing the pace. Watercolour is already a single, and as an individual track, it's a catchy dance-driven tune. Set Me on Fire, Crush, The Island (Parts I & II), Comprachicos, The Vulture and Encoder continue the modern Pendulum sound, incorporating solid drum & bass with aspects of electronic rock and dance-rock.

However, this is where the album shows its strange opposite sides: Under the Waves, Immunize and Witchcraft are quite different in style, being more plain electronic rock - at least in my opinion - while Self vs. Self is, of all things, melodic black metal! As one fan said, it sticks out like a sore thumb - and I think most fans will agree, whether or not they like it, it certainly does stick out. I was nervous about Ben "The Verse" Mount doing the lyrics for The Vulture, but I feel it turned out better than his frankly annoying contributions in live performances - again, something many long-time fans will agree on.

In conclusion, I have to look at Immersion from two points of view. As a person who enjoys electronic music, this is an interesting and worthwhile album for a good variation of dance, rock and drum & bass. As a long-time fan of the group itself, while this album obviously cannot live up to the perfection of Hold Your Colour, it's at least as good as In Silico, and probably even better. Taking both of these perspectives into account, as well as everything above, I give Immersion four stars. Although like I said, these days there is a very fine line between those who disagree with Pendulum's new style and those who appreciate it, so at the end of the day, I have to advise you to check out the whole album to decide for yourself!

This is the best album I've bought this year and the best drum & bass album I've ever bought. For most of the album, Pendulum have gone back to their electronic roots, producing great drum & bass and dubstep tracks. Some of the tracks revisit the more rocky style of the last album but even these are great. Excellent!