Pendulum - Anima - The Singles, Reviewed

Pendulum - Anima - The Singles, Reviewed

It’s fair to say that Pendulum may be the first name a lot of people think of when they think of modern Drum n Bass or even modern EDM full stop, and with good reason. Led by songwriter and frontman Rob Swire, they started out as a much more straight up DnB outfit on 2005’s ‘Hold Your Colour’, and not only were they damn good at it, but the album also spawned anthems like ‘Tarantula’ and the title track in the process. Soon after though, the band began experimenting musically, broadening not only the range of electronic influences, but also incorporating elements of anthemic stadium rock and hard rock, resulting in my personal favourite album of theirs, 2008’s ‘In Silico.’ They then expanded on this further with 2010’s ‘Immersion’, making use of an even wider range of aesthetics, but also injecting their sound with a more palpable accessibility, evident in huge singles like ‘Witchcraft.’ It was after this that the various members went on hiatus to focus on other projects, but they eventually reformed in 2016, and even released new music in the form of 2021’s decent, if slightly under baked ‘Elemental’ EP. Now the boys are back again with another new EP, ‘Anima’, set for release on November 3rd, and with half of the EP released in anticipation, let’s see what surprises the guys have to offer us this time around.

Halo (Ft. Matthew Tucker)

For those of you that are maybe less convinced by Pendulum’s softer side, I imagine this would be the perfect way to comeback, taking the thumping, punchy beats and shrill synths typical of their sound and infusing that with a splash of brutal metalcore, making for a great cathartic, energetic combo. It’s not that they haven’t attempted this sound before, I think back to the ‘Self Vs. Self’ collaboration with In Flames as being pretty similar, but it sounded really cool there, and so it’s no surprise the same is true here. As I said already, Pendulum’s stylistic hallmarks are all here in full force: the noisy industrial synths not unlike an electronic drill do very well to build a kind of dark anticipation and tension which is very nice, and the drum n bass beats are as punchy and hefty as ever while still giving the track a palpable momentum, and the shift to a more rock style stomping groove on the chorus is very effective too. Of course given the nature of the collaboration, the instrumental is underpinned by one hell of a gnarly metalcore guitar riff. It’s showing those canines for sure I’ll say that. I’ll add as well that I know from experience that it’s very difficult to implement metal riffs in an electronic context. Some get it right yes, but a lot of the time it can go very wrong (I’m looking at you Korn). Thankfully though, given Pendulum’s role in forging the sound, they very comfortably fall into the latter category, creating a crossover that comes across absolutely blistering, the ending breakdown being nothing short of brutal, and I mean BRUTAL. When it comes to vocals and lyrics, I think that Bullet For My Valentine frontman Matthew Tucker has a pretty decent, unleashed performance that works well with the style of the track, but that kind of growly, hoarse sounding metal delivery can be a bit hit or miss for me personally, so I’m kind of indifferent to it for the most part, despite some decent moments, not to mention the lyrics that generally seem to concern themselves with the sentiment of “be careful what you say to me” seem fairly run-of-the-mill as far as metalcore goes. That said, again, it’s not a bad feature by any means, and Rob Swire’s chorus, in classic Pendulum fashion, is fantastic, as he delivers a hugely dramatic and anthemic hook that soars effortlessly over the instrumentation. So if this track shows anything, it’s that if you maybe weren’t entirely convinced by the material on ‘Elemental’, this track is sure to put you back on the hype train all over again.

Colourfast

Just as with the last track demonstrating Pendulum’s knack for grimy, dirty, heavy bangers, this one falls more on the side of the classic, bright, high-energy, anthemic, and perhaps more chart viable side of Pendulum we’ve come to love over the years, and from the sounds of things, my god they’ve still got it. Starting out with a subtle, skittering ride cymbal beat, guitar plucks, and the occasional reverbed blast of breakbeats in the intro, we hear a quiet building of atmospheric synths in the background which create a very nice sense of excitement, as do the distorted vocal effects. Then when the intro fully bursts in with the stomping drums and victorious layers of horns, it sounds absolutely brilliant, a real anthemic, puff out your chest moment that makes you feel on top of the world, again calling back to the infectious, festival ready feel of their big singles to great effect. The verse is very minimal, consisting only of the drum beat and very quiet, muted synth tones. In turn though, what this does is serve to highlight Rob Swire’s great vocal performance. Perhaps it’s just because Rob’s style is right up my alley but I’ve rarely heard him do wrong, the melodies equal parts dramatic, emotive, but also catchy as hell. Add to this that when building into the chorus, you hear the intensity in his voice palpably build in order to match the energy of what comes next, so when that chorus does come in with the catchy bitcrushed synths and horns from the intro, underscored by a blistering breakbeat with a super cool time change, it hits you like a bus, and it sounds awesome. Even the chipmunked vocals, which I think are often overused and mishandled in electronic music, work really well in the context of the track’s blindingly bright, unstoppable vibe. My one critique of the track though, is that it is structurally a little thin for my liking. Many electronic tracks (and songs in general) have the drawback of the bridge serving as nothing more than a build up to a final drop, with next to nothing new being offered musically, and unfortunately Pendulum fall into that trap here. Regardless though, overall, as a return to that true blue “Pendulum sound”, or at least the catchier, poppier end of it, this does a very good job indeed. Certainly better than anything off ‘Elemental’, that’s for sure.

So as far as my expectations for the other half of the EP, I’d hazard a guess that this is maybe an attempt from Rob and the gang to properly re-establish themselves, delivering tracks that cover every area of their established, diverse sound palette as best they can, in order to give people the best idea of what Pendulum is really about. As far as I’m concerned, if the other half is able to maintain this quality level, I’m absolutely on board with that, because then we’ve got a seriously great EP on our hands, and I'm talking year-end top 10 worthy, but I guess we’ll just have to see.