Let me get this out of the way: I loved In Silico, much more than their first LP Hold Your Colour.
If you’re hoping LP 3 is a return to Pendulum’s traditional D&B roots you’ll be disappointed again, but if you’re also expecting the constant guitar-driven rock from In Silico again it’s largely toned down (except for the very awesome, very bombastic Self vs Self featuring Swedish metal band In Flames).
Worth a listen either way is the album’s centrepiece tracks The Island Pt 1 and The Island Pt 2, Pt 1 being a rather radio-friendly house track before it rips straight into Pt 2’s razor-sharp electro madness, other highlights being the aforementioned Self vs Self and the anthemic album-closer Encoder.
On first listen I thought Immersion was a good album, but sometimes directionless. On further listenings I feel Pendulum pushed themselves to try new things, and largely succeeded in that as a fan of their more ‘complete packaged’ work like In Silico, I don’t feel left behind and in fact, cannot wait to see where they go after this.
4 Stars.
