In Silico (With Audiosurf)

May 11th, 2008 by Fullforce | Posted in Article, Music, Thoughts |

Pendulum’s new album, In Silico, is pretty damn good. It took a while to grow on me, but the album is absolutely brilliant. It’s a slight departure from the remix-esque Hold Your Colour, with more rock aspects and more vocals. I’ve been waiting for In Silico for a long time now, and it certainly delivers. If you’re a Pendulum fan, this is clearly a must buy - and if you’re a fan of rock, or Drum and Bass, check it out too.

So, here’s a short review of each song, along with a short piece of information about how it plays on Audiosurf.

For those of you not in the know, Audiosurf is a game which lets you ‘play’ your music. It’s on Steam for $10, or you can try the demo.

Showdown is an excellent opening track. Hard-hitting, and right in your face, it’s a fast paced track that doesn’t let up. I did the track on Pointman Casual to get into the groove of things, and it works very well.

Different is another fast paced track, with typical Pendulum style. Quite rocky, too. I did Mono Pro on this track, and it’s incredibly fast paced and keeps you on your toes.

Propane Nightmares is my absolute favourite track on the album. The most recent single from the album (with the first being Granite) it is an absolute dream to listen to. The video for the track is below, along with the track. Obviously. It’s a bit of a wierd video though.

On Audiosurf (Mono Pro) it’s just as expected. Very fast paced, and unrelenting. There are points when blocks are few and far between and all you’re doing is dodging greys, but it’s still a joy to play.

Visions is, as expected, another very fast paced track. On Pointman Pro, the sheer number of blocks coming at you becomes almost impossible to play properly. It’s mental!

Midnight Runner is my least favourite track on the album. It’s still an excellent track however, and is a solid DnB song. I’m thinking I don’t like it as much because it has no vocals at all.

The Other Side is a very enjoyable track to listen to. This track is probably one of the most vocal heavy of the album, with both singing and the use of voices to create a weird unemotional speech. Along with the strong beat, the track bumps around heavily, speeding up and slowing down constantly. In my opinion, it’s one of the best songs on the album.

Mutiny is a semi-remix of The Terminal, a track on Hold Your Colour. Very fast paced, it keeps the action going continually.

9000 Miles is slow to start, but once it gets going, it’s a good solid beat, great for Audiosurf. I played on Mono Pro and the fast pace constantly keeps you on your toes.

Granite is one of the standout tracks on the album. Another clear choice for a single, the use of guitars along with an excellent rocky drum beat, along with awesome vocals makes this track a brilliant choice on Audiosurf.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQA1d0QQvf8

The Tempest is probably my second favourite track. A nice long track, it is slow to start and gets going about a third of the way, with an amazing crescendo in the final minutes. It’s astoundingly good to listen to it build up and up and then release it all. It’s the same in Audiosurf - the final few minutes are absolutely brilliant, almost vertically downhill and completely red in Mono Pro. It’s a brilliant final track to a brilliant album.