Pendulum return with Propane Nightmares, the second single from their In Silico album.

Fully justifying all the hype, the Aussie drum n bass masters have created an epic song that - for our money - fuses their penchant for dance and rock music beautifully. Not everyone agrees with us though - Simon Catling goes to town in an open letter to Pendulum:

Whilst I am sure you believe that in trying to be different from your peers you are creating new and exciting sounds for us all “rave” to, but please Pendulum could you decide whether you wish to be a band or a drum n’ bass act, because at the moment all you’re providing us with is a horribly half-baked and shoddy form of neither.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Without the benefit of having heard Pendulum’s earlier masterpieces, we think Propane Nightmares is a fantastic track - it’s alive with pulsating energy. Yes, the ’spaghetti western’-style trumpet intro gets a bit annoying after the 20th listen, but so what?

We rule that this is an awesome tune. And do we detect a subtle sonic nod toward Pink Floyd during the instrumental? Very Dark Side…

Heralded by the dance press and influential media (Fluokids, Channel 4 Music, Popjustice), OrtzRoka have received huge support from a whole bunch of musician and DJ folk - Busy P, New Young Pony Club, Laurent Garnier, Erol Alkan, Justin Robertson, Ewan Pearson, Prins Thomas, Rob Da Bank, People Are Germs and Ivan Smagghe.

OrtzRoka recently supported Midnight Juggernauts and Pin Me Down (Bloc Party’s Russell Lissack’s new band), performed DJ sets at Vice, Apocalypso and Magazine Club, and have been tipped by DJ Magazine as artists to most likely have ‘Major Impact in 2008′ alongside Booka Shade, Moby and Deadmau5.

As if that wasn’t enough, their remixes for Simian Mobile Disco, NME faves Peter, Bjorn & John, Robyn, Bloc Party, and Robyn have afforded them the kind of acclaim that most young artists can only dream of.

Planets was directed by Dan Lowe (Partizan Films). Dan Lowe is part of the of the collective of creative friends who go under the name of team STUSH. Dan was nominated a Best New Director at the CAD Music Video Awards in 2007.

Australian drum and bass duo Pendulum rocked the Radio One Big Weekend this year, and they’ve just released In Silico, their new album. And since it’s been a while since we’ve done an album review round-up, let’s have a look across the Internet to see what other bloggers are saying about In Silico.

With Propane Nightmares riding high in the UK pop charts, the hype is huge, and having listened to Propane and Granite, I might just have found a new favourite band…

Pacmusic says:

Once I listened to the album in full, it just blew my mind. Pendulum have managed to just about match ‘Hold your colour’, but not better it, although you couldn’t actually expect them to better what I consider to be one of the best albums ever created.

The excellent (and highly recommended) Strange Glue give In Silico an impressive 8/10 scoring, and comment:

Pendulum have come up with a sound which takes the intelligent structure of rock, coupled with its attention to lyrical details and thrown it against the sheer might of drum ‘n’ bass, a force capable of spurring white people to attempt dancing. It’s not a perfect pairing though, some tracks, such as “Propane Nightmares” and “The Tempest” skew heavily to the rock side, whilst others, such as “Mutiny” and “Visions” go to the d’n'b arena. When the middle-ground is found - take “Different” for example - Pendulum really hit home the fact that these two schools of music can co-exist fantastically.

Leonie Cooper, reviewing the album for The Guardian, is less enthusiastic about Pendulum in general:

while they come over as obsessed with sonic futurism, they can’t help but sound a little dated, regularly doffing their caps to 1990s electro-rockers Apollo 440. Despite this, tracks such as Showdown and Propane Nightmares, with its mariachi horns and pounding punk synths, are laudable attempts to appeal to both the rock and the rave crowds.

The wrost review so far is by Jack Foley, writing for indieLONDON:

The drum ‘n’ bass sound is also a little too one-note, for me, quickly becoming tiresome. Whenever the album places the d’n‘b to the fore, I tended to lose interest…it’s a pretty tedious listen enlivened by only the odd good moment.

Glenathon likes the album, but doesn’t think it trumps their debut, Hold Your Colour:

I like them because their music is unique. A lot of the electronic music out there follows the same pattern. Pendulum doesn’t necessarily ‘break the mold’ to me…but they definitely have their own sound.

I’d probably say that track 2, 8 and 10 will keep me coming back to this album.

Goreki wasn’t a fan of their early work, but has newfound respect for them after listening to In Silico:

…on my first impression I was utterly impressed. Pendulum have done what I was hoping for and pushed the bar by developing what they had and brought in new elements. The opening track has a great rock sound to go with it yet retaining some of the drum and bass sound of their previous work.

So folks, you’ve had a mix of good and bad. The first two singles are definitely strong tracks. There is weaker material on the album, but my own feeling is that Pendulum have crafted something amazing that straddles two genres and creates something genuinely exciting to listen to.

Get the album, take it for a spin in your car with the volume cranked and hit the open road. I reckon it’s a hit.