Review Summary: Guiding lights, I don't know where you've been
15 years. That's how long it's been without a new
Pendulum album. For those unaware, after the release of
Immersion, the two primary members of the group, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, formed a new EDM project you may or may not know named
Knife Party. About two years into that project's existence, Swire admitted that his heart just wasn't in Pendulum anymore, and that he was more interested in chasing that sweet, sweet dubstep/house money because he was enjoying the production and musical aspects of it more. But it seems that the universe took some glee in trolling Rob, because in 2016, he admitted that he didn't like the state of modern EDM, especially the dubstep that he, ironically, had a hand in shaping, and found his heart for Pendulum once more. Things moved quite slowly after that, with a rather underwhelming remix album being their first release back, followed by a pair of EPs: 2021's
Elemental and 2023's
Anima. Eventually, they decided "screw it" and got to work on the long-awaited fourth album, and they've finally deemed
Inertia fit to bestow upon us.
The first thing that's clear from looking at the tracklist is that the band have disturbingly continued the strange trend of releasing EPs and then packing them into full albums, as the entirety of both
Elemental and
Anima are included amongst the 16 tracks present, meaning that there's only eight new songs present on
Inertia. Strangely enough, however, they've been spread out amongst the tracklist: "Driver" and "Come Alive" are placed next to each other
and apart from both "Nothing For Free" and "Louder Than Words"; the songs have also been shuffled around so that they aren't even in the same order as they were on their original EP. Sandwiched between them, however, are two of the best tracks Pendulum have ever produced: "Save the Cat" is the first Pendulum track to feature
screamed vocals from Rob Swire ("Self vs. Self" from
Immersion had screams, but those were courtesy of In Flames mastermind Anders Friden), and they're delivered in what can only be described as something that got detached from a Norwegian black metal band. Even more surprisingly, it
works; they deliver a welcome aggression to the industrial undertones of the track. Interestingly enough, the screaming is a recurring theme throughout much of
Inertia; tracks like "Archangel" and Wargasm collaboration "Cannibal" are rooted more in the drum and bass parts of Pendulum's sound, with thumping bass and some incredible electronica instrumentation, but feature screaming throughout: "Archangel" in the last few seconds, and "Cannibal" throughout the background and just before one of the last drops of the track.
Speaking of collaborations,
Inertia is chock full of them; in addition to "Cannibal", the band also brings along Bullet For My Valentine, Hybrid Minds, Joey Valence & Brae, and even Awolnation and Scarlxrd of all people. And surprisingly, all of the collaborations don't come across as pointless: every collaborator brings something to their respective songs, even if it's a small thing: "Halo" is the best Matt Tuck has sounded in years and is an unholy mish-mash of metal and DnB, the kind that only Pendulum have really successfully figured out how to pull off, while "Mercy Killing" (another EP holdout, this time from
Anima) brings in a nice serving of rap that really fills out a song that probably wouldn't have worked as well as an instrumental or even with just Rob. Despite the fact that exactly half of the songs are EP holdovers, they work surprisingly well in the context of the eight additional songs, if only because Pendulum are known for rather bipolar album experiences; the band goes from industrial rock to their trademark DnB to metalcore stylings and pull it off with a conviction that no other band can really lay claim to. Album closer "Cartagena" wraps things up on a rather depressing note, as is tradition for Pendulum, with Rob ranting that "I built this bridge just to watch it burn / Big surprise, we've been drowning forever", but expressing a willingness to keep moving forward, saying that "hope is right there when the day is done", "Don't stop till you feel the light / Oh my god, I feel alone, but that's how I like it", followed by a fade into static, as if Pendulum are walking into the shadows, and hopefully not for another 15 years.
Given the album's roots in electronic music, it's one of the few albums also rooted in rock that actually gets the mixing part done right: every instrument, from the guitars to bass to synths, are able to stand out, and none of them really take precedence over one another; dare I say that
Inertia is one of the best-mixed rock albums in quite a while. While it does indeed fall victim to every bad mastering trope in the book, the album is strong enough musically that you can look past those flaws. Even though it's been a decade and a half since Pendulum have released an album,
Inertia makes it feel like they never stopped releasing them to begin with, and are ready to show everyone else how electronic music, hard rock, and heavy metal are really done, not just one at a time, but all at once. Start taking notes, kids.
