Drum and bass-ically pretty boring...

Being a bit slack, I still hadn't had the opportunity to listen to Pedulum's "In Silico" album from start to finish but today, whilst sitting in my sauna hot Swedish turbo barge, I had an hour on the road to kill. So on it went.

The opening tune, "Showdown", is one of the enthusiastic crowd pleasers that tend to dominate their festival sets and yes, I did turn it up to a level that made my speakers teeter on the edge of destruction. But then it all got a bit, well, unexceptional. The problem (if you can call it that) with Pendulum is that their live shows are astonishingly good. Download 2008 saw Pendulum getting more crowd surfing than any other band. They create the kind of buzz that one would expect from hooking a car battery up to damp testicles, and the grinding synth sound is hugely infectious.

However, stick this on a CD and it really doesn't work for me. There's no arguing that singles "Granite" and "Propane Nightmares"are exceptional tunes that do make you want to do that funny-hand-pointy-suck-cheek-in dance like a total cock, but maybe that's just because I've seen them live and was remembering how good these tunes were when looking up at the stage.

In essence, "In Silico" is like having 8 pints of strong continental lager then trying to have sex. You get all psyched up, it starts out great but after a while, it's only operating at about 60% efficiency, starts to get uninspired and lazy, and 45 minutes in you just can't wait for it to finish.

Don't get me wrong, you should absolutely go and see Pendulum live. Just don't bother buying the CDs.

I'm a bargain hunter, twisted bargain hunter...

I must confess that this post's heading has absolutely no bearing on the content whatsoever. If you were expecting something about the Prodigy, I apologise.

On my lunchtime meandering around the transsexual crack dive that is Soho I wandered into HMV to check out the things I can no longer afford to buy (Download's fault but I care not). As usual, "2 for £10" is slap bang in front of you so I thought I'd amuse myself by seeing how many U2, Bruce Springsteen and Verve albums were on offer but fuck me, they had some actual good music today. Ramones, Clash, Korn, Prodigy (aha, a slight Prodigy reference...) - I was genuinely surprised. Usually I go to the back corner, skulk around the "Metal" section for ten minutes picking up Carcass albums and putting them down again, then leave. But today, I put my hand in my pocket and made a couple of purchases.

Number one is Korn's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 - not entirely sure what following volumes will include as all the real quality is on here, from "Blind" to "Freak On A Leash", plus their seven-odd minute Pink Floyd "Another Brick In The Wall" cover. An obvious choice, really.

Number two was a bit more left field for me, as it's Pendulum's "In Silico". I'm a bit confused about Pendulum. To me, they're a drum and bass act but fuck me, the crowd go balls-in-a-wasps-nest mental at their gigs, and this aforementioned crowd is made up of everyone from sweaty vest-wearing fuckers like me to day-glow gloved cheesy Quavers. Although they look a bit erroneous on the Download poster, both last year and this they were immense. So sod it, why not? I first heard Pendulum when "Slam" came out donkey's years ago and thought it was a pretty good dance tune, and "Propane Nightmares" is undeniably insane so I'll be interested to hear the rest of the album.

Oh, and this month's Classic Rock has a history of metal, complete with a NWOTM (that's New Wave Of Traditional Metal for all you newbies) free CD on the front plus the Sisters Of Mercy's first interview in 12 years. How could I not take that puppy to the counter?

Until next time...