All I've ever wanted from Pendulum was a good live CD. Really, that's all I asked. I wanted a decent quality recording of live Slam and then I could feel better about myself. The live CD is out. Finally.
It's fucking unlistenable. It's mixed terrible. There's no bass. The music sounds thin and lacks any energy. The worst part is not any of that, though. The MC is screaming over the whole thing and not saying anything worthwhile, but he drowns out most of the music. There's one drum machine they use (particularly for claps) which is SO LOUD it's ridiculous, and the transitions from drum machine to live drums are so awkward and blunt under thin music that really they sound as if they've never practiced these songs before.
Oh, that, and the noise from the crowd mics is louder than most of the instruments. It's mostly a CD of teeny boppers screaming. It's so bad you can hear the reverberations of the room PA in the crowd speakers throughout most of it.
That said, there is live slam on it, and it's almost delicious. They dropped the normal, badass, amazing and epic intro for a cover of master of puppets. Yup. Goddammit, Pendulum.
Other strikes against it:
- The lack of proper mixing exposes how cheesy the synth patches they use actually are. It sounds like a general midi symphony at some points. It really takes away.
- The drummer cannot keep a beat. Again, you don't notice this when it's mixed right, or when you're actually THERE, but he stumbles over himself OFTEN and covers it with lame fills.
Plus sides:
- They definitely learned to sing since I saw them.
The high point is definitely the Tempest. They DESTROY it. Like not just play it well or like it sounded on the album, I mean they absolutely go nuts. There's shredding at the end like nobody's business. It's amazing. They hit every note, it's in time, it's STRONG. It's really, really good.
The low point is 'the other side.' It's unlistenable. I can't say anything other than that. When you can't make out those stupid lyrics under the voice effects, it's okay. When you can clearly hear them and in addition they're being grunted in a sorta trashy accent, you can't help but feel embarrassed for them actually playing it. Skip it if you get the CD. This, as a side note, is the only song I've ever heard with an awkward silence. There's a part where the stupid voice goes 'coming down, coming down, coming down...' and they actually had the computerized version playing because it does this effect at the end that nobody could reasonably do with their voice. The MC decided to jump in, I guess. He's screaming coming down, hits that part, and just makes this horrible 'daaahhhh' sound. Then there's silence and this 'bewww' downward sound. That's supposed to be there. But he just shouted some stupid noise during it. The crowd is silent. There's a lull in the music. Palpable awkwardness in the air. Then garreth comes in on the vocoder and picks the song back up. The crowd returns to making noise. It's really an awkward moment. I know that's not how it played out live, I'm sure. But that's what it sounds like. If you're listening along, go to 4:10 in the song.
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