99. Propane Nightmares – Pendulum

As I said with the last song, I’m not a real techno/drum and bass fan, but when a song comes along that is almost the epitome of that genre, I begin to reconsider my musical tastes. The band that made me reconsider my taste is Pendulum with their song Propane Nightmares. I was aware of Pendulum previously due to their song Tarantula, and frankly, it didn’t do anything for me. And then also the same year I had heard their collaboration with Freestylers on the song Painkiller, and yes, that song did sound quite enjoyable. But it wasn’t until last year when I first heard Propane Nightmares did my appreciation for this genre change. Admittedly Pendulum have moved away from the stereotypical drum and bass genre and have taken a more rock based approach to this song, but it still packs one hell of a punch. The songs structure is quite well made as well. It starts with a Latin influenced brass section playing the intro before the vocals start. After about 20 seconds of vocals, a thumping beat acts as a precursor to what is about to come. This beat goes on while the vocals are still running in an example of perfect musical coupling. But then, the vocals reach a crescendo and the main part starts. It’s the synth driven riff that sounds strangely reminiscent of Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water that draws you into the song and keeps you wanting more. The song breaks down about 3: 20 in and results in some synth arepeggios right before the thumping beat comes in and once again transforms into the monster riff. There are hardly any other drum and bass tunes that incorporate such styles of rock and techno into the same song and still manage to make a song that features such sheer amounts of awesome.

Close Competitors

Painkiller

As I stated before, my first experience with Pendulum came in the form of their Painkiller collaboration with Freestylers. That same song features a very similar structure to Propane Nightmares in the way that it opens with a very differently styled tune, in this case, a hip hop influenced synth beat. But this only goes for about 40 seconds until the words “Reaching in my pocket for a painkiller” signify the incoming presence of the new thumping rhythm and repeating, melodic riff. I only chose to include Propane Nightmares as opposed to Painkiller due to the fact that Painkiller is too hip-hop influenced to my liking. Admittedly, I do have exceptions to every genre which is quite clearly seen due to the fact I’m writing about these 2 songs, but Painkiller was far too focused on being a hip-hop song than a drum and bass song. And frankly, with a song like this, you can only have one and not the other.

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