Pendulum "Immersion"

I saw this on the ARIA charts during a recent browse but passed it over because it was listed as genre Drum & Bass, and the Ol' Mad Rocker doesn't hang in clubland.  Next thing you know, I see it on the UK charts and I read that Steven Wilson contributes on a track.  So two positives, Mr. Wilson and Australian, are enough to get me to try it.  Well, it's Drum & Bass for sure, with BPM's of 100+ at times and tons of those squiggly synth lines, but it's not a total loss by any means.  The band has six members, so it's not just programs and loops, it's real instruments, closely resembling the Prodigy (though I don't own any).  Liam Howlett even guests on one track, not that it matters to me.  A couple of tracks about a third of the way in slow down enough to be enjoyable, one coming off like a Filter record.  A two part piece called "The Island" has been released as an EP, and the first half called (Dawn) could be mistaken for a methed-out Howard Jones song.  Actually quite good.  Then there's another numbing fifteen minute stretch before arriving at the final three tracks, one of which is the aforementioned Steven Wilson contribution.  The Porcupine Tree sound is vague, but it's there, and it briefly bubbles up in a couple of other spots...probably why SW got involved in the first place.  Another rockin' track features Swedish headbangers In Flames, and the album ends on a heavy Depeche Mode theme, though revved up by 50%.  So hey, I'm keeping six tracks/40%.  Not too shabby for something completely dismissed at the outset.  "Immersion" isn't available in the US yet, but it's such a big deal overseas that it will probably get here soon enough.