The Qemists - Join the Q

Long after a generation pawned their guitars in for turntables, we now know that a DJ can rock the crowd but is no match for a full blown guitar riot. The Prodigy and Pendulum knew this; the combination should be wonderful: head-banging riffs facing off strobed gurn-inducing breakbeats. Opener Stompbox pulls off the combo beautifully – all roaring snares and guitar fire. But the Qemists don’t seem sure of how to develop a formula, let alone the main requirement for a formula: to become a ‘winning’ one. So they bring in vocalists: drafting in Mike Patton for some cock-rock tonsil waggling, which we’ve not heard him do in a while. Grime lord Wiley gets the heaviest beat he’s ever rocked, even if his lyrics seem wildly misplaced amongst the pseudo-futuristic electro-techniques. Despite these unsatisfactory nods to interesting music, Join the Q quickly degenerates into generic late-90s drum’n’bass with delusions of stadium rock. [Ali Maloney]