Drum'n'bass has long been popular in the UK and around much of the world, but has never really been able to break out of the niche audience of those preternaturally drawn to the siren's call of rolling sub-bass and pummeling breakbeats. In recent years, the haunting shuffle of drum'n'bass off-shoot dubstep has caught the attention of American listeners, thanks to artists such as Burial. Simultaneously, thanks to the popularity of Justice et al., the indie kids are dancing again. Despite the same crowd's excitement to dance to the distorted, monstrous strains of rock/electrohouse hybrids from the Ed Banger roster and simultaneous acceptance of dubstep, no artist has yet to fully break into the American market with a record to get the kids tearing up dancefloors and working up a sweat to drum'n'bass. Dutch trio Noisia seem prepared to bridge these worlds with their debut album of all-original material, Split The Atom, a stylistically divergent, yet still cohesive album of speaker-melting, club-burning electronic dance music that could easily lure anyone open to EDM over to the dark side.

Noisia began their career producing drum‘n’bass, but are not afraid to explore other genres, releasing electrohouse and breaks under a few pseudonyms before deciding to release everything under the Noisia banner. 2009 saw them release a wonderful mix as part of the Fabriclive series. They’ve released remixes of artists such Robbie Williams, The Prodigy, and Moby, who reportedly was so enamored with their remix of “Alice” that he briefly considered starting to DJ drum'n'bass. As was the case with the Fabriclive mix, all of the group’s stylistic variations are represented here, in a pulse-quickening record that is sure to please anyone interested in the darker, harder end of the electronic dance music spectrum.

Album opener “Machine Gun” doesn’t waste any time setting a tone. A powerful, purposefully stomping electrohouse intro soon breaks down and morphs in to walls of even more menacing, buzzing bass and foreboding sirens. As if that wasn’t enough, the big guns are soon deployed: breakbeats so sharp and vicious that they should probably be accompanied by a warning from the surgeon general. With the listener reasonably prepared for the onslaught that awaits, the album takes a step back with “My World,” a fairly traditional vocal D’n’B track featuring Giovanca. Following a short foray into more glitch, minimalistic material with “Shitbox” things really get kicking again with the title track, a rousing number whose melody alternates constantly between a clean lead and a filthy bass, accompanied by a simple vocal sample of a British man, employed in a fascinating manner to really bring out the musicality of his speech.

This pattern of slight stylistic shifts continues throughout the record, from the eerie calm of “Thursday,” to the wobbling electrohouse of "Alpha Centuri,” to the funky “Red Heat,“ to a number of proper techstep tracks featuring MCs Foreign Beggars. The stomping “Diplodocus,” manages to evoke the eponymous sauropod’s presumed gait. Amon Tobin joins the group for “Sunhammer,” a piece of glitchy, spacious, and eerie techno that eventually opens out into a coda reminiscent of Aphex Twin.

Albums from producers of electronic dance music have a tendency to falter when trying to shoehorn material designed to be consumed in a club into a form that can be consumed at home, particularly when mixing so many stylistic variations. Split The Atom succeeds on all counts, somehow managing to feel club-ready, yet perfectly suited for home listening, provided you have the stereo to equipped to handle it. I know I got to take my subwoofer out for a spin and am thankful I have understanding and friendly upstairs neighbors. I think I’ll bake them some cookies to make it up to them.

Track List:
1. Machine Gun
2. My World ft. Giovanca
3. Shitbox
4. Split the Atom
5. Thursday
6. Leakage
7. Hand Gestures ft. Joe Seven
8. Headknot
9. Red Heat
10. Shellshock ft. Foreign Beggars
11. Whiskers
12. Alpha Centauri
13. Soul Purge ft. Foreign Beggars
14. Diplodocus
15. Paper Doll
16. Dystopia
17. Sunhammer ft. Amon Tobin
18. Stigma
19. Square Feet