When Incubus released "A Crow Left of the Murder" in 2004, it was met with mediocre reviews, some saying it reflected maturity and others claiming it was the beginning of the end. The band's new album, "Light Grenades," picks up where "Crow" left off, which will either be good or bad news depending on what the listener thought of the band's previous effort.
Comments on the band's new album bear the foreword that Incubus's original bass player, Dirk Lance, was replaced before "A Crow Left of the Murder" by Ben Kenney, formerly of The Roots. Although frequently overlooked, Lance was perhaps the most integral member of the band, supplying the funk-rock edge that had previously set the band apart with tracks like the 2000 hit "Pardon Me."
The first few songs off of "Light Grenades" make the listener think, if only for a second, that the band has turned over a new leaf and decided to write unique music again. The opening track, "Quicksand," is a slow-building piece that succeeds in its attempt to provide a misty prologue to the album. The song is built upon an odd time signature, like Incubus is prone to use, and allows DJ Kilmore to create a palette of strange space sounds for Brandon Boyd to dot with his voice.
After "Quicksand," the band bursts into the energetic and pulsing "A Kiss to Send Us Off" with drummer Jose Pasillas pounding out time. The verse is nicely laid out, with the guitars only decorating the vocal pattern - again, as Incubus is prone to do. The chorus, which is nothing more than Boyd belting "A kiss to send us off" multiple times, leaves the listener incredibly unfulfilled.
Is it possible that the artsy heartthrob of a generation, Brandon Boyd, has lost his touch? Yes, and it seems that at this point the damage may be irreversible. The imagery that used to make Boyd's writing interesting seems to have degenerated to lines such as, "We're given a garden/ and gave back a parking lot." Joni Mitchell and Brandon Boyd used to reside on the same creative plane, but Brandon got lazy, so he just borrowed some lyrics.
That said, not every song is entirely devoid of meaning. The first single from the album, "Anna Molly," pronounced "anomaly," is definitely the best song from the record. What starts out as a stringy little riff from guitarist Mike Einziger builds into a tight verse in the understated style that Incubus does best. The chorus is interesting and catchy, and Boyd seems to have let his creative juices flow again.
Two other cuts on the album, "Dig" and "Love Hurts," are also quite good by themselves. Both are heartfelt songs that seem to have been written by inspired individuals who only settle for what they think is their personal best.
But after track six, it seems like Incubus just got bored with trying to be new. The last eight tracks, leaving room for maybe one or two exceptions, seem like they could not only have been off of the previous Incubus album, but they very well could have been from a My Morning Jacket album.
In particular, the riff from the title track sounds very similar to the riff from the song "Priceless" off "A Crow Left of the Murder." Even the chorus from "Priceless" is basically a duplicate of the chorus from "A Kiss to Send Us Off," the name of the song repeated multiple times.
Perhaps "Light Grenades" is one of those albums that grows on you over time; that may be the only hope for the record, and possibly for the band as well. Those wishing for a return of the Incubus that appeared on their classic album "S.C.I.E.N.C.E" (1997), will just have to thank the Lord they have the glory days of Incubus to look back on and hope that maybe someday they may return.
