Incubus is back! After the release of A Crow Left of a Murder, many Incubus fans were left confused and unsure of what the band’s future would bring. However, the recent release of Light Grenades has brought hope to the hopeless. Light Grenades released at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 165,000 copies in America in its first week. This album is surprisingly the band’s first number one album. However, Light Grenades now holds the record of the biggest drop from #1 in chart history, falling from #1 to #37 in its second week on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. With that being the case, it is still worth buying for old and new fans. Like all things in life, Incubus has been a growing process and is ever changing. If Fungus Amongus was the experimentation, S.C.I.E.N.C.E the birth, Make Yourself the growth, Morning View the maturity, and A Crow Left of a Murder the death, than the new album Light Grenades is the reincarnation of Incubus. Its fresh sounds can quickly remind us of the synthesized body yet melodic crooning of past albums. Yet at the same time it has a mature feel to it, most songs being about relationships or love. One thing that will never change with the progression of Incubus is that of Brandon Boyd’s poetic lyrics. He always brings new light to regular emotions that most people experience. The song Paper Shoes relates to a situation where he is stuck in a relationship with someone he does not care about anymore but he is afraid of change, also. The lyrics: “I’d rather be on my own / You’re about as reliable as paper shoes in bad weather / But pain will roll off like water on feathers” show Boyd’s distinct ability to turn any situation into poetry. An interesting observable fact about Light Grenades’ first single, Anna Molly, is that the title is never once sung in the song yet Boyd repeatedly sings “anomaly”, which is defined as an irregularity or abnormality. This play on words brings an appreciated depth to the song’s meaning. Light Grenades is a mesmerizing step into the direction that the band is evolving. It would get five stars in this review except for one disappointing factor. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Light Grenades is that some of the songs like Pendulous Threads and Earth the Bella (Part II) are not long enough. If the concepts that the music was forming in these two songs were expanded by three of four minutes in length Incubus could have created something phenomenal. Ultimately, the new album Light Grenades is a must for any Incubus fan, and certainly recommended to anyone who likes music of this genre.
Four out of Five Stars
