Incubus
“Light Grenades”
Epic Records
When you find a formula that works, you have one of two choices:
You can ride that formula for as long as possible ““ maybe
changing a few little things here and there ““ or you can
constantly try to better yourself and start from scratch every
time.
Since hitting it big in 2000, Incubus has drifted more toward
the former persuasion, with each subsequent release more or less
staying close to a winning formula: chunky guitar riffs,
soft-loud-soft dynamics that would make Frank Black proud, and
Brandon Boyd’s trademark wail. Throw in one requisite piece
of wacky noodling (“Battlestar Scralatchtica,”
“Aqueous Transmission”) and you’ve got an Incubus
album.
And this isn’t a bad thing, really, because the band has
perfected this formula over the years by sticking with what
works.
It’d just be nice if, every once in a while, it tried
something different.
On the band’s latest release, “Light
Grenades,” the SoCal quintet presents a solid album of
radio-ready, modern rock tunes. The production, by Brendan
O’Brien, is as clean as ever, with Mike Einziger’s
distortion-laden guitar as prominent as it ever has been and
Boyd’s voice still the highlight of the sonic proceedings.
And with the exception of “Quicksand” and a few other
points on the album, DJ Chris Kilmore is even less noticeable than
he has been on most recent releases.
The album’s first single, “Anna Molly,” is
weaker than the group’s previous singles, if only because it
lacks a clear hook like that of “Wish You Were Here,”
“Drive” or “Megalomaniac.” Plus, the song
devolves into an extended pun once you figure out that it’s
about the perfect woman and the fact that she is an
“anomaly.”
Boyd isn’t any more subtle on songs such as “Oil And
Water” and “Love Hurts,” which are more than
likely about his since-ended relationship with model Caroline
Murphy. Fortunately, both tracks are solid, mid-tempo Incubus songs
that you could easily see a concert crowd singing along to, even if
you could swear the arrangements in “Love Hurts” sound
more than a little familiar.
Speaking of familiar, the group is at its best when it recalls
its hard-rocking past in songs such as “Pendulous
Threads” and “Rogues,” in which the band’s
unbridled ability to rock is placed center-stage with satisfying
results.
The album contains some refreshing twists, such as the eponymous
“Light Grenades” ““ a short, fast, loud song that
proudly displays the group’s hard rock/punk roots. On the
other hand, “Earth to Bella (Part I)” is a disjointed,
acoustic-then-distorted freakout whose closing rhythm section
sounds more than a little like “Warning,” one of the
band’s previous singles. “Diamonds” is one of the
album’s best songs, but this feeling of nostalgia evokes a
more pressing question.
Do these songs really sound the same as old ones, or has the
band evolved so little that we’ve become accustomed to its
bag of tricks?
At one point in “Diamonds and Coal,” Boyd pleads,
“Give us time to shine, even diamonds start as
coal.”
While “Light Grenades” is another solid Incubus
album, the band’s well-worn formula makes you wonder whether
it has already shone the brightest it possibly can.