Review Summary: Bass Guitar stands out, Classic Guitar takes the Front Stage. A new path for Incubus, but dubiously a positive evolution.
So here I am, writing a review for the band that changed the way I looked at music in general.
As you can see from the rating above, something isn't right. An explanation shortly follows.
First of all, we must define 2 key moments in
Incubus history, the departure of Gavin Koppel, and the departure of Alex Katunich (Dirk Lance). If the first event saw
Incubus achieve Mainstream success, the second event unfolded into the complete demise of the very roots of the band. Ironically, the bassist that replaced Dirk was on the band
The Roots.
So what does this have to do with this album? It is very simple to explain.
The creative force and inner knitted core of the strongest tracks of the band in the past was the Bass Guitar, with Mike Eiziger himself admitting to just follow the Bass in most tracks. That might be what drove out Dirk Lance from Incubus, since the new driving force of Single-worthy tracks from Incubus is the Classic Guitar. It is too easy to notice the difference in attitude from the bass in late Morning View live permormances and contemporaneous live attempts at those older songs. Even the body language signs of Brandon Boyd shows the lack of bass "soul", which he would mimic by pounding his chest.
And with this front stage overpowering contribute from Mike Eiziger, Killmore is forced to retreat to the sole instrument that can harmonize with Classic Guitar tracks - the Keyboard.
With this in mind, it is easy to understand why this album feels too homogenous, and yet with noticeable attempts to diversify, failing miserably.
Maybe in this Mainstream driven panorama, with so many bands tham seem like clones of each other, until bands such as
The Smashing Pumpkins come back to give a path for music to expand again, this album may see some success in slaes, though lacking in spirit and inovation, the sheer soul of what made
Incubus a name to be remembred, sadly solely for their "old school" force.
So I conclude this review, as short as the time the tracks in this album will endure in the memory of most, and THAT is what makes an album good, no the figures of sales.
