Review Summary: Light Grenades, like every new Incubus album, sounds like nothing they've done before, whilst half they hit the mark, the album also features some fairly mediocre tracks and fails to reach the very high standards of some of their earlier releases.
INTRO-
Incubus pretty much defined my teenage years in terms of music. From 'SCIENCE' to 'Morning View' I felt they just kept on improving and maturing. Then 'Crow Left Of The Murder' was released in 2004 and despite trying my best to like the new sound the band had adopted, I just didn't all that much despite a couple of gems such as 'Meglomaniac' and 'Here In My Room'. Whether it was the change in the lineup or just a new direction Incubus were heading in all along I just didn't identify with my favourite band as I had in the past. I guess thats what comes when you set the benchmark so high with a, major label, debut like 'SCIENCE'. Despite this as soon as 'Light Grenades' was penciled for release, I couldn't help but get excited as hell, and finally the other night it was unleashed...
THE REVIEW-
'Light Grenades' kicks off with a rather unusual song 'Quicksand'. I say song but really this is just a short intro to the album so anyone expecting a kickass opener like 'Meglomaniac' or 'Redefine' may be disappointed. It has a very experimental sound to it, with electronic beeps interspersing the low key guitar ambience, whilst Brandons vocals are given a far off sound to them until it all breaks into somewhat of a thundering chorus. Although I probably would have prefered a straight up opener, its a pretty cool intro and fades nicely into the next track (ala Dark Side Of The Moon). 'A Kiss To Send Us Off' is thus the real kickass opener to the album. It begins with its own awesome 'War Of The Worlds alien'-like horns/ air raid effect- which in my opinion is one of the coolest intros to a song Incubus have created alongside the Whales on 'The Warmth'. The song itself reminds me alot of 'Meglomaniac' and is really Incubus doing what they do best, rocking out, and is sure to be a concert staple from now onwards.
'Dig' is as Brandon and Mike described it the most toiled over Incubus song ever and you can see why when you hear it. Its perhaps the most 'unIncubus' song they've written with its very mainstream, even pop edge to it. Not that any of these things are bad necessarily, in fact instrumentally I like it quite a lot, its the just the verse lyrics which I think mar an otherwise pleasant song. Usually I love Brandons lyrics but here on the verses it sounds like hes reaching a little, however the chorus is stronger and especially towards the end with the backwards guitar solo, the song soars. I expect this one will divide fans more than any other, on the whole I quite like it. 'Anna Molly', the albums lead single follows, with its Police-ish punk riff and insanely catchy verses. This one grew on me alot and is definetly one the strongest tracks from the album. It discusses the theme of the perfect girl in your head, which probably doesnt exist in reality, hence it is appropriately placed before a more realistic idea of love- one which can 'transcend the bad things'...
'Love Hurts' is another 'unIncubus' sounding song, and to be honest I didn't like it when I heard the live version they did over the summer. However, I actually love this song now I hear the studio version, lyrics like 'love sings when it transcends the bad thing' and 'never loose what I had as a boy' really hit the mark as I said. You've also got Kilmore on the mellatron (of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' fame) adding an extra dimension to it. One of the highights for me. In fact Kilmore takes to the keyboard quite a bit on this album, gone are the stratches of 'Make Yourself', -'Diamond and Coal' for instance, a track which sounds like Ben Kennys solo work to some extent mixed with Princes 80s hits, is a good example of this though a fairly standard song itself. Alot of the tracks in the middle of the album fall into this category of very listenable but ultimately quite average songs- 'Oil and Water', 'Earth To Bella- Part 1' and this is perhaps the albums main weakness, though these songs may grow on me in time of course. I can't understand why 'Earth To Bella' was cut in two either- especially at the best part in the song (a quite acoustic solo which sounded very whistful in the live whole version). Apparently it was 'super producer' Brendan O'Brians idea......
Thankfully after this dip in quality midway through the album, it all kicks off again with the infectiously rocking 'Rogues' with its wacky lyrics about the 'Rogues' of evolution, an ode to individualism perhaps?- certainly one of my favourite songs on the album. 'Pendulous Threads' is similarly another one the best songs, opening with a 'Priceless' sounding riff, and breaking in to a fast paced track reminiscent of many tracks off 'Crow Left Of The Murder', except alot better. Although I'm not a big fan of the production on this track like Brandons whispered vocals over the chrous lines, but nevertheless a superb song. The phrenetic title track also sounds like something from 'Crow...' but again in better way. Ive never particularly loved this side of Incubus but its bound to be a fan favourite. Paper Shoes' is another interesting track wedged at the end of the album. The acoustic verses intially rmind me of 'Blackbird' by The Beatles, whilst Joses drumming never sounded better, though the chorus doesnt quite match the verses in quality.
I think you may have picked up from this review that Mikey was right in describing it as 13 songs which sound like they were written by 13 different bands. The sound is certainly very diverse and whilst at times it works very well e.g. 'Anna Molly' or 'A Kiss To Send Us Off', there are also times when it doesn't e.g. Oil and Water. Overall I'd have to say that it is a better album than 'Crow Left Of The Murder', but still falls someway short of albums like 'SCIENCE', 'Make Yourself' and 'Morning View'. Just over half of it is as good as those albums, i.e. superb, but the other half is fairly mediocre. Also having now heard the two cut tracks (features on the Japanese import) 'Punch Drunk' and 'Look Alive' I can't help but think, particularly 'Punch Drunk', could have replaced one or two of the weaker tracks in the middle of the album. Part of me was a bit disappointed to be honest but there are enough great songs to satisfy me as a fan and enough reason to suspect they can pull another superb album out of the bag in the future for me to be optimistic, I only hope Incubus don't completely abandon their funk/hip-hop roots in the future as they seem to be doing at the moment...
CLOSING COMMENTS-
If you're an open minded Incubus fan then you'll probably buy this eitherway and you can expect to be pretty happy, although I wouldn't read into the hype about this being their greatest album, for music fans in general there is certainly a fair number of awesome tracks here and theres no 'bad' songs either so you should consider it. Me, well I've certainly connected with this album more than their last and there have been moments of pure ecstasy at times listening to it, and this had confirmed their status as my favourite band- its not their best album, nor is it a great album, but its an ok one overall and you can be sure as hell I'll be anticipating the next one as much as ever.
OVERALL- 3.6
KEY TRACKS-
Anna Molly
A Kiss To Send Us Off
Love Hurts
Pendulous Threads
