Review Summary:
When it’s all said and done “Light Grenades” shares common traits that all great albums have. An amazing set of songs with one or two blemishes that tie up into one great package.
Incubus – Light Grenades
I remember as a kid listening to my brother’s albums he used to keep in one of his CD catalogues. I’d pop in some unknown disc into my walkman, sit back and let the sound flood my mind. Truly it was an awesome “ritual” I suppose you could say, that was always intensified with the addition of one significant band: Incubus.
Words cannot describe how nervous I was for this band when I picked up their newest album “Light Grenades” on the 28th. Would they redeem themselves from their lackluster “A Crow Left of The Murder”? Would it flop? Will one of my favourite bands to date become forgotten and dissipate? I was genuinely worried for this band. Luckily after two listens my worries were laid to rest, the band had indeed redeemed themselves of their last depressingly, unlistenable effort and have come forth with something very much true to themselves.
Though the album is better than “A Crow Left of The Murder” by a large margin, it’s not like that should be saying that much. “A Crow” wasn’t that much of an album at all, their singles stunk, their political standpoint stunk and their overall sound just wasn’t Incubus. When I was listening to “Light Grenades” for the first time I could instantly tell that there was a reminiscent sound that brought back “A Crow Left of The Murder” nostalgia, I was worried at first, but it seems like this time around they’ve made it work. “Love Hurts” sounds as if it was actually ripped off of “A Crow” and actually shares a similar sound to that of “In My Room”. The difference you’ll find is that this time around it doesn’t sound bad, instead it has a very welcoming resonance to it.
Within this album lies an assortment of truly excellent songs. “Rogues” and “Anna Molly” to name a few. “Anna Molly” has that sort of generic Incubus song that you just want to jump in the air and rock out to. It has a similar effect that “Pardon Me” had back in 1999. “Rogues” on the other hand has a completely genuine feel to it and tends to surpass the album in its entirety. The presentation of a seemingly original sound just works and gets my recommendation for at the very least a download, it’s simply amazing.
Of course no album goes without at least something lagging behind. While the majority of the album gets the green-light, songs like the opener “Quicksand”, “Light Grenades” fall short to the majority of the album. I tried to get into the albums self-titled song but I just couldn’t, it just seems sloppy and comes across as a blemish on this relatively good album. “Quicksand” isn’t that bad per se, but it serves as the opener to “A Kiss to Send Us Off”. The song isn’t strong enough to stand on its own legs without “A Kiss to Send Us Off” so it just doesn’t make sense the cut the two. So in the end by itself it’s not the best song but linked with track number two and it works great. This “half-baked” feel I guess you could say, can be found also on the Earth to Bella duo. Both songs are great but only when you delve deep into them.
It should be noted that Einziger’s work for this album is truly amazing. It just screams originality and is a breath of fresh air as does Brandon’s voice. The two of them have always bounced off of each other wonderfully and in the case of “Light Grenades” it’s no different.
When it’s all said and done “Light Grenades” shares common traits that all great albums have. An amazing set of songs with one or two blemishes that tie up into one great package. This album will indeed go down as one of Incubus’s best works to date, after listening to it countless times I can safely say that it’s on par with that of “Morning View” which itself was a wonderful album. Happy listening Incubus fans, your ears will not be displeased with this album.
