Review Summary: Don't be too put off by this album on your first few listens. You may eventually find this as good as S.C.I.E.N.C.E., Make Yourself, and Morning View, and it's still ok if you don't.
Incubus. A band defined by most fans at this time as the one that released S.C.I.E.N.C.E., Make Yourself, Morning View all in succession and showed an ever maturing band that always expanded its boundaries and refused to stick to one defining sound. "Dirk Lance", or Alex Katunich, the bassist that heavily defined aspects of the band's music, suddenly leaves after the end of their Morning View tour, much to the shock of the fans and the band itself. Will the band break up, or will they ever be the same? Guitarist Mike Einziger pulls out Ben Kenney as a permanent replacement for Dirk from his side project band Time-Lapse Consortium in response to this unexpected abandonment, but Ben Kenney has a much different style from Dirk. The band then spends only 2 weeks putting together this album. And what an album it is.
A Crow Left Of The Murder... is a highly experimental album, much different from the nearly mainstream Make Yourself and Morning View. If you are highly accustomed to the sound of their previous albums, it is extremely likely you will despise this album upon first listen, as in fact I know I once did. Yet now I absolutely love it and the tracks easily flow together into each other.
Megalomaniac, the explosive controversial song on this album, starts it off with a bang. The title track that follows initially sounds positively underwhelming but eventually reveals many textural sounds from Pasilla's somewhat technical drum work to Boyd's free flowing vocals, soft yet heavy aural bliss.
Agoraphobia, yet another offbeat song, continues along this path, a little more abrasive, then one of the most accessible tracks on this album
Talk Shows on Mute showcases the band's groove, especially Boyd's almost ethereal vocals (particularly on the line "Come one, come all into 1984") and kept me thinking about the album, the one track on it that I didn't hate.
The underrated funked infused
Beware, Criminal shows the whole band coming together into a catchy sound that is off putting at first but engrossing on later listens. Speaking of funk,
Sick Sad Little World is a funk epic stretched out for 6 whole minutes. It is hypnotically entrancing after enough listens and really reels you into their coalesced sound. DJ Kilmore's scratching announces the arrival of
Pistola, a track that somewhat recalls S.C.I.E.N.C.E. as Boyd sings in rhythm with the band's rough and chaotic beats that off put me a little at first, but I was eventually drawn back in after realizing how it somehow all came together. The love ballad
Southern Girl is very reminiscent of I Miss You from Make Yourself in a way I can't describe adequately, and is an indication of the band's direction in the near future. Equally as chaotic as Pistola is
Priceless, a fast paced track even more reminiscent of S.C.I.E.N.C.E. with Boyd's rapid-fire rapping, verging on extreme annoyance initially but is fun to listen to after you are used to it.
Zee Deveel continues this funky, rap filled direction, while some of Einziger's most unusual guitar riffs are the almost complete focus of this track.
Made For TV Movie comes back to the type of sound last seen on Talk Shows On Mute, which I also highly liked initially.
Smile Lines departs from this sound slightly, another loud track that is very fun to listen to after a bit of an acquired taste. The softest song without a doubt,
Here In My Room takes the direction in Southern Girl one step further as it even includes keyboards playing from DJ Kilmore. It closes off with
Leech, a great song to end with, a somewhat frantic track that ends the album on a good note. I find it hard to point out flaws in this album as I can't imagine it being any other way.
So overall, A Crow Left Of The Murder is surprisingly a great album for Incubus, one that may be a bit (or very) alienating at first for many fans, but you could eventually find a lot to like (or love) about this album.
