After listening to the opening track on Incubus' newest release, "A Crow Left of the Murder..." I kept skipping track to track in search of another song that rocked.
Or at least, kind of rocked. I would even have been satisfied with a five on the scale o' rock, which goes to 11.
But I realized the newest popular radio hit for the band, "Megalomaniac," was the hardest song on the album. Music doesn't have to be heavy to be good, but Incubus has proven it's a good band when the result is rock with a slice of funk.
Most of the songs on "A Crow Left of the Murder..." sound exactly the same. The songs seem like they were made with the goal of selling out arenas and force panties to fly, rather than for the joy of creating great music.
This brand of Prozac-calm contemporary rock sounds fake, especially when compared to a release such as Incubus' earlier "Enjoy Incubus" EP.
Musically, "A Crow Left of the Murder..." is a solid album. As a five-piece band, Incubus has the ability to achieve a strong, powerful sound - the one thing that's consistent on the album. The music is powerful and it's full of beautiful syncretism between the four different instruments used. And the fifth instrument, singer Brandon Boyd's voice, is also beautiful. Boyd can definitely sing, but it seems like Boyd strives to be seen as an artist rather than a singer.
What I mean is, this latest album seems overly processed and almost too thorough to be taken seriously. I think perhaps Boyd started to take himself too seriously. Remember the days when he sang about being a "hot dancer" or about how TV sucks? There are no carefully crafted or humorous lyrics in this album, making the new Incubus seem even more pretentious than the 2001 release, "Morning View."
Musicians are artists, but it seems to me from the last two albums from Incubus that Boyd wants so badly to create a masterpiece that belongs hung up behind glass in a museum, rather than the free, unparalleled creativity that set Incubus apart from most other bands in the 1990s.
I'm picking mostly on Boyd because the rest of the band still sounds pretty damn good.
"Southern Girl" is the worst. It's like a cheesy Valentine from Boyd.
"If you're looking for an open book/Look no further, I am yours/ We'll behave like animals and swing from tree to tree/We can do anything that turns you up/And sets you free."
The song "Here In My Room," sounds so forced and contrived that it's hard to imagine anyone in the band enjoying himself while performing it.
And even when Boyd sings the f-word in the album's final song, "Leech," it sounds like he's just saying it to add a slight edge to the otherwise G-rated album.
If you liked the Incubus albums "Fungus Amongus" or "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." and are expecting the band's newest release to be something along those lines, you will be disappointed.
But, if commercial, radio-friendly pop-rock is your bag, "A Crow Left of the Murder..." is an essential addition to a collection of weak music.
Suggested listening: While in an overpriced coffee shop in an overrated town, such as, Ann Arbor.
