I’ve been listening to the new Incubus album, “Light Grenades” and I have to say I’m pretty impressed. Their last disc, “A Crow Left of The Murder” was a disappointment to me, aside from the politically-charged, “Megalomaniac” and “Talk Show On Mute” tracks. As a result, I’ve been eagerly anticipating their next release, since their acclaimed Morning View album, which happens to be my personal favorite. Without a doubt one of my favorite things about Incubus is that they have resisted conforming to any one musical genre and they have a great ability create very diverse peices of music…good music. This ability is ever-present in their latest release. In fact, Incubus’ guitarist Mike Einziger told MTV “It sounds like 13 different bands playing 13 different songs…”

The album starts off fairly mellow with “Quicksand” which blends right into the more energetic second track, “A Kiss To Send Us Off”. This track immediately explodes into a bassline and guitar riff that you just can’t help but rock your head to. Next up, is a three hit combo of “Dig” (one of my favorite tracks on the album), “Anna Molly” and “Love Hurts”. These tracks in particular, have the more poppy, Morning View feel, than the rest of the album. “Dig” has such an infectious melody and elaborate lyrics as Boyd uses the word “dig” in various different ways. “Anna Molly” (the first release) is exploding with energy and Brandon Boyd’s vocals soar, making this an obvious chart topper. While the title and the content of “Love Hurts” is a cliche’ to say the least, the band injects their energy into it, making it something more, and alltogether an inspiring track. Next is the title track, having lyrics as thought provoking as the reason behind the name. Here’s an interesting quote from Boyd on this:
“There’s a song called that on the record and it felt like the most pertinent conceptual aspect of the album, the idea of throwing ideas at problems and the ideas explode with light and good results and intention on consciousness,” Boyd muses. “So I started imagining imagery of students in different countries protesting and throwing Molotov cocktails with masks over their faces. But there’s one brave student who runs up to the police line and, as opposed to throwing rocks or things that destroy, there’s this concept of that one courageous, lonely student running up and throwing ideas and having them actually change things. It just seemed kind of a cool concept-the redefining of weaponry.”

Skipping ahead a bit, we find a couple of tracks that are more vintage Incubus. The first, Rogue is one of the heavier tracks on the album. This track starts off mellow but quickly erupts into a full on, grinding, guitar riff, accompanied by Boyd’s super-charged vocals. Yet another awesome track you can’t avoid moving to. Finally, another favorite track on the album, is Pendulous Threads. This track starts of with drums and some interesting guitar distortion which fades into a catchy melody. It also features some of the best guitar work on the album with a great guitar solo about two-thirds through.
This album is a great listen from beginning to end and is currently my second favorite overall. For Incubus fans this is a definate must buy and for non-Incubus fans I’d say this is a good album to begin your fandom with!!

Rating: [rate 4.5]

You really can’t help but tap your feet to some of the addictive beats such as that of the third track on the album “One And The Same” Cornell’s voice is in top form as usual having no trouble jumping from subdued to full on wailing and blending a gritty, soulful sound with the funk of the guitars. His lyrics are top-notch and as inpiring and thought-provoking as ever. My current favorite track on the album is the title track. It starts off quietly with light guitars but quickly explodes into an insanely addictive, hard-rocking track. I wasn’t one of those who thought Audioslave was done after the release of Out Of Exile, but do think this album is much better. OOE had a few excellent tracks, but the rest wasn’t much to speak of. While the hits on this album may be of a smaller magnitude, there is not a bad track on the album, making it a much more even listen. Overall, I rate this album excellent and it is a must have for Audioslave fans.

Rating: [rate 4.5]