lambchops's Full Review: A Crow Left of the Murder by Incubus (Metal)
Under whelmed by previous efforts, I admittedly had little hope for the new Incubus album. A Crow Left of the Murder, the fifth full-length album from the hit making rockers doesn’t do much to improve my perceptions of the band but it does provide a moment or two sonic ecstasy—but they last ever so briefly and in the end can’t sway my opinion.
I am not a fan of the Brandon Boyd-led band and I am by no means a fan of A Crow Left of the Murder. As little as I like Incubus, I must admit that the first single Megalomaniac peaks my curiosity ever so slightly. Though, with that said I can’t say I like the start of the track or the end. Rather I find myself compelled by the kinetic chorus. If the entire song was that fast and fun it would be incredible. Alas I must instead point to bits and pieces and say “that one little part is good.”
This, my friends, is not the work of a great band. Incubus is like many others the product of a rock scene in turmoil. They are rightly categorized as “nu metal” and as expected blend painfully into their sound-alike contemporaries. A Crow Left of the Murder doesn’t expand upon their style nor will it appeal to a different or more mature audience. Listening to the new album is quite a chore—it waxes and wanes (mostly wanes) thus making it a difficult task to fully and properly digest the fourteen songs.
Brandon Boyd (vocals), Mike Eizinger (guitar), Ben Kenney (bass), José Pasillas (drums), and Chris Kilmore (DJ) have to many proven themselves talented with a slew of hit singles. Burned into the psyches of rock radio listeners everywhere past hits Drive, Wish You Were Here, Pardon Me and Nice To Know You have spurred the band on to multi-millions of sales. But that doesn’t do enough for me—I never likes those tracks and perhaps stupidly hoped for improvement with A Crow Left of the Murder.
Stupid indeed. I already mentioned Megalomaniac’s occasional appeal…but what about the thirteen other tracks? Prepare to once again be unimpressed. Most songs are incredibly bland and rather generic. Megalomaniac smacks of this (when not kicking butt with the chorus) but the truly banality of Incubus shines through starting with the title track. Lacking direction, emotion, and in the end purpose it is a well-recorded but incredibly shoddily written song.
Nothing improves as the disc hollowly plods along. Maybe if Boyd was a little more distinctive the songs would be better—then again that would be assuming that they are well written. And, uh, well…they’re not. Agoraphobia is a repetitive mid-tempo pseudo-rocker. If this is indeed rock n’ roll (which it is purported to be) than these guys need a major shot of adrenaline. Not just that, but I can’t accept the crappy harmonies or for that matter shoddy lyrics:
I read the news today
and everything they say
just makes me wanna stay inside and wait
but a part of me knows
that waiting in the throws
is all apart with reading with my eyes closed
"what can i do" you say
its just another day
in the life of apes with ego trips
put down your hollow sips
and kiss your lovers lips
and know that fate is what we make of it
One thing that I hate about some bands is that they are angry and disillusioned for no particular reason. Incubus is of this sort. Tossing in themes as cliché as war, hate, inhumanity, and general pissiness the band lacks honesty and humility and in return their songs too are lacking in real emotion. Another thing I despise about Incubus is that each of their songs sounds the same. Most are mid-tempo, most feature Boyd singing in a forced pseudo-bad-boy manner, and most have repetitive melodies. These descriptors apply to a number of the songs on A Crow Left of the Murder--Talk Show on Mute, Sick, Sad Little World, Southern Girl, Made For TV Movie and Leech are the worst offenders. Leech in particular is awful because the mix of Boyd’s bone chillingly bad voice and the Limp Bizkit musical elements is unbearable.
Of course not everything sounds identical. Pistola is particularly “different” but in this case the differences are not for the betterment of the album. It’s the kind of track that is immediately offensive with unnecessary, ugly, and irritating opening noise. Further investigation into the songs turns up little more of redeeming quality. Beware? Criminal, Priceless, See Deveel and Here In My Room are probably the best offerings on this album but they will likely never see the light of day when fans actually (god forbid) desire those sound-alike songs. Not that these are great, mind you, but they are modestly better.
My main suggestion in regards to A Crow Left of the Murder is to not waste you time or money. That is, of course, unless you are a die hard Incubus fan in which case I’m positive you’ll love this. I’m not impressed by Incubus. I’m not impressed by this album. In fact, I find the music to be painfully derivative and Boyd’s voice to be largely annoying. Maybe if they actually rocked I’d see more redeeming value in these songs.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Megalomaniac
02. A Crow Left Of The Murder
03. Agoraphobia
04. Talk Shows On Mute
05. Beware? Criminal
06. Sick, Sad Little World
07. Pistola
08. Southern Girl
09. Priceless
10. See Deveel
11. Made For TV Movie
12. Smile Lines
13. Here In My Room
14. Leech
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