Incubus Complete Discography Review

Incubus Complete Discography Review 

Incubus

Fungus Amongus (1995)

Genre: Funk Metal

Here we have Incubus's first album and these dudes are in their formative period, the band is searching for their style and you can hear pretty obviously the bands that influenced them like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, and Faith No More.

Now instrumentally and vocally these guys really show off what good musicians they are, but their song writing skill still has little bit to go but this album is pretty enjoyable, it's not just for hardcore fans. Note there are no DJ or Keys in the band yet.

Overall: 53.5

Incubus

S.c.i.e.n.c.e. Sailing Catamarans is Every Nautical Captains Ecstasy (1997)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Nu Metal, Funk Metal, Rap Metal  

The story behind the first time I heard this album starts long time ago; you see I had super heavy rap metal band when I was about 16/17 years old and we need a singer, so with my guitar player Fede we went to talk to a guy that every one called Bunchi, he was older than us, had tons of tattoos and he was pretty large dude. He was perfect as a front man, we didn’t care if he could sing or write, he just scared the shit out of people. We arrived at this guys house and he’s about the nicest person that I ever met we sit down and chat and pop in a VHS, it was the Family Values Tour video,  I get see for the first time live Korn, Limp Bizkit and Orgy live ( back then there was no youtube so you depended on MTV, Much Music or these Video that you had to buy via catalogue and they took forever to get where I lived in Argentina). The thing is Bunchi invites use to Mc Donalds to get something to eat. So we jump in his car  and in his CD player he has Science, I was blown away when I heard this album, I liked so much that I  made this guy lend it to me. Bunchi got the place in the band and he did a great job singing.

Vocals and Lyrics: Brandon does an excellent job on this album, but for some reason at moments he sounds like he’s imitating Mike Patton’s (Faith No More) way of singing, especial in the way he accents certain words.   9

Instrumentation:                                                                

Guitar: Mike’s plays probably his heaviest and more Metal Guitars in the incubus catalogue, and pulls of some great solos and he does some interesting stuff.

Bass: Dirk Lance’s wild slapping on a “Certain Shade of Green” and “New Skin” made me an immediate Incubus convert   

Drums: Jose Pasillas plays more heavily and aggressively on this album to better accompany the band through this Nu Metal phase.   

Dj: DJ Life does an ok job, but nothing to brilliant; he doesn’t differentiate himself from other turntablists in other band, he’s no  Killmore.   7.6                                               

Melody and/or Structure: Structure wise the songs have a basic pop structure but they do have some surprises and the do mix thing up in “Nebula”, which is heavily in influenced by Fantomas. Melody does play a major role in most of their songs but not as much that in latter projects. 8

 

Sound, Production and Feeling: The album is mix like a Nu Metal Album so drums and bass are heavy in the mix, which make me happy, but other than that there is nothing special in the production.   8

Songs: 12

The Bad: Nothing.

Originality: Incubus bring a lot to the table fusing tons of genres and most of the time it works, but they can’t really break away from bands that influenced them I can hear Fantomas, Mr. Bungles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Korn…, this we will see in there next album where they make a true sound and style of their own.  9

Overall: 53.6

Incubus

Make Your Self (1999)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Nu Metal, Alternative Rock, Funk

I remember when this album came out because it’s first album that a friend of mine downloaded for me. It took about a week to get all the tracks, the internet connection and speed back then was terrible. The thing was MP 3 CDs back then sounded crap, so I ended up as usual buying the original CD, already knowing what a kickass album it was.

Vocals and Lyrics: Brandon is on top of his game, he sings fantastically and some of the lyrics are really good. 10

Instrumentation:

Guitar: Mike Eizinger is one of my favorite guitar players out there, he’s very skilled at playing and his intelligent use of pedals blows my mind. He takes the songs to another level with his original playing. He trademarks those atmospheric guitar swells and establishes his playing style in general.    

Bass: No more slapping for Mr. Lance, but do not worry there are some really good bass playing on this album, especially the bass line to “Nowhere Fast” (wow).

Drums: Jose Pasillas and his Chad Sexton/ Stewart Copeland roots help differentiate this band from any other alternative rock/metal, giving them there super cool groove.

Dj: Chris Killmore does an incredibly good job, there is no transition phase for this guy, he fits perfectly in the band; I like him much more than their previus DJ. His sample selection for each song is just perfect.7.3          

Melody and Structure: The band shows off how they have become very gifted song writers and there musicianship is at service to the songs, very few bands reach this level of musical maturity, and there is still room to grow   10

Sound, Production and Feeling: The band also starts to establish their particular sound and general mood for all of their upcoming albums 9

Songs: Every song on this album is great, and I love this album so much that I’ve learned how to play every track on bass and guitar, it's very fun to play. Here's link to ma favorite song on the album liveThe Warmth  14

The Bad: Nothing.

Originality: These guys really differentiated themselves from the rest of the band in the nu metal pack and this album is just the tip of the Iceberg.  10

Overall: 61.3

Incubus

Morning View (2001)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Alternative Rock, Alternative Pop, Funk

Ok this is one of my all-time favorite albums,  I got this album on the same day that I got Systems of a Down’s Toxicity, and I was blown away by how good both of these albums were. Pretty much for a whole month I only listened to these two albums. So let’s not waste any more time, here we go with my review:   

Vocals and Lyrics: Brandon does an excellent job on this album; and he  keeps on growing as gifted singer.   10

Instrumentation:                                                                

Guitar: Mike's guitar playing in general is still maturing and growing, this guy does some pretty cool and original stuff.

Bass: Dirk Lance’s has some really good bass lines general, but “Are You In” is probable the best one, it`s easy and fun to play, just perfect for Jamming.

Drums: Jose Pasillas, the guy does impeccable job.    

Dj: Chris Killmore has selection of samples for this album that just gets better and better, he keeps things simple but interesting. 7.1                                                        

Melody and Structure: The band goes out on a limb on this album, it’s much mellower than any of their previous productions, and they pull off a few ballads and show there more adult pop side. There use of melody, atmospherics and mood just shows how these guys are growing musically. 10

  

Sound, Production and Feeling: They consolidate what they started on Make Yourself; they sound less and less like a nu metal band, forging their own particular sound and style. 10

Songs: No fillers 13

The Bad: Nothing.

Originality: Digging even deeper in their new established sound, style and sophistication, really making a name for themselves, breaking into the mainstream without compromising musical quality. Here's a little gift Morning View Sessions 10

Overall: 60.1

Incubus

A Crow Left of the Murder… (2004)  

Genre: Alternative Metal, Alternative Rock, Alternative Pop  

I was really skeptical with this album, I thought it was going to suck because Dirk wasn’t in the band anymore and they brought in Ben Kenny that wasn’t a bass player but a guitar player from the Roots. When I started to listen to this CD in my car driving to the university, which was 20 minutes from my house, I was pleasantly surprised to hear a band that was pushing themselves trying new stuff, it seemed like Dirk was holding them back. I must add that I arrived really late to my classes because I had to listen to the whole album twice in the parking lot.   

Vocals and Lyrics: Brandon tries to mix it up a little; he experiment with some new vocal approaches. 10

Instrumentation:                                                                

Guitar: Mike Einziger, enters officially in my pantheon of guitar gods, he does all kinds of crazy solos, uses even crazier pedals and experiments a lot with his playing.  

Bass: Ben Kenny, even though he’s actually a guitar player, he’s a much more well rounded bass player than Dirk Lance. Ben polls off some stunning bass arrangements.    

Drums: Jose Pasillas, has a different approach to the heavier songs and there is special attention by the producer on the drums to  emphasize heaviness mixing them differently at certaint moments.      

Dj: Kilmore uses most the experimental samples in his arsenal, and nails it. 8                               

Melody and/or Structure: There writing takes a quantum leap in sophistication and complexity, either in their melodic ballads like songs or there hard rockers, the band experiments a lot in the way they   compos each track, the album has a ton of surprises. 12

 

Sound, Production and Feeling: Brendan O’Brien unleashes an Incubus that can really rock but isn’t heavy in the conventional sense, the guitar isn’t super heavy; instead he mixes the drums especially at certain moments for those rock out moments.    

Songs: Every song except for one is a gem, and “Sick Sad Little World” is incubus’s Magnum Opus 13

The Bad: The “Song Made for TV Move” is dog caca, it’s terrible and it doesn’t even fit in the context of the album. -1

Originality: Here we can find Incubus at their creative peak and really hungry.  10

Overall: 62

Incubus

Light Grenades (2006)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Alternative Rock, Alternative Pop  

In this album we can find Incubus going down the path they started in a Crow… fine tuning there song writing. There isn’t anything too revolutionary about this album, but it’s pretty solid, so here we go with my review.    

                                 

Vocals and Lyrics: Brandon starts finding more comfort in ballads type song really stretching his legs on these types of tracks, but also does a great job on the rocker too. 9

Instrumentation:                                                                

Guitar: Mike Einziger, doesn’t try to lift the bar solo wise, in this album. His playing is at his normal level and his sonic pallet of pedals as usual is pretty interesting.  

Bass: Ben Kenny, he doesn’t play that much on this album, no stunning armaments.  

Drums: They repeat what they did in the previous album, using Jose’s drums to accent the heaviness and frantic energy in the rocker songs.

Dj: Kilmore, doesn’t use his turntables that much, you can hear him using other instruments like a  Hammod B3, a Moog Voyager, a fenders Rhodes,   Theremin…, good bye to scratching. 7.1

Melody and/or Structure: The band has learned how to establish a equilibrium between their heavy tracks and radio friendly ballads. 10  

Sound, Production and Feeling: O’Brien does pretty much the same tricks that he did on Incubus previous album.  10  

Songs: There are good additions to the incubus catalogue, the album doesn’t have any fillers. 15

The Bad:  

                                                                                                                         

Originality: They don’t break new ground, but it’s a really solid album and it’s more focused than a Crow.. 8

Overall: 59.1 

 

Incubus

If Not Now, When? (2011)

Genre: Alternative Rock

Man this album is a letdown, it totally uninspired and insipid, with the real Incubus appearing only on two or three tracks. It's like the band tried to do a adult contemporary album, their mind set was ok we are older we got to make a mature album jajajaja, but the material sucks. 

Overall: 50

Incubus

8 (2017)

Genre:  Alternative Rock

So I was really pumped with the Trust Fall Ep. I thought to myself Incubus are back super reinvigorated, then it took them  forever  to finally put this production out and it was pretty big letdown. Half of the album feels pretty uninspired and the mix sucks, even though Skrillex helmed most of the production. The bad production caught me off guard because of Skrillex's background in Dub Step, I thought it was going to be at least be an interesting sonic trip, but  the bass and the drums sound weak, a general lack of bottom end in the sound, and the lack of experimentation with electronics.     

There  are four tracks that impressed me "Glitter Bomb" with a cool break, "Loneliest"  the only track where they took a couple interesting risks with the production,  Love in the Time of Surveillance" that has a awesome bass line, which I must say the only moment where Ben Kenny is relevant in the whole album ( what a waste of talent) and "Throw out the Map" that ends the album with a bang. This  album is pretty redundant to the incubus catalogue, they played it way to safe. 

Overall: 51.5