A Crow Left of the Murder is Incubus’ musically amazing and environmentally sound new album.
The Calabasas, Calif., band gained recognition in 1999 with the release Make Yourself, their third album. Two albums and a couple of chart toppers later, Incubus has gone everywhere but unnoticed.
The album’s first release, “Megalomaniac,” and the title track leap out, exhibiting a distaste for the power hungry and an appreciation for the individual with vociferous sounds and catchy drum beats. If anyone asks what constitutes modern rock, play them one of these tracks.
If you want to hear songs more like “I Wish You Were Here,” there’s plenty here to cheer at. On cuts like “Talk Show On Mute” and “Made For TV Movie,” Brandon Boyd still sings in that crisp way that makes him seem like he spent his adolescence testing his vocal chords.
Those who prefer music with clarion purity such as N’SYNC or Britney Spears are probably going to find tracks such as “Pistola,” “Priceless” and “Zee Deveel” hightened beyond their realm of matching shirts and socks. So listen carefully or you might find yourself out past midnight somewhere playing Twister.
But don’t let that disappoint you. Boyd and company’s efforts on “Southern Girl” and “Agoraphobia” will probably obtain them enough mainstream attention to make the playlist of your favorite radio station in the not-so-distant future.
Every song may not have the haunting mass appeal of Make Yourself’s “Drive,” but you have to consider the uncharacteristic arrangement of the album as a whole. It is a cultivation of sophisticated ideas and creative music and-not to mention-chicks dig it.
In addition to producing a great new album, Incubus and Future Forest, a British environmental group, will plant enough trees to re-absorb the amount of carbon dioxide it took to produce and distribute the Feb. 4 release.
Occasionally you might wonder if they’re paying homage to Hendrix with the chaotic riffs that keep good company with Jim’s 1969 rendition of the “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Ultimately, this is Incubus in their prime after 14 years of determination to make good music.
The band rides along an exciting mood roller coaster adopting a passionate embrace of experience for the sake of a graduated understanding from their earlier yet very similar recordings.