Since I just saw Incubus, I’ve been on a huge kick of listening to all their albums and it got me thinking I should do an album rank of their releases. So here you go in order of not their best to best.
Trust Fall Side A:
Morning View:
Light Grenades:
If Not Now, When:
Science:
A Crow Left Of The Murder:
Make Yourself:
When a band is 7 albums into their career, there comes certain expectations for said bands new albums. Sometimes some of the albums released don’t quite hit the right mark, while others go on to leave a lasting impression and inspire others. In the case of Incubus, their career has had quite a few twists and turns. They have managed to put out two really solid albums, 1999’s Make Yourself and 2004’s A Crow Left Of The Murder, while the rest of their catalog is hit or miss, though they have some songs that are really good from those other albums. Incubus’s latest offering Trust Fall (Side A) is 4 songs and 20 minutes of hit and miss. The first song Trust Fall, could almost fit on A Crow Left Of The Murder musically. The vocal melody from Brandon Boyd is very strong and convincing. The rest of the band is really together on that track. In fact after hearing that song you think this could be a really good sign of things to come. Then “Make Out Party” happens. The verse’s have a very obnoxious vocal melody that is cringe-worthy. The chorus is very formulaic, and just doesn’t do anything special for the song. The first single and third track “Absolution Calling,” is catchy as can be for the band. It’s got a groove to the beat and bass line that follows a very catchy melody. At first listen to this song, you wonder what happened to the Incubus of old, but it does grow on you quite fast. Sadly the EP ends with “Dance Like You’re Dumb” a song that is just awful. This songs makes it seem like Mike Eizinger has spent too much time hanging out and working with electronic artists.
So of the four songs, only two of them are worthy, leaving this “Trust Fall” pretty much a Trust Fail (pun totally intended). For the most part I’ve always enjoyed Incubus. Even on this albums that were misses over the years, I’ve found songs that I can listen to. I don’t know what they were thinking with this one. This EP was also self produced, so the lack of having a producer around seems like that made all the difference. Had they gone back to work with Brendan O’Brien (Who has done all their albums since A Crow Left Of The Murder), this newest release could have ended up differently.
Scale of 1-10: 5
Trust Fall:
Make Out Party:
Absolution Calling:
Dance Like You’re Dumb:
By: Brian Lacy
