Incubus - Light Grenades

by Mike Haydock

You'd written them off, hadn't you...

"Incubus peaked years ago, and have been on the slide ever since. But ‘Light Grenades’ shows that they’re still a force to be reckoned with."

Frankly, Incubus’ fifth album, ‘A Crow Left Of The Murder’ made no sense whatsoever. A band renowned for muscular, accessible funk rock had either lost the plot or tried to reinvent themselves and failed horribly. The album was jarring, confused and forgettable - a real slump after the swagger of ‘Morning View’.

This follow-up is a return to form; a return to classic song-writing. There are patchy moments where the veneer slips, and Incubus appear weary - let alone the fact that Brandon Boyd looks positively skeletal on the back of the inlay card. Some of the riffs reek of the ‘S.C.I.E.N.C.E.’ era, all muddy and tired, but Incubus have rediscovered the joy of a simple melody that doesn’t need to hop maniacally between semitones to appear intelligent.

Single ‘Anna Molly’ is guilty of the first, but saved by the latter: sludgy riffs that should have stayed in the early ‘90s develop into a fine pop-rock anthem. Meanwhile, ‘Dig’ is a gorgeous, if slushy, song with a soaring chorus that would have been the pick of the bunch on ‘Morning View’ - Boyd sounds reinvigorated by the chance to sing in tune for the first time in two years, and ‘Oil And Water’ and ‘Rogues’ are more complicated, but just as resonant.

This isn’t a career-defining record. Incubus peaked years ago, and have been on the slide ever since. But ‘Light Grenades’ shows that they’re still a force to be reckoned with; a band that fluffed their lines briefly but have fought back. This is an enjoyable album, plain and simple, that has very little new to offer or say, but revels in a recaptured joie de vivre. If it brings one new fan to Incubus’ back catalogue, it’s done its job, while the stalwarts now know there’s life in the old dog yet.

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