Scissor Fights and Elvis (A Crow Left Of The Murder - Incubus)

Member Name: MizzMolko

Product:	A Crow Left Of The Murder - Incubus
Date:	01/08/09 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some undeniably killer tracks that you will get stuck in your head

Disadvantages: There is filler and too much repetition, could sound a bit too much the same

Incubus were a band that I discovered by accident when scrolling through the music channels one day. MTV2 is the ultimate source for rock based music and hosts artists from all across the world, even though its primary focus is American and British acts. Before I'd heard the fifth album from the Californian five piece, I'd managed to catch the mellow but strongly sung 'Drive' and 'Wish You Were Here' a couple of times but overall thought of them to be a little bit average.

Incubus are still a bit of an underground sensation, as they never seem to have enough courage to release songs from their albums officially, with half of the singles on this collection being heard only on the radio. In many ways, it's because of their somewhat tedious sound; as you will learn, they seem to be a bit limited on many occasions in terms of the varying of emotions and the use of instruments is quite bland. Yet, one thing that many more experienced fans should be expecting is a brief change of bass technique, an underlying instrument that sometimes can stand alone in a song and make it sound a lot moodier than intended.

This is mainly because the bands original bassist, Dirk Lance as his stage name calls him, left the group in 2003 and was replaced by Ben Kenney, who had played for a hip hop outfit called The Roots beforehand. There were already some of those influences within the band with Chris Kilmore on the turntables. None of the other band are big hitting names that you'll know at the drop of the hat but joining them on this record are Jose Pasillas on drums, Mike Einziger on the lead guitar and Brandon Boyd on the mic which is without a doubt the bands biggest asset in many ways with a slightly nasal but strong voice that can carry many of the somewhat ordinary tracks into a more memorable place.

On many occasions, Incubus have been dubbed as a bit of a Linkin Park clone group, the latter being much more successful and widely recognised than Incubus themselves. It's pretty much a lazy thing to pit the two against one another; LP's lyrics are a lot darker, intentional angsty and altogether designed to target those in the awkward stage of adolescence. Incubus however crosses that demographic well; in spite of their overall sound being a bit symmetrical to one another, there is a variation in there somewhere but it does take quite a dedicated listener a few times to uncover this.

SINGLES
'Megalomaniac' has many qualities that makes it an excellent first single; contagious, fidgety with an odd lyric to make it a frankly awe consuming first track. The beginning of scratching and various sound effects that make it sound like a light sabre fight is underway in the background soon mounts into ear splitting outburst of guitars and drums. Being politically charged, in light of the power struggle that the world often sees between countries, the surreal video pronounces that journey with images of Stalin and Hitler. The break down in the middle displays some of the softer and higher vocal ranges of lead singer Brandon and for that reason in itself is one of the bands greatest achievements across the board.

'Talk Show On Mute', the other single that was released with a video package, has a little bit of an eighties electro feel to it which splutter at the beginning much in the same way the first song did. It also looks at some of the choices on a different scheme of things, this time welcoming the listener to '1984' with reference to the doping of society with mind numbing TV. Written on a plane, after Brandon was narrating a talk show to the masses, it peaked at #3 in the American charts but the anger that the lyrics sometimes tinker with is a little lost in the mix vocally but may have been used as a way to display the apathy also implied here.

The two songs that were radio only releases were two good choices as they did act as a way to promote the album as something that would be a good listen for more commercial appreciating fans and otherwise. 'Agoraphobia' focuses heavily on its name sake, talking about the 'wanting to stay inside'. There is a lacking of intensity here which I felt would be a necessity within a song that discussed a panic disorder and it seems that the passion of the vocals was very distant. 'Sick Sad Little World' started off promisingly; there's a really effective dark echo effect that distorted the overall vibe and made it very moody and destructive track. It had many ways of dipping in and out of softer and heavier tones but the main problem was that it dragged on a bit too long and didn't do enough to hold a listeners interest for all of the six plus minutes.

'DO YOU GET IT YET?' (The killer album tracks; lyric from 'A Crow Left Of The Murder')
The album's title track featured all the force that a song such as 'Agoraphobia' should have held dear. It has a strong bass line to and the guitars really uped the momentum before some of the stunted guitar moments towards the end. 'A Crow Left Of The Murder' is more of a track that prides itself on it tune as opposed to its story but it holds its own on here in quite an imposing way. The same if true of 'Beware! Criminal'; it follows the impossibly mellow 'Talk Show On Mute' and is another mid tempo track that lets the music drive the lyrics. Yet, the main issue with this is that sometimes it drowns out Brandon's vocals a little too much, making the song seem just a bit of a bash of noise, albeit a good one.

The song 'Southern Girl' was one I didn't really like to start with; it's a bit slow and a little too slushy but it grows on you because of how easy it is to listen to. Logical, with a great tale of endless infatuation, Boyd's voice is at its most fragile and sensitive here and really makes the track a winner, which finishes in a less generic way than many numbers on here. 'Made For TV Movie' has a very Nirvana-esque feel to it which I personally appreciated. Using an interesting array of dubbing, especially over the vocals, that made it stand out a bit and shows that the band in most situations can always pull off a mid tempo number. It seems to be the contingency to 'Talk Shows On Mute' in the way it addresses some forms of society.

The twelfth track 'Smile Lines' has an upbeat feel to it and one of the things that makes this more apparent is because of the higher vocals which interlink very well against some of the yelling moments. The pause in the middle offers an insight into the bands creative habits of joining the lyrics and tune in a convincing way; whilst talking about high school never stopping, the music fades out before buzzing back into a full onslaught of musical magic.

Although One Republic emerged a lot later after this albums release, 'Here In My Room' from the opening piano chord made my mind shoot to that particular band. The penultimate track manages to use that instrument in a way to give a retrospective thought pattern, which is only reinforced by the other entwining sounds. Yet, it could have gone either way; there were moments where the vocals became a bit lost in the mix, thus losing some of the beauty of the words of lost security and hope. Managing to pull itself back round though, 'Here In My Room' makes for a good listen but I wouldn't brand it as one of the albums defining moments, not by any stretch of the imagination.

'YOU'RE NO F*****G ELVIS (The albums inevitable filler; lyric from 'Megalomaniac')
In itself, 'Pistola' isn't a bad track; it's got a solid sound and groove to it but it's a bit average in that sense. It sounds a bit like what I'd consider to be a cross between Blink 182 and Muse and, whilst they'll obviously be some clashing of styles and techniques as a predictability, here it goes completely overboard in trying to sound louder than anything else on the album to the point where the screeching, mechanical sound effects that are oddly similar to the latter bands far superior 'Plug In Baby' in the background are just unnecessary. 'Priceless' suffers from a similar problem too; its drum beat is incredibly harsh and the guitar riffs sound to be in a constant battle for supremacy which is only heightened by the repetition of the words that were a bit all over the place and a little dull. However, 'Priceless' has a vibe to it that I think would suit a live atmosphere but away from that it struggles to cope, especially after the rather intriguing 'Southern Girl'. 'Zee Deveel' doesn't pick up from this standard either and again suffers a bit through its rather tedious timing. It goes off into a bit of its own tangent in the middle in a bid to try and make it a bit more invigorating but for me, it didn't work as well as it could have.


Being the albums lasting impression, 'Leech' is a very average effort. By this point, you know exactly when the track is going to mix between the darker and lighter tones so it doesn't have any surprises left for the listener. Yet, it's still enjoyable but being the finale of 'A Crow Left Of The Murder' I have to say that it wasn't the most forceful way of ending the album and could easily have been a track flung in during the middle of the album somewhere to keep the pace going.

However, I would like to point out that none of the tracks from 'A Crow Left of the Murder' are necessarily bad; it's just that some of them stand out and leave more of an impression that others on this album but all of the songs are fairly memorable in their own right and each have an interesting hook or two - even if they are all nearly identical to one another!

OVERALL: WHY BUY 'A CROW LEFT OF THE MURDER'?
A Crow Left Of The Murder' isn't an album you could listen to on loop day after day; you'll appreciate it for what it is every time you dig it out of the CD rack but away from that, it could never be an album that would captivate you for longer than a couple of days. To its credit, very few albums do have that quality but due to the large amount of sound repetition here, it's particularly notable as being one of the albums less appealing features. Having said that, the band have done a great job in producing their work; it may be too formulaic for some, as you do know how the tracks are going to go pace wise and how it uses the instruments and in what order but there is something quite endearing about that; it is overall a comfortable listen that many people could enjoy but with the heavier tracks, it may seem a bit unrealistic to say this would be a fantastic, mainstream release. Then again, it does tip toe around the idea with numbers such as 'Southern Girl' and 'Talk Shows On Mute' having much more indispensable charms about them.

From the stand point of being a relatively new fan by the time this album was released, I have to say that I wasn't instantly blown away by much of it at all. 'Megalomaniac' will always rank up there as an amazing song but I think that whilst this album could cross demographics from adolescence into adulthood, it definitely suits the latter better. I must have been about fourteen or fifteen when I first bought this album but it's only up until now - after is disappeared into the oblivion of our downstairs CD cupboard - that I've listened to it properly and really began liking many of the tracks.

All in all, you should buy this album if you have heard of Incubus before - even if only by name - or if you want a step up from their previous work. Or if you want a more mature version of Linkin Park.

Oh wait...

QUICK STATS:
Year: 2008
Length: 58.44 mins
Tracks: 14
Buy at: Play.com for £3.99 - free delivery!

(Please note: review previously posted on Ciao.co.uk under the same username)

Summary: A good - if not excellent - album from Incubus