The five-piece group Incubus from California is a band that is not easy to place musically. On the one hand the band leans very much towards metal in terms of sound, on the other hand it is mainly the vocals and the quiet parts that are reminiscent of (grunge) rock. In the beginning of their career the emphasis was significantly more on metal than today, because their latest CD Morning View is mainly
… a rock record. This may be due to producer Scott Litt (REM), but especially to the vocals of Brandon Boyd, who is a cross between Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis. By the way, even the term rock sometimes no longer applies to Incubus, witness slow songs like Mexico, Just A Phase and Echo. Fortunately, the past has not been completely forgotten and opener Nice To Know You, Circles and Under My Umbrella are pleasantly rocked away. On Morning View Incubus has reached a compromise between its past and probable future with just as many quiet as heavy songs. Unfortunately this results in a nice but unbalanced album. (RWK)more
