The 8th album by the wonderful band "Incubus" is called "8" and was issued on the 21st of April 2017.
This is a founding album, an excellent album, an album that is an official stamp!
Already in 2015 the band started writing materials for the album, they intended to release two EPs called "Trust Fall", part one and part two, but the inspiration that fell on them and the spirit of creation led them to write lots of songs. So while recording throughout 2016 they decided to release a full album and not just two EPs.
We were not kidding when we said it was a founding album, we know you are used to reading such sentences about historical classics but "Incubus" got a gold stamp with this album, just like the album cover showing the band name and the album number in gold on a black/gray plate (we know another band that has the same cover). The cover reminds us of the markings that are around the world which indicates the place of residence or special events of music & movie artists.
If you go back even a little bit, three or four albums back, you will realize how much talent is embedded in this amazing band. We may repeat ourselves sometimes (and only sometimes so chill) but "Incubus" is a classic example of how a band changes its aggregation state according to its mood, inspiration, and direction they want to take, but still maintains its DNA !!
It does not change the chromosomes, does not change the structure but changes the shape, color, and sound.
Three albums back "A Crow Left of the Murder" - A rough, kicking, strong and aggressive album.
Two albums back, "Light Grenades" - A fun, varied, bouncy album, a complete delight.
One album back "If Not Now, When?" - An exciting, sweeping, delightful album of a pleasant and soft cruise.
Then comes "8" !!!
Rough, eclectic, stabbing, stroking, and shaking, literally an engine for generating electrical energies.
A short trip and we did not go much back, because there are more surprises if you want to go further back in the band's album history. But it is enough to prove the claim that this band is something huge but quiet, something strong but caressing and this album puts its stamp on its ability and talent.
Absolute creative freedom is felt here on the album, the band members took their talent and inspiration in different directions and took out everything they had in their minds and soul. We guess the band's fans will fall in love with this album just like us, from the first song.
The album opens with "No Fun" straight with a scream and rough guitar by Mike Einziger, who despite his name is an absolutely fun song. A sound we have not heard before from "Incubus" and it excites us with what is coming on this album.
The second song is a ticking time bomb "Nimble Bastard", the first single from the album was meant to blow up buildings and cars on the street, so when you play the song in your car close the windows so as not to do any damage.
Two very notable elements on this album are the rough and electronic distortion of Mike's guitar and the voice of Brandon Boyd that sounds like he's singing into a 1940s microphone that was made of a wooden box and a metal tube.
Moving on to the third song, for a slight thrill with "State Of The Art" try not to fall apart to pieces because Boyd urges you to look at yourself as if you are the most beautiful person in the world.
Moving on to another bomb, this time it's a smart bomd and not ticking, "Glitterbomb", starts with a slight penetration into the veins to reach the main artery, it will work, you can't resist, what a beauty of a chorus, shout, it's okay we know it's what you'll do.
Now you can relax a bit with "Undefeated", the beauty of moving singers is that no matter how many times you listen to their songs, each time again they will manage to surprise you and excite you. Boyd does such a lovely and exciting job here with the contrast of the guitar's grove in the background.
"We are undefeated, beaned but not broken, I'm not dead yet"
Now let's move on to "Loneliest" another delightful thing that sounds like it came from the previous album but along the way went through some cables, electronic devices, mixers, and a variety of electrical appliances that give it an electromagnetic shape. We recommend hearing this one in high volume if you have good speakers or good headphones, turn on the subwoofer as well and feel the electronic metallicity.
The next track is simply a track of a band that does what it pleases, period, a fun break.
Moving on to "Familiar Faces", the band's all-too-familiar melodic style, some happiness, just a fun song.
The fax sound that opens "Love In A Time Of Surveillance" is a classic opening to a song that talks about the big brother that follows us today, what a beauty of a heavy, slow and disruptive structure with the pounding drums and the electrified guitar.
The next section is a rainbow hike, a sweeping cruise of talking sounds, and a magical atmosphere that requires full listening to all the sounds in the background. An instrumental piece that seems to have been taken from the 60s by a bunch of happy and high LSD musicians.
The song that closes the album "Throw Out the Map" opens with a scene that seems to have been taken from a horror movie and is accompanied by a climax of guitars and drums breaking after a few sections for a light ride of drums.
Although we are in love with this album, the ending song is a bit weak, a bit scattered, and a bit incomplete but it is at the end so we can take it.
In terms of lyrics, this album is a masterpiece, the combination of the lyrics and the sound of the guitars and drums is no less than perfect (you might say we exaggerating but it does not really bother us), they work amazingly together and in perfect sync. The way Boyd comes in is sometimes skipping, sometimes drifting, and generally floating with the rest of the band members playing is just surreal.
(Photo: Incubus)
The album was originally produced by Dave Sardy, but in the end things changed...
The band members who really liked Soony Moore who is known as the famous Dubstep artist "Skrillex", asked him to produce the song "Familiar Faces". They were so excited about his talent and what came out of the song that they decided to entrust him with the whole album and asked him to reproduce it all.
Listen to the album at full volume on Spotify, Apple Music