Artist: Brandon Boyd
Title: The Wild Trapeze
Genre: Alternative Rock
Release Date: 6th July 2010
Label: Sony/BMG
Album Review
It seemed that at one point, all the hit alternative rock bands were releasing solo albums or doing solo work at some point when it came to front men. COLD’s Scooter Wad has a solo album, Billy Corgan of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS has done his fair share of solo work, James Maynard Keenan of TOOL has PUSCIFER, and STAIND’s Aaron Lewis has done plenty of acoustic solo tours. So it was no surprise when Brandon Boyd of the rock band INCUBUS announced he would release his own solo album. INCUBUS itself has been down an interesting road; perform good, solid hard rock in their earlier days before resorting to softer alternative / indie rock. Boyd’s solo album is an interesting point for the singer to make as it will determine whether he will try to make his music like INCUBUS or forge a more experimental direction that has no place in INCUBUS’ musical structure.
The answer is that ‘The Wild Trapeze’ could go either way. Much of Boyd’s work is acoustic (he performs almost all the instruments, which demonstrates his versatility as a musician) but the energy that is associated with the music could work perfectly well on one of INCUBUS’ more recent releases. Sure, there aren’t any super catchy hits like ‘Nice to Know You’ or ‘Wish You Were Here’, but ‘The Wild Trapeze’ is catchy enough. It opens up with ‘The Wild Trapeze’ which features a heavy bass and acoustic guitar strumming away with quiet percussion. Boyd’s vocals are as good as ever, and the tempo is an even flow that makes it feel like an acoustic recording of something INCUBUS has done. It is good to see that Boyd is willing to throw some of his other band’s influences in there to keep fans happy, but also take it in a different direction. However, fans will come to notice that the slight issue with heavily acoustic albums is that much of the music all the sounds the same. Tracks like ‘Here Comes Everyone’, ‘A Night without Cars’ and ‘Mirror of Venus’ sound a bit all too familiar and may burn out on the fans quicker than one would think. Boyd has a good voice, yes, but pairs it with the same musical arrangements too many times and it starts to get old.
However, Boyd has plenty of different musical arrangements to make fans happy. ‘Courage And Control’ features plenty of piano sounds along with the acoustic guitar to make it even more acoustic, and yet at the same time more beautiful. ‘Runaway Train’, the album’s first supposed single, has a thick beat to it and a more pop oriented tune than the slow, depressing alternative rock style that has been populating his album so far. Furthermore Boyd adds more foreign instruments such as a timpani and chimes. ‘Late Night Passenger’ is heavily distorted, adding a thick, drone ambient atmosphere. This is probably the most “un-relaxing” track on the album, but also the one that stands out for the sudden raw production and style. Finally the closing ‘All Ears Avow’ is a pretty loud track, especially with the way that Boyd styled the drums. The guitars and bass are down-tuned to make the music even thicker. Boyd’s vocals pick up the pace to resemble the fury and intensity he displayed on the hit ‘Megalomaniac’ from his other band, so perhaps this is a good closing reminder to the fans that even though he’s done this he will not let INCUBUS go soft.
‘The Wild Trapeze’ is not INCUBUS, but fans should have been expecting INCUBUS. However, Boyd’s own musical vision is similar the other project. As said before, many of the tracks on this album sound like acoustic versions of an INCUBUS song; change the guitars to electric and thrown in some more electronic elements and one basically has the same band. This is a safe move however, because the music is different enough to make people say, “Hey that’s pretty cool… but not the exact same,” versus, “That’s either too much like so-so.” Boyd obviously wanted to keep that INCUBUS intensity with his own music to attract old fans, but also make it eclectic enough so new fans could enjoy it too. The Wild Trapeze is just another outlet for the front man to channel his softer side while being able to pour the hard, alternative rock all into his main project.
Tracklist
01. The Wild Trapeze (4:12)
02. Here Comes Everyone (3:46)
03. Dance While the Devil Sleeps (3:09)
04. A Night without Cars (4:26)
05. Revenge of the Spectral Tiger (4:02)
06. Courage and Control (3:52)
07. Runaway Train (3:24)
08. Last Night A Passenger (4:12)
09. Mirror of Venus (2:24)
10. All Ears Avow! (2:20)
Line-up
Brandon Boyd- vocals, guitars, drums, bass, timpani, chimes, glockenspiel
Dave Fridman- keyboards
Website
http://www.enjoyincubus.com/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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