Title: Monuments & Melodies
Artist: Incubus
Genre: Alternative Rock
Release Date: 12th June 2009
Label: Epic Records (Sony Music)
Album Review
INCUBUS, the band with the name borrowed from a male demon, formed in 1991 while the three band members still were in high school. The line-up would be complemented by a bassist and DJ which were to be replaced few years later. With ‘Fungus Amongus’, they recorded their first album and already the follow-up EP ‘Enjoy Incubus’ came out on a major label. Only the beginning of an international career which would generate internationally recognized albums such as ‘Make Yourself’ or ‘Morning View’ and No.1 singles like ‘Megalomaniac’ and most prominently ‘Love Hurts’. Now, in 2009 having six full-length releases as well as a pile of singles on their accounts, the varied alternative rock outfit set out to walk the path many bands have gone before them by releasing a Best-Of compilation, called ‘Monuments & Melodies’.
This work spanning two CD’s is especially a good way to get introduced to the band if you haven’t been dealing with their efforts thus far. The first CD features 13 well-known tracks, previously released as singles + 2 entirely new tracks and one of them ‘Black Heart Inertia’ starts the first disc with a poppy, melodic tune and continues with the mellow and mostly acoustically orchestrated ‘Drive’, before ‘Megalomaniac’ which starts with scratchy, quirky noises and then builds into a pretty straight offer that increases your adrenaline level with the erupting chorus section with hard riffs and drum kicks blasting through. Even if you didn’t know the title of the next song so far you’ve been hearing it countless times on the radio ‘Love Hurts’ that became a surprise hit for the American an. A song you can listen to over and over again. ‘Are You In?’ displays the wide stylistic range of INCUBUS and is plain and simple easy listening with 1a nice flow of sing warbling through it. ‘Midnight Swim’ as the second new track wraps up the first disc with harder but mostly unspectacular tones.
The second disc focuses on a collection of rarities; b-sides, alternate versions and stuff setting off with a mellow and wonderfully instrumented ‘Neither Of Us Can See’ followed by ‘Look Alive with its high-pitched frequency start before fading into a speedy, rhythmic track. ‘Admiration’ is a soundtrack contribution of the band’s to the motion picture ‘Stealth’, mostly quite a serene affair revealing a rich string backdrop throughout that adds an additional emotional texture to Brandon Boyd’s vocals. With a cover of the PRINCE track ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ the second CD also comes to an end but I must say that even though it has kicking grooves it doesn’t give me a kick no matter how often I’m listening to it. So, what can we say about this Best-Of and rarities collection? It’s an easy way for a band newbie to get their hands on all of the band’s hits and bag a bunch of rarities on top which is most likely the only reason why long-time followers of the band will end up buying it, as they don’t really have use for the first CD.
Tracklist
CD 1:
01. Black Heart Inertia
02. Drive
03. Megalomaniac
04. Anna Molly
05. Love Hurts
06. Wish You Were Here
07. Warning
08. Stellar
09. Talk Shows On Mute
10. Pardon Me
11. Dig
12. Oil And Water
13. Are You In?
14. Nice To Know You
15. Midnight Swim
CD 2:
01. Neither of Us Can See
02. Look Alive
03. While All The Vultures Feed
04. Pantomime
05. Anything
06. Punch Drunk
07. Admiration
08. Martini
09. A Certain Shade Of Green (Acoustic Version)
10. Monuments and Melodies
11. Let's Go Crazy
Line-up
Brandon Boyd – Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Percussion
Mike Einziger – Lead Guitar, Piano, Backing Vocals
Ben Kenney – Bass, Backing Vocals
Chris Kilmore – Turntables, Keys
Jose Pasillas – Drums, Percussion
Website
http://www.enjoyincubus.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/incubus
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 7.5 / 10
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