Incubus: Monuments And Melodies

Incubus have been making music since 1991 and in that eighteen years of musical existence, they have managed to make only six full records. 

Six full records though, means enough material to collate an official Best Of and so before you can say 'generic money-maker', here it is; their Monuments And Melodies.

CD one contains fifteen tracks, thirteen of which are the groups main singles and two of which are new songs (one at the start and one at the end). CD two is the 'rarities' CD and contains B-Sides, unreleased and new material stretched across eleven separate tracks.

Their older material still sounds surprisingly fresh and the first CD holds plenty of moments that bring back blissful nostalgia but the new tracks smother the experience. Brand new song and new single Black Heart Inertia is genuinely awful and immediately settles with some of the worst Incubus to date. So too does the overblown, over-theatrical exclusive While All The Vultures Feed and the middle-of-the-road Anything.

It's a shame too because Incubus were still a pretty decent band before their previous outing Light Grenades so it's frustrating to see them wander further into the hazy, uninspired territory that they seem to be heading toward. Saying that, it's still great to hear Pardon Me, Are You In and Stellar's impressive melodies and decent hooks again (even if vocalist Brandon Boyd does sound increasingly more annoying the longer you listen) and although other tracks haven't aged as well, they still stand strong in the bands discography as tracks to remember. It's with much irritation that almost every track featured on the Best Of that was recorded after 2004's A Crow Left Of The Murder taints the aforementioned songs respected status.

On a personal level, it's kind of hard to write such harsh words about a band that during my formative years, I regarded them as number one in my 'all time favourite band' list (heck, even the avatar that sits next to my name is a drawing from Brandon Boyd's art collection) but it's true that they just don't sound as creative as they once did. 

When listening to Incubus's life span thrown together like this almost convolutes their sound in a sense. Witnessing the fantastically crafted Nice To Know You sit crudely and uncomfortably next to the confused mess that is new track Midnight Swim does nothing for the band's existence and contradicts the portrayal and meaning that this record should be representing.

The record is good when it is accurately illustrating the band that Incubus once were but it undermines them with unattractive new material that offers nothing but skepticism and furrowed brows across the board. If you haven't got any of the band's previous work then by all means, grab this - but if you were only looking to check out the new stuff, well, we really wouldn't waste your time.