Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
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Free Music Notes for S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
Free Music Review: The best
Hit: 5 Stars
As many others have said this is loved by the true hardcore incubus fans. While "certain shade of green" is a great song, The one i'm partial to is track no.11 "3 o'clock". Either way this CD is my personal favorite, and probably will always be. But if your just getting into Incubus this is Definately worth a listen. To me this covers multiple genres of music and scales the list of must have C.D's.Free Music Review: A little bit less than nothing would go my way
Hit: 5 Stars
What we have here is undoubtedly the overwhelming favorite among longtime Incubus fans. I don't really fall into that category but I do love it to no end. Brandon's intensity is unparalelled here, Mike's guitar duties are as heavy as ever, Dirk (now departed) is ever present and sounds great, Jose is, as always, pounding away, and DJ Lyfe (now departed) plays a pivotal role as well. As much as I love the new stuff I can't say that each member plays as big of a role as they did on S.C.I.E.N.C.E. If there's one thing that I do find a lot more satisfying here it'd be the prominence of Brandon's percussion additions (not to mention the excellent use of thet didjeridu!).
Let's say on the off chance that you're new to Incubus and have yet to venture this far back. If you'd need a hint of the heaviness and whatnot, I'd say if you'd take the heaviness of Out From Under (Make Yourself) and Make Yourself (Make Yourself), then mix the vocal stylings of Under My Umbrella (Morning View) and Megalomaniac (A Crow Left Of The Murder), you'd basically know what to expect. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is heavy and doesn't let up very often. I love that about this CD though and I can't help but wonder why they don't pull out more songs from here in concert.
If I were to dissect this record into favorites I'd, without a doubt, start with Redefine. It's the perfect opener because it pretty much accurately lets on how the rest of the CD is going to sound, i.e., some rapping, yelling, singing, and some distorted guitar riffs. From there, you name it I like it. The only song I might leave out is the instrumental which doesn't do much of anything, Magic Medicine. Favorite Things is a fun romp with nice lyrics and a nice riff throughout. Nebula features one of Mike's heaviest riffs ever and features some insane vocal work. Deep Inside is pretty funny. And Calgone is the perfect closer complete with winding slow/fast verses and a wonderful chorus. All in all, it's as close to perfection as radio rock is ever gonna get.
My favorite songs are Redefine, New Skin, Favorite Things, Summer Romance, and Calgone. It wasn't going to be easy for Incubus to top this, and in some fans minds they never will, but for this fan, I think they did. However, if you just want to hear Incubus go all out S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is the CD to go to without question. It's sure to get your blood rushing one way or another and so long as they keep making music (knock on wood), each and every fan will always compare the new CD to this one. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is the place to start for newcomers for sure, and for everyone else, it's highly recommended.
Free Music Review: incubus fans..here is your start
Hit: 5 Stars
by far the best incubus album..ever. i am a diehard fan i have bought every cd/ep they have released and this cd is there best..this is incubus' high peak not that they are bad now but this is definetly the best album to listen to straight through..again this is another album where it seems like it is a collection of singles. And it also makes me mad when people say they don't like incubus because they arent heavy..go to an incubus concert and wait for them to rip out classics like idiot box and certain shade of green..i wish they would play more oldies like hot dancer (which is on their first lp and their ep)..well anyway just buy the cd it wont hurt to hear a great band who is very successful.Free Music Review: Mr Bungle With A Twist Meets Fantastic Results
Hit: 5 Stars
First off, why the Bungle and Faith No More comparisons? I guess it is a little unfair to the band, but you could do a lot worse than be compared to these great bands. Yes, Brandon's voice does resemble Mike Patton, especially in this album. But I think the main point of reference is that SCIENCE is an album that takes a stab at many genres, with a rock feel to them. Much like Faith No More's King For A Day, Fool For A Life Time Album or Mr Bungle's debut.
Now, with that out of the way, lets look into what made the first Incubus album their finest hour.
The album is bass heavy. Although not so much as, say The Red Hot Chili Peppers, there is a huge bass influence in this album, which not only gives it a funk tone, but gives the CD much more depth than your typical guitar driven rock album.
In fact, the guitar in this album can be quite unorthodox at time. While the bass player is slap bassing like crazy, the guitarist takes a step back and uses spacey effects, which works really well.
Brandon's voice is very versitile, and whilst he may over do it in newer releases, this album shows us that he can do everything from jazzy music (Summer Romance), to el screamo (Nebula) to catchy pop hooks (Favourite Things, he pulls them off impressivly.
Also worth mentioning that the turntables aren't wasted. Unlike, say Deftones where the DJ is only needed in parts, the turntables and keyboards here are much like (again) Faith No More, providing a full blown instrument of their own rather than just complimenting the song. Glass is a great example of this.
Song by song breakdown:
Redefine: This is a good example of Bungle influence. The way that heavy intro immmediatly switches to a cruisy chorus with weird effects and slap bass, and then slams back into a heavy chorus. Also, it has some of the most effective scratching in a rock song.
Vitamin: A rock song with a twist. Although the chorus reeks of rock radio, the intro and verses are obscure. Cool guitar effect on the intro, catchy chorus that is well sung and great drum breakdown make this a favourite.
New Skin: Cool drums, and simular to Redefine in terms of song structure. However, this is more of a frantic song, as the verses kinda flip out and get heavy at times. Turn the song up loud, the chorus sounds great like that.
Idiot Box: Kinda chuggish heavy song, which makes a good change from the opening tracks. Possible to say that it is a little too simular in it's "soft verse, loud chorus" structure, but there is enough variation to not notice the difference too much.
Glass: This is where things get funky. The DJ takes charge and with a tinny guitar, this is a very cool cruisy song. Until the chorus that is, but the samples in this song are way cool.
Magic Medicine: Gotta love DJ interludes. If you aren't in the mood, you may hit skip when you get tired, but it works as an interesting distraction in the album.
A Certain Shade Of Green: The lead single, and probably the most straight out rock song on the album. Badass riff, but the slap bass makes this song, it's totally Flea style. The DJ takes a step back here, and loses the samples in favour of scratching.
Favourite Things: Good riff, and more great guitar effects. There's a little thrash guitar hidden somewhere, but like Glass, the highlight of this is the guitar and DJ relationship. Worth listening to just for the buildup at the end.
Summer Romance: Completely different to the rest of the album. Christmas Bells and cruisy guitar. This works as lounge music, and although Brandon's voice sounds a tad sleazy, it works very well.
Nebula: My personal highlight. This song in a word: crazy. Stars out innocently enough, then BANG!, screaming yelly Brandon comes out only to slow down to funky spoken word Brandon, to be replaced by harmonic Brandon. This song is all over the world, and I like it.
Deep Inside: Another cruisy song, with a guitar that boasts the funkiest guitar solo that belongs in The Sims or something. Although it hints at hard rock, generally it works well as a sing along.
Colgone: Fuzzy bass ahoy! After much disortion, we return to the songs that made up the first half of the album. Great way to finish off the album, and leads into some (often hilarious) secret tracks.
Only gripe with the album is that it draws on too much influences for it to be called "A Classic" or anything.
Get Make Yourself, if you want to hear Incubus at their creative height. Get SCIENCE if you want to hear them at their best.
Free Music Review: What a freaking Mr. Bungle rip-off!!!
Hit: 4 Stars
That's what I though when I first heard my friend describe this CD. Hearing what I heard on the radio by Incubus made me mad that they would even TRY to imitate Mr. Bungle. But I actually gave this CD a chance...and boy did I make the right choice. I would have never thought that Incubus - a mainstream band - could've possibly pulled off an album like this. I was, err am, shocked. They actually made a decent CD where others have failed. See Slipknot. Horrible Nu-Metal band that try to imitate the Bungle. They wear the clown suits and everything. But they failed miserably in their first album to imitate Mr. Bungle.
But enough about that. About the album. It is mind-blowing. It grabs you and doesn't let go. It is infectiously catchy. It is simply phenomenal. The vocals are incredible, the drumming is incredible, the guitar work is incredible. That's all I need to say about it really.
One thing still irks me though. Why did Incubus go the mainstream route? You can clearly hear in this album that they are extremely talented. They have so much potential to be one of the best modern bands, but they sacrificed good music for fame. It saddens me.
Now you're probably wondering why I gave this album only four stars. Well, it's actually 4.3 stars. I really can't give this album 5 stars as well as Mr. Bungle, because they are simply superior in every way. But I don't think any band will surpass them anyway. But this album has earned Incubus the right to hold a candle to Mr. Bungle, which in itself is a compliment.
Highlights of this album: Certain Shade of Green, Favorite Things, and Summer Romance. These are incredible. The rest are a mere fantastic. :P