Incubus

• Morning View [Epic/Immortal, 2001] C+
• A Crow Left of the Murder . . . [Epic/Immortal, 2004]

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Morning View [Epic/Immortal, 2001]
This late entry shot up on the outside of our annual Young White Males in Extremis sweepstakes over Static-X (nuevo no wave), P.O.D. (plodding in riddim), Five for Fighting (I forget), and heavy favorites Staind, who seemed so sincerely depressed I couldn't bear to add to their woes. Incubus's wrinkle on awful points up how old-fashioned the death-metal and rap-fusion approaches to hard rock have become. The new menace is prog-variegated structures, tempo shifts, lyric interludes, DJ flava, and (daringly) love songs. This nets a lovely eight-minute closer featuring Steve Vai's "ko-kyu," which sounds like a koto to me. It also nets many mediocre pop songs with pretensions. C+

A Crow Left of the Murder . . . [Epic/Immortal, 2004]