Incubus, formed in 1991, one of the first rockbands including a DJ has come with another album. As the former bass-player left the band I thought Incubus would be history. His influence and part of the music was so important and leading that I thought a replacement would be impossible. And so did the other members. Exhausted, tired and without any inspiration. Until, in 2003 Ben Kenny (former bass-player of the Roots) joined in. Incubus wanted to get back to the roots, to make the album they wanted to create after S.C.I.E.N.C.E. instead of Make Yourself and Morning View The first song of the cd is so again Incubus. The little intro from DJ Killmore, a characteristic guitar riff from Einziger and the very clean vocals from Boyd. The song is about president of the United States, George W Bush and I think it�s not needed to discuss about whether it�s positive or not. Anyway, this song is a good opener, because the owner of the disc feels like he has got Incubus, his band, back on the track. Most important is the capital brought to the bass. My god, what a relief. Kenny controls the bass as Incubus needs and that exactly what I hoped for. The rest of the songs can be set in a few categories. The almost heavy songs like �Sick sad little world�, �Pistola� and �Priceless�. Then you have the ballads like �Agoraphobia�, �Talks shows on mute� and �Southern girl� and the experimental rock songs like �A crow left of the murder�, �Beware Criminal� and �Leech�. The heavy songs all contain a very energic surrounding in a quick rate. Some cool guitar-riffs, heavy smashy drums and smooth basslines. Boyd uses his vocals (as ever) brilliant, then high, then slow, soft and squeezy. All of the members are using their instruments like they�re discovering them for the first time with a huge part of talent. But, still the songs are complete and very nice to listen to. The ballads are beautiful as hell. Boyd is again the central member of the band in this way and makes my flesh creep. I already thought of him as a great singer and songwriter but it really seems as if he improved himself (again) by reaching even higher notes and putting more sense into the songs. The influence of DJ Killmore is also very nice in these kind of songs from the album. When you pay close attention to the music, it seems as if you get to hear a second guitar or a keybord, for instance. That feeling, that sound is DJ Kilmore�s work. It looks like he has improved himself to a level where you can�t talk about a DJ anymore but as a musician (as if we didn�t know??) The whole creation of the ballads is just overwhelming and I could recommend it to anyone who is interested in nice listen-to-music. The experimental songs and parts of the songs are the, what it�s all about on this cd. The idea was to create music that requires a bit of attention to listen to and that, as from my opinion, worked out pretty well. A song like �A crow left of the murder� is finished, a complete experience. Changes in rhytm, variation in level of the notes, it doesn�t matter. Well, it does matter, but won�t bother. And when such a thing works out the way Incubus did, you�ve done a pretty good job. So, the new album by Incubus is what you call a succes. The members of the band wanted to feel comfortable in their way of making music again, and that worked out pretty well. �This is the cd we wanted to make after S.C.I.E.N.C.E.�, Brandon Boyd recently said in an interview. For the fans, whis cd will therefore come as an surprise and maybe a few of them will seperate from Incubus, because of the fact that they miss the identification they had on �Make Yourself� and �Morning View�. This cd is a bit different, less catchy tunes and lots of more variations. Speaking for myself, this cd is what I hoped for from Incubus. A nice cd to listen to. And I will, for many times. 89/100 1. Megalomaniac 2. A crow left of the murder 3. Agoraphobia 4. Talks shows on mute 5. Beware! Criminal 6. Sick sad little world 7. Pistola 8. Southern girl 9. Priceless 10. Zee Deveel 11. Made for tv movie 12. Smile Lines 13. Here in my room 14. Leech Brandon Boyd vocals Michael Einziger guitar DJ Killmore DJ Ben Kenny bass Jose Pasillas II drums Review by Siem