Search - Incubus :: Science

Mr Bungle With A Twist Meets Fantastic Results

G. Polldore | Sydney, Australia | 10/15/2005

(5 out of 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."