Light Grenades.

To me, musically speaking, this year will mainly represent the release of a new album from not 1, not 2 but 3 of my favorite bands: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Audioslave & Incubus.

"High expectations" comes to mind. But what does that mean?
It certainly doesn't mean that a new album should be the same as the others. That would be too easy. But on the other hand I usually like to recognise the band that I've come to like and love... Change in continuity...
Anyway at the end of the day the album will be what the band have to propose.In a way, you have to deal with it. Hence this fear of being disappointed.
And because of that, I know it's a bit stupid but I'm always a bit disappointed on a the first listening and have to listen to the album a good 3-4 times to really be able to formulate an opinion. It notably happened for the latest Audioslave, which I can't stop listening to now... (^_^;

Anyway, Light Grenades is the latest output from Incubus, a californian band that is in my opinion totally underrated. That could be because they are not full-on metal heads and that they can deliver in equal measures scorching rap/metal songs and in the next track lay out a textured ballad.
Talk about versatility. To me that's hier strength. They have moods and go for them.

In their history, like many other bands, they have gone from a really hard stuff (the psycho punk funk from S.C.I.E.N.C.E.) to a more complex sound (in A Crow Left Of The Murder -ACLOTM), while still keeping the whole thing groovy and metal-y although maybe getting a bit softer. Who cares? Personnally, I'm here all the way. They are one of those few bands that can go in those soft ballads while still keeping them interesting to me (unlike the Chili Peppers in their Californication era).

This album keeps the trend, pushing their dichotomy a bit further: what was hard in ACLOTM is harder here and the soft is softer. You go from beautiful harmonies to pure punk metal riffs, while the singer Brandon Boyd goes from full rapping to delicate singing, often in the same song.
As with their other albums, they start with their most straightforward catchy songs (A Kiss To Send Us Off, Anna Molly, Light Grenades on the rocking hard side, Dig & Love Hurts for cool things down) and keep the end for experimenting a bit more with atmospheres and rythms. Best thing is they're as good in both fields.

All together it's an excellent album that even if it's not their best in my opinion (my favorites are still Make Yourself and Morning View), is still a worthy addition in an always interesting discography.