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Incubus is a quintet Los Angeles led by frontman and vocalist Brandon Boyd
that plays a hybrid of hard-rock riffs, hip-hop beats, funk bass lines and
post-metal crooning. Rather than taking on their contemporaries
Limp Bizkit and
Korn, they hark back to the origins of the crossover,
to Faith No More,
to Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Rage Against The Machine and Primus.
The EP Fungus Amongus (Epic, 1995) collects unreleased material from their early years.
Science (Immortal, 1997) was the showcase for their musical mastery
and their brutal hyper-fusion (Magic Medicine, Summer Romance,
Nebula).
There was nothing on the album
that had not been done before, but
one could sense a deep feeling of honesty and a sincere spleen.
The much more accessible
Make Yourself (Epic, 1999) is remarkably effective in stealing
stereotypes of grunge and pop and manufacturing catchy and atmospheric songs
like Privilege and Make Yourself.
The band is careful not to exaggerate in either direction:
the Nirvana-esque monster-riff of Nowhere Fast
lasts only a few seconds, soon overrun by a power-ballad (with traces of
Steely Dan-esque jazz); The Warmth loosens the tension
with a Doors-ian organ and related suspense;
Stellar's middle section is straight out of a Police album.
Towards the end the band displays whatever originality it has gotten:
Drive (their best-seller) is a cute country-rocker in the vein of Crosby Stills & Nash;
the guitar plays "coitus interruptus" in Clean, supported by
a funky bass;
Battlestar Scralatchtica toys with toasting,
scratching and hip-hop beats.
Incubus' grunge is a music of brains, not muscles.
Wish You Were Here and Blood On The Ground continue the process
of re-alignment to the mainstream on Morning View (Epic, 2001), although
the album displays a sonic elegance and eclectic dynamics that virtually
reinvents the art of heavy-metal.
Nice To Know You, Have You Ever and Under My Umbrella
are replete with stereotypes but subvert them with every successive note.
The experiment fails because of an excess of softness
(11 am and Mexico), but is nonetheless unusual.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Alessandro Cani)
Gli Incubus sono un quintetto di Los Angeles capitanato dal frontman
vocalist Brandon Boyd, che suona un ibrido di riffs hard-rock, ritmiche
hip-hop, linee di basso funk e cantato post-metal.
Piuttosto che adeguarsi ai contemporanei Limp Bizkit e Korn, gli Incubus
tornano indietro alle origini del crossover, a Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage
Against the Machine e Primus. Non c'Š nulla su SCIENCE (Immortal, 1997) o
Make Yourself (Epic, 1999) che non sia gia' stato fatto, ma perlomeno si ha
una profonda impressione di onesta' e sincerita'.
Make Yourself (Epic, 1999) e' molto efficace nel rubare stereotipi grunge e
pop costruendo atmosfere molto accattivanti, come in Privilege e la stessa
title track.
La band Š attenta a non esagerare in nessuna delle due direzioni: il
granitico riff nirvanesco di Nowhere Fast dura solo pochi secondi, subito
rimpiazzato da una power ballad (con tracce di jazz a la Steely Dan); The
Warmth stempera la tensione con un organo Doorsiano e relativa suspense; la
parte centrale di Stellar sembra presa da un album dei Police.
Solo verso la fine la band mostra tutta l'originalita' di cui dispone: Drive
(il loro hit) Š un furbo country-rocker nelle vene di Crosby Stills & Nash;
la chitarra suona in Clean al ritmo di un "coitus interruptus", accompagnata
da un basso funky; Battlestar Scralatchica gioca con dei ritmi hip-hop
scratchati e compressi.
Il grunge degli Incubus e' pi— celebrale che muscolare.
Wish You Were Here e Blood on the Ground continuano il processo di
riallineamento verso il mainstream su Morning View (Epic, 2001), viceversa
l'album mostra un suono elegante e dinamiche eclettiche che reinventano
virtualmente l'arte dell'heavy-metal. Nice to Know You, Have You Ever e
Under My Umbrella sono anch'esse piene di stereotipi, ma li sovvertono ad
ogni nota. L'esperimento pero' fallisce a causa di un eccesso di dolcezza
(11 am e Mexico), e anche questo e' nondimeno inusuale.
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