Feb 18 2021
View Author
2
I can think of a lot of albums more deserving of being on this list than Make Yourself. It's not that it's bad, necessarily. It's just not good. This album was tops for the whole nu-metal scene which I'm just not a fan of. Be metal. Don't be metal. Either is fine. This shake-and-fake, half-assed, sing-song nonsense is honestly kind of annoying to me. Every song sounds the same, the vocals are whiney and emo punctuated by repeated "daddy won't hug me" refrains. Not my jam.
👍
Jan 14 2022
View Author
1
So - an incubus is a spirit that rapes women and I mean, yeah, that's pretty much the vibe I get from this music. This is AGGRESSIVELY 1999 soul patch rock and 100% not something you need to hear before you die. I don't know if I could dislike this more. Wait - the album cover. Okay yeah, I dislike it more now, so there's still room to grow. Oh! "I feel emphatic about not being static." Yes, there's much further to go. Down, straight down. Oh no - Battlestar Scralatchtica. FUCK. YOU.
👍
Apr 07 2021
View Author
3
Sounds like what Jesse Pinkman would listen to. But it’s varied enough to stay interesting at some points
👍
May 13 2021
View Author
1
An absolute nothing album. Embarrassing that it’s made this list and calls the selection criteria into question. The album itself is a mess, and a boring, tame, weak mess at that. Crap like this is why kids stopped listening to “metal”
👍
Mar 24 2021
View Author
4
Incubus is kinda like tasty junk food for me. I know its not really that good, but is still enjoy consuming it lol
👍
Mar 02 2023
View Author
1
Imagine a baker who has made a living specialising in selling nothing but steamed horseshit. One day, looking at the gourmet establishments around him and realising he might need to diversify to stay afloat, he diverges slightly from his speciality and launches a new line of cream cakes… horseshit flavour.
While the baker may consider this an improvement, the change would be barely perceptible for anybody who didn’t consider horseshit delicious to begin with. For those uninitiated, the lasting impression of these cream cakes would remain one of… horseshit.
So it is with Incubus’s second album, which sees them moving away from their beginnings as a through-and-though metal band. “Selling out” in the eyes of their most devoted fans, they created something more “melodic”, with alt-rock, grunge, funk and even hip-hop overtones. On paper, that might sound promising. But to this reviewer who can find nothing to like in nu-metal’s overblown, heavy-handed, hi-gain, self-flagellating nonsense, there’s almost nothing to latch onto anyway.
Over-affected, whining vocals undermining any sense of melody. Blaring, grinding guitar riffs lacking in subtlety or passion. Gimmicky record scratching (presumably that’s the “hip hop” talking). And worst of all, truly awful lyrics. Vague sentiments of self-pity and taking control of life spill out over the whole thing like toxic waste. Here’s an example from the closer, “Out from Under”:
“To resist is to piss in the wind; anyone who does will end up smelling
Knowing this, why do I defy?
Because my inner voice is yelling
There is a fist pressing against; anyone who thinks something compelling”
I can’t discern any such compelling thoughts involved in the making of this album. And so I proudly resist, piss into the wind and waddle off in the strong stench of my own self-satisfaction. And horseshit.
👍
Apr 07 2022
View Author
1
I can only assume threats of physical violence against list authors is the explanation for this album's inclusion.
👍
May 26 2022
View Author
1
Not even in the top 1001 albums by artists with the initial I in 1999. Terrible!
👍
Jun 17 2021
View Author
1
Repetitive prog rock/nu metal has never been my idea of a good time, and combine that genre with this particular era of late 90s schlock rock, and you get Make Yourself. My only memory of Incubus was as the lame edgy band my middle school classmates would attach their personalities to for a few years. The lyrics are a hilarious attempt at nihilism and the production is so wrapped up in all the worst 90s tendencies, it hurts my head.
Rating: 1.5/5
👍
Mar 13 2023
View Author
5
I first heard Pardon Me on the radio in high school and was immediately interested in hearing more of this band. I soon bought this and their earlier albums at the local CD shop (when those were a thing). I had a ton of stuff going on in my life at the time and music just amplified it all. This was one of the albums I listened to a lot through it all so listening to it now just sucks me back into those days. That's why it's five stars for me.
Aside from personal reasons, I think it's a solid album and one of their best.
👍
Jun 15 2021
View Author
5
Felt like I was dipped in the Holy Waters of the 90s.
👍
Feb 26 2021
View Author
5
Sorry. BRB. Just went to grade school/ high school. I’m in my tan van. Listening to this on a tape to CD player.
👍
Sep 17 2021
View Author
4
Je vous invite à vous référer à la critique de mon compagnon d'écoute elmerguez concernant cet album.
Celui-ci a en effet su trouver les mots justes, bien que très mal orthographiés.
👍
Oct 26 2022
View Author
5
First Incubus album I owned, and probably still their best, even though I’m partial to S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
👍
Sep 23 2022
View Author
5
I enjoyed Incubus when they first broke through with "Pardon Me" in 1999. As they followed that single with "Drive" and "Stellar," it was a refreshing light in a dark time. Yes, it was a dark time. The heydey of grunge was fading and Total Request Live was reshaping the music industry, resulting in a late 90s/early 00s hard rock landscape that was filled with Limp Bizkits and Kid Rocks. You think Incubus was angsty?? Incubus was mellow and tame for the times. For additional reference as to why Incubus stood far above their contemporaries, putting interesting spins on early 90s hard rock rather than learning all the wrong lessons like Limp Bizkit, Korn, and Creed did, look no further than the events of Woodstock '99 or the 2001 PBS Frontline documentary "Merchants of Cool."
But does Incubus hold up today? For me, absolutely. While I prefer their calmer, more musically adept songs like those "Make Yourself" singles, their loud, crunchy, angrier stuff is great too. Brandon Boyd has a terrific range and is one of my favorite rock singers of the past 30 years, whether screaming or singing. Their post-fame follow-up to "Make Yourself," "Morning View," is even better, more mature, less screamy, less overdone crunchy guitars. They really refined their unique take on DJ-accented hard rock (and in a way that for me works far better than their rap-rock contemporaries). While "Morning View" is an easy 5, and "Make Yourself" takes longer to find its footing and then majorly stumbles with the misplaced "Battlestar Scratchalactica," we'll give this one a 5 too, on account of 3 great singles, a string of really good albums of which only this one made the 1001, improving the group's review average, and for being the anti-Limp Bizkit.
👍
Jan 06 2023
View Author
5
What's not to love. One of my all time favorite albums. I'd give it 10 stars if I could!
👍
Nov 04 2022
View Author
5
This is one of those records that comes out when you are the right age to hear it. It may not actually be a 5 star record. But listening to this on my CD walkman walking to and from my McJob at 20 puts this in a very special place for me.
👍
Apr 05 2021
View Author
5
3rd day in & one of my favourite albums
👍
Jun 09 2021
View Author
5
This is peak 90's grungy rock fuckin yea.
👍
Feb 17 2023
View Author
4
Incubus is and will probably be for a longtime, one of my favorite bands.
Not the first record I discovered by them, but definitely one with the songs I ended up liking the most.
The songs have great hooks and musical builds.
Brandon is a great songwriter and can sing very good.
But Incubus has always been about the musical strength for me.
They make sure every member gets to shine, but never overdo it.
Amazing record!
Favorite lyrics:
- The humanity I know, watch the warmth blow away.
- I will hold you close if you're afraid of heights.
- You do something to me that I can't explain.
So would I be out of line if I said I miss you?
Key tracks: Privilege, Nowhere Fast, Consequence, The Warmth, When It Comes, Stellar, Make Yourself, Drive, Clean, I Miss You, Pardon Me
8,5 out of 10
👍
Aug 05 2024
View Author
2
I read this quote from singer Brandon Boyd about recording the album "When we're making music together, it's like five men making love — in a very platonic sense." And that perfectly captures this record; it is the sound of five men standing in a circle with their pants around their knees, awkwardly tugging on each other's limp dicks and trying not to make eye contact. "Making love, but platonic" -- get real, gentlemen, if you're gonna fuck, then fuck. Enough of this half-hearted teasing.
Jeez, this is incredibly dull. It's loud, but all the energy has been washed out by the over-polished late 90s alt-metal production. The singer wouldn't know a catchy melody if it stabbed him in the ear. And the interminable scratching!
The wikipedia article is full of quotes from reviews that damn with faint praise:
"Incubus had found a beta-male approach to new-metal"
"On this effort, Incubus seems more concerned with playing with sounds and differentiating themselves from Kid Rock than they do with making enjoyable music."
"With the bland, radio friendly offering Make Yourself, it looks like Incubus is more likely to get compared to the likes of The Goo Goo Dolls and Sugar Ray."
This is the worst kind of forgettable and tuneless alt-metal, engineering by a major label to shift units. It doesn't even have the conviction of mindless aggression like most nu-metal (your Korns, your Deftones, your Bizkits Limp). Don't get me wrong, I despise all those nu-metal bands with the burning heat of a thousand suns. This is anodyne and insipid, but at least it isn't hateful. Neither hot nor cold, I spit it out of my mouth. 1.5 stars, rounding up to differentiate this from shit I really hate.
👍
Feb 27 2023
View Author
5
Definitely 5 stars for me. Probably 4.5 if I am being objective. An album I will always really love.
👍
Jul 25 2024
View Author
4
First time listening to this album in full. Head banging tunes with nice instrumentation and vocals
👍
Mar 02 2022
View Author
2
Incubus was a reprieve from the stupid heavy/NuMetal bands of the late 90s and early 00s. They were heavy at times, but they also had a sense of melody. I listened to Fungus Amongus (I think that was the name), S.C.I.E.N.C.E, and this one. After this, the singer got pretty infatuated with himself shirtless. A friend remarked at the time "I'd like to staple a shirt to that guys fucking body." Indeed.
But before Incubus were teenage girl and dorm room poster boys, they were a funky and heavy rock band that toured with 311. And this record was a sweet spot. But we're talking about a moment of relatively little musical consequence in the grand scheme of things. So, 2/5 is the best I can muster here.
I was happy to find that revisiting this record, I still like "The Warmth" as much as I did in 1999.
👍
Dec 23 2021
View Author
2
Pardon me while I admit that I could never stand that "water over wine"y dudes voice! But have to admit that some of the songs are ok.
👍
Apr 14 2025
View Author
1
I was wondering, while this was ruining my day, how someone who had never heard music before would feel if they suddenly encountered this. It's possible they would be amazed and moved by the beauty of sound. But I tend to think that even they would clock the turgid soullessness of it all, and never have an urge to listen to music again.
👍
Jun 03 2025
View Author
5
Highschool classic
👍
Jun 02 2025
View Author
5
Actually I think we can narrow this list down to one album, just listen to this one and you can die, all good. You’ve succeeded, you can die happy. I think every rock band should have a DJ.
Ok in all seriousness I unironically really enjoyed this album, I personally don’t get what’s so repulsive, especially compared to the other nu-metal offerings on this list, maybe a little self serious and corny, but not abhorrent like Mr. Rock, who I’m sure I will have choice words for. Maybe it’s nostalgia but this shit goes hard.
👍
Mar 01 2023
View Author
5
Incubus was one of my favorite bands growing up, I think this album sits comfortably somewhere in the top 3 of their discography.
👍
Oct 20 2022
View Author
5
Incredible. Just incredible. Every song, every aspect. Just loved it. Favorite track: Make Yourself
👍
Oct 07 2022
View Author
5
Nostalgia-based 5 start, not sure if it deserves this but it's at least a 4.
👍
Sep 30 2022
View Author
5
Great as always. The warmth / make yourself / drive pardon me . Brings back teenage years
👍
Sep 23 2022
View Author
5
Incubus is my jam, so I'm biased. Stellar and Pardon Me are excellent. Drive is the major breakout hit. It has a polished radio sound, that is actually not what I think of when listening to incubus. I Miss You captures the band much better.
👍
Jul 01 2022
View Author
5
Great album, they really defined there sound a bit more and went into a more pop softer sound on a few songs which worked really well. A lot of things to to like. One of my favorite albums of that era and the The Warmth is still one of my fav songs.
👍
Feb 25 2022
View Author
5
Always loved this album
👍
Aug 24 2021
View Author
5
One of my personal favorite record ever. This brings me back to the era of my life when music finally made sense and my love affair with music began. For all, those formative years of middle and high school mean so much when it comes to cementing what it means to be "good music" and I'm thankful for records like these to paint the the listing picture of my youth.
👍
Jun 04 2021
View Author
5
The vocals, the instruments, and the perfectly balanced sound at this polished point of alt rock island vibes. I don't care what they say, Incubus never sold out.
👍
May 26 2021
View Author
5
One of my all time favourite albums. Loved it when I was a teenager and still do now.
👍
Feb 04 2021
View Author
5
Never heard of them before. Almost every song sounds the same. ... And that's genius because I like everything on this album! The singer craftily merges his voice with the music so I have no idea what the songs are about - pure perfection. Even the part where the album is broken and spasms back and forth is melodic and deeply satisfying. Five stars from me, will definitely come back to this.
👍
May 14 2021
View Author
5
Solid af
👍
Jun 04 2025
View Author
4
Love it. Solid album
👍
May 30 2025
View Author
4
Very dad rocky, but I dig it. Reminds me of the oldschool cod days. Also drive👌🏻
👍
May 18 2025
View Author
4
Love Incubus ! Drive is one of the best songs of the generation.
👍
May 07 2025
View Author
4
I like how the songs start soft and then come crashing through!
👍
May 06 2025
View Author
4
Listened Before? Y
This was a staple of my early 2000s CD player. I love this album and it seems to have held up pretty well. Nice vocals and guitar-driven music.
Added to Library? Y
Songs added to playlist: Stellar
👍
Nov 08 2024
View Author
4
Yes, I love this album because it takes me back to a different, exciting time in my life. But, and I may be in the minority here, I also love how it sounds today. Great vocals, pounding guitar, even the DJ in the mix serves as a flourish and not relied upon too heavily.
👍
Sep 25 2024
View Author
4
Put grunge, reggae/ska and hip hop into a blender and you get this. I think this is important music on one's journey to heavier music.
👍
Jul 14 2024
View Author
4
I've listened to Drive so many times that I thought I knew who the band Incubus was. Their style surprised me, I feel like I was listening to Tool at some points. Interesting and sufficiently different from the bulk of this list, I'm glad I got to listen to the whole album!
👍
Jun 06 2025
View Author
3
Wonder why the name Incubus never registered with me. Very listenable, including one or two definitely recognisable tunes. I'll listen again.
👍
May 31 2025
View Author
3
Decent rock album but was a bit distracted when listening to it. Probably worth another go at some point.
👍
May 12 2025
View Author
3
A bit too on the heavy side but Drive is a killer 90's rock track. I feel like I Miss You got a bit of rotation back in the day too, it rang a bell. I know this is one of my brother's favourite albums; for me it's pretty solidly right in the middle.
👍
May 10 2025
View Author
3
3/5
👍
May 09 2025
View Author
3
Better than I was expecting
👍
Mar 26 2024
View Author
3
I was sleepwalking through this album thinking this is the lamest nu metal shit ever (and I somewhat like my metal) until drive came on and something in my brain supernova’s. It’s one of those songs I’ve heard everywhere throughout my entire living memory where it’s good enough to remember but not good enough to seek out and listen to intentionally so my first reaction to hearing it was shock more than anything. Like I’m not supposed to hear this anywhere but a mall.
👍
Mar 06 2023
View Author
3
This is really 1999. And somehow I just dig it.
This isn't quite nu metal, not quite funk, not quite rock. Incubus' breakthrough album sits somewhere in between it all.
Mike Einziger's riffs are interesting, José Pasillas' is on fire - but it's Brandon Boyd's vocal that impresses me the most. Not when he semi-raps on "Pardon Me" but his understanding of melody just hits me.
There are some incredible songs on this that turns the nostalgia all the way up for me. Of course there's also stuff like "Battlestar Scalatchtica" whis is horrible and dumb - and I don't care that much for the turntables in general.
I never noticed that this was almost 50 minutes long.
And that's something.
👍
Jun 24 2021
View Author
3
Ah yes that time in history with soul patches, ear lobe plugs, rock bands with DJs, that Justin Delong guy from the Mac vs. PC commercials, pretentiousness of rocking out in 7/8 time, and those generic MTV music videos which are either super deep or were just made up on the spot.
👍
Jun 06 2025
View Author
2
Now I know what all those early-2000s Christian youth group bands were ripping off.
👍
Mar 11 2024
View Author
2
I’m not gonna lie: it took some doing to make myself get through this one.
👍
Sep 25 2023
View Author
2
I saw these dudes on this tour at Ozzfest and remember thinking their performance would’ve been better scheduled at dusk rather than at 3 in the afternoon. There’s a spacey ambience to this record that’s better suited for the evening than the sweltering heat of a July afternoon.
There’s some unique guitar work on this record, with a host of delay and other effects employed to achieve a spacey atmosphere. So it’s kind of an interesting record in that regard.
Otherwise, it feels really dated and a bit like a lowest common denominator-type record. I’m not really sure it belongs on this list, and three songs in, it’s already starting to feel like a chore to get through.
👍
May 12 2025
View Author
1
“When I was a boy I was coming up through the 60’s and thought my adulthood was going to be the most radical years of my life, but when I got there it’s Pete Frampton in a kimono and I’m like cmon man.”
- Mike Watt, Minutemen. American Hardcore documentary.
I feel I can relate as someone coming up through the 90’s and when you get to that age you start exploring music and alternative culture this is what was happening.
What a weird time. Incubus is one of those bands fondly remembered by those of us coming around in the turn to the 21st century as the thing to move forward rock music. Kurt Cobain died 5 years ago and all these alternative hard rock bands were coming up. You had the post grunge bands of Foo Fighters, Bush, and the whole lollapalooza thing going on. You had the nu metal and rap rock bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, coal chamber, deftones. You had the funky rock bands like faith no more, Red Hot Chili Peppers, or sublime. This album is 1999 so Metallica’s already been stripped down to a shell of their former selves, cutting their hair, battling drug addictions and suffering the success of being the biggest hard rock band on the planet after still making #1 on billboard with the likes of Load and Reload. Creed’s first couple albums came out and we had Human Clay and the song Higher all over the place, so butt rock wasn’t too far off.
Incubus didn’t fall comfortably into any of these and fell by the wayside. I feel like by 2003 or 2004 the band was pretty much forgotten as a relic of that period in the 90’s when gen x was of age, and the oldest millennials weee following along ready to take over their spot in the generational limelight just as quickly with their weird middle children of modern history and pop culture. Before y2k and the world was turned on its hinges. A time of peace and possible stability as humanity marches forward into the new climax of the species.
But come on guys, this album didn’t age well in that regard and is one of the things that will go on to be a footnote once gen x and elder millennials let go of their nostalgia, and I get it. I heard Stellar and Drive on the radio a ton back then, my reminiscence of youth when my first girlfriend played the ballad “I miss you” when we weren’t hanging out and told me about it on our landlines. The nostalgia is ripe to be there but overall this album is a snooze fest and the songs aren’t particularly notable to me any more. This whole era of music was just a sterile facility of friendly enough rock bands that didn’t need to take a risk to sell albums and incorporate the most banal and mundane pieces of the grunge wave of the earliest part of the decade or creative works of Mike Patton. It’s the equivalent of Godsmack to me who took such a legendary band like Alice In Chains (who managed to escape a lifestyle as a washed up glam cover band and made a distinct style for themselves incorporating Black Sabbath’s riffs, harmonized vocals into the Seattle grunge scene to make it a bit heavier) and found the worst parts of their music to form their own career off of (honestly, even the song god smack off dirt is the one song I like to skip when I play that record).
Linkin park was hot on their heels and would eventually out do Incubus with their debut album Hybrid Theory in sales and just being a more consistent vision, but you can hear the parallels. Some of the ballads, the rapping sections in a few middle the album tracks and even the DJ turntable instrumental that was basically copied by LP on their first album with Mr Hahn’s Cure for the Itch. Still, that’s not enough to save Incubus and this album while commercially successful wasn’t enough for this band to survive modern relevance and I think younger people won’t really find the appeal they had.
Also the band name is probably one of the greatest missed shots in band name history. Incubus would be perfect for one of their 80’s goth rock, dark wave, industrial kind of bands, even taking note of the hit song from Xmal deutschland’s incubus succubus song, but alas it became the band that was a foot note in alternative rock and never really fit into any of the scenes burgeoning around them at the time, even lamented by the members who weren’t punk enough for warped and not metal enough for Ozzfest. One and done.
👍
Feb 23 2024
View Author
1
I didn't listen to this shit when it came out, and I'm not listening to this shit now. Metal sucks.
👍
Feb 23 2024
View Author
1
Nope!
👍
Feb 14 2024
View Author
1
As a person who was in high school and owned this album when it came out, this sounds like someone put “make me some songs that sound like 1999” in an ai song generator.
It’s dated. It’s not particularly great for the nu-metal genre. It’s not even Incubus’ best album.
👍
Oct 22 2023
View Author
1
Not sure why this was included in the book at all. Drive is a fantastic song, but the rest are very ordinary and had little cultural impact that I remember. I've mentioned it before in other reviews, but the amount of crappy 90s albums that are on this list is astonishing, given NOT SINGLE TOOL ALBUM WAS INCLUDED
👍
May 08 2025
View Author
5
cara, eu só conhecia drive e me apaixonei.
👍
May 05 2025
View Author
5
Okei tää herätti mun mielenkiinnon, pitää ehdottomasti kuunnella lisää Incubussia. Tosi semmoista rokkia mistä mää pitäisin. Kitarariffit kuulostaa hyviltä. Isoin hitti Drive tällä levyllä, mutta musta se ei ollut lähellekkään paras. Vaikea sanoo suosikkeja kun kaikessa on oikeestaan jotain hyvää. Parhaat: The Warmth, Clean, Pardon Me
👍
Apr 18 2025
View Author
5
Oh my God such a great album! Such a good album to vibe to! I just love listening to this and zoning out, I'm also going to see them this summer for the 20th anniversary of morning view which is always a fantastic album as well! Classic band classic album!
👍
Apr 10 2025
View Author
5
5 stars because i owned this album and have listened to it a ton. Listened to it twice since it popped up on here
👍
Apr 01 2025
View Author
5
Cool
👍
Mar 31 2025
View Author
5
The inevitability of reviewing an album twice when you have two projects at the same time is dawning on me rather hard lately. I reviewed this exactly 2 weeks ago. I was shocked at the amount of 1 star reviews it received, was going to give a 4, but gave a 5 because, “it needs it (and ultimately deserves more than the 1s and 2s that it seems to be getting)”. So, I’m doing the same. Sue me.
👍
Mar 25 2025
View Author
5
Seminal album for me and still goes really dang hard
👍
Mar 18 2025
View Author
5
I'm really surprised that this is the first Incubus popping up on the list in our rotation. I could have sworn that we had "Morning View" already but it didn't show up when I searched.
This album is incredible. "Stellar", "Drive", and "Pardon Me" are three amazing songs and propel the album to a pretty clear 5/5, and getting an addition onto my "favorite albums of all time" list, coming in somewhere between #10 and 25.
"Stellar" is a beautiful song with one of my favorite guitar riffs. I always keep that guitar part in my back pocket whenever I want to impress my wife or get a quick "ooooo I love that song!" at random times in day to day life. There's such a great spacey vibe in this one; and not only with the "meet me in outer space" line- it's in the guitars and bass and backing synth(s) and production. I love it.
"Pardon Me" has some of the best energy of any rock song I've ever heard. You can feel the angst seething through Brandon Boyd's vocals. I always loved the lyrics in this one too. I'm pretty sure I'll have them memorized for my entire life.
"Drive" is an extra special song with some pretty on-the-nose lyrics about letting fear and uncertainty control your life. If I recall, a lot of these songs were written when Brandon Boyd was in his very early 20's and going through a lot. I love the slight pitch~y problem the first time you hear the lyric "steer" (00:39) between his voice and the bass guitar. It's perfectly imperfect from someone who I consider a vocal god. His voice really shines in the chorus of this one. Great long notes, and equally great little runs and spoken rhythmic sequences. What a joy to listen to.
Something I love about this album and Incubus on a bigger level is the way that they are able to add so much depth to all of their songs and not just their big hits. They respect every song on their records and are able to concoct these really interesting little musical spaces with each other. "The Warmth" for example has a really distinct groove and a repetitive guitar part that is heightened by some great haunting delay/reverb effect on the guitar. The bass also kicks on a distortion (sansamp style I think?) later in the track that makes the groove hit you like a punch. That effect elevates the song and makes it distinct from every other track, and they seemingly do this with every single track. They have perfect taste for what a voice or instrument needs production-wise that I will forever appreciate. Each one has it's own little vocabulary that is homogeneous with the language of Incubus while also existing by itself.
Easy 5/5 for me- so good!
👍
Mar 17 2025
View Author
5
Although not a big fan this is a great album, shocked at the 1 star reviews. “Drive” is a great track and there are so many others. Once one of MetallicA’s favourite bands. I was going to give it a 4, but I gave it 5 because it needs it (and ultimately deserves more than the 1s and 2s that it seems to be getting).
👍
Feb 26 2025
View Author
5
(Oh no, another diary entry disguised as a review)
One of the best albums of all time, phenomenal - such a lovely surprise that this on the list, even though it very much belongs here.
I could write so much about this album but my words couldn't do it justice - all I know is Incubus' music has been there for me during so many pivotal times in my life. I expected it to be, as I have seen both of my older brothers singing Pardon Me at the top of their lungs when they were 23, and knew that was coming for me too (thank u pandemic and second year of uni, love u lots...)
Standout tracks - every single song is 5/5, and hardly any albums are like that for me. BUT I will list songs that I hold dearer to my heart instead:
- Drive (I have loved this song since I was 3, and also started fancying Brandon Boyd then too LOL. V important song for me in 2018, soundtrack to falling on the floor and getting back up to start my life over).
- Stellar (love u Jack)
- Nowhere Fast (LOL deffo not crying rn)
- Privilege (always think about this song when I am overwhelmed)
- Make Yourself (wow)
- When It Comes (would be a perf wrestler's entrance theme)
- PARDON ME <3 <3 <3
👍
Feb 26 2025
View Author
5
Hell yeah. This is the evolutionary peak of metal. It’s hard enough to say “I mean it” but it’s nuanced and musical in a way so many metal acts ignore. It’s pleasant instead of pure anger/evil/dark and I think that brings the emotion across even more powerfully. I cannot describe how important that is to a listener who wants music to be, well, enjoyable to listen to.
I love the writing. They paint a scenes of challenges and situations that resonate across anyone that’s ever been in a relationship, lost focus, needed motivation, been neglectful, been young, been angry, been hurt, lacked direction, grown up, loved, lost… so yes, everyone.
5/5. One of my absolute favorites. This is the first Incubus entry I’ve had on the list but I hope it’s not the last. This is a great one; a band hitting its stride on their third album before an absolute incredible stretch 2001-2011. This one kicked Incubus to another level.
I’m writing this in 2025 but if you get a chance to see them, do it. They crush.
👍
Feb 15 2025
View Author
5
5.0 - Awesome
👍
Feb 09 2025
View Author
5
Really enjoyed this, need to listen to Incubus more. Drive is a great tune.
👍
Feb 06 2025
View Author
5
Excellent album!!
👍
Feb 05 2025
View Author
5
Probably a 4.5 but slightly bias rating up
👍
Feb 01 2025
View Author
5
This is one of the best rock albums of the 90s. I still contend that S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is their magnum opus, but I concede that this is the album that made them all very, very rich. Make yourself is a massive departure from the albums that came before it. Fungus Amongus and the aforementioned S.C.I.E.N.C.E. were harder, more underground, and leaned more heavily into scratches and the rock-rap stylings that were the hallmark of the grossly named nu-metal movement. With this album, Brandon Boyd cut his dreadlocks, became a heartthrob, leaned more into his incredibly impressive singing voice, and became one of the biggest rock bands of the era.
5 stars, no notes, incredible, incredible album.
👍
Jan 01 2025
View Author
5
You know what? Like it or not Nu Metal got us where we are today in music. This wasn't as insufferable as nu metal can be, and I honestly enjoyed listening to this while drinking my coffee on a Monday morning.
👍
Nov 25 2024
View Author
5
One of my all-time favorites!
👍
Nov 08 2024
View Author
5
I dove into Incubus in preparation for the first Sick New World festival, and I was really surprised to find they were a funk/semi-metal band since I only knew Drive. One of my favorite things about this album is they have some really catchy choruses. Some of my favorite are: Privilege, Nowhere Fast, Make Yourself, and Pardon Me.
Very fun album, funky and fun to sing along too.
Low 5.
👍
Nov 08 2024
View Author
5
This album is da bomb
👍
Oct 27 2024
View Author
5
Always had a soft spot for Incubus, since 'Stellar' from this album was in the first guitar hero game, their album SCIENCE was full of nu-metal bangers, and 'Wish You Were Here' was also a banger tune. Turns out this album is also just full of great alt-rock tunes front to back. Who could have guessed.
👍
Oct 24 2024
View Author
5
Incubus was one of the first bands I really got into, I live the blend of funk and the use of turntables and I really love the singers voice
👍
Oct 24 2024
View Author
5
One of my favorite albums from this time period.
👍
Oct 24 2024
View Author
5
Easy 5 star rating for this one. Peak 90s music that still holds up in today's world.
👍
Oct 23 2024
View Author
5
Excellent album. It's going into my Tidal library and getting five stars.
👍
Oct 23 2024
View Author
5
Maybe the most late 90s/early 2000s hard rock album ever. Punchy riffs, emotional and angry lyrics, but also some funky and proggy elements to keep it fresh and interesting. And so much fun to dance to. A top-tier fun album. Top tracks: Privilege, Drive, Battlestar Scralatchtica
👍
Oct 07 2024
View Author
5
Love love love this album. Brandon Boyd’s voice is amazing and the power behind each song is evident.
👍
Sep 18 2024
View Author
5
I didn't really have to listen to this one, most all of the songs have been in a pretty consistent rotation for me since I bought the CD in my younger days
👍
Sep 18 2024
View Author
5
LOVE LOVE this album!
👍
Sep 18 2024
View Author
5
100% nostalgia
👍
Sep 02 2024
View Author
5
I probably expected this from my favorite genre but Make Yourself is a legitimately fantastic album. Nearly every song sounded really great on this album with absolutely outstanding vocals, music, and lyrics but also managed to each have their own identity while still sounding like they fit together. The diversions this album had (Drive and Battlestar Scralatchtica) also managed to feel like nice breaks from the album's typical structure without being too annoying or jarring. This is easily among the best albums i have ever looked at for this project.
Best Song: Out from Under
Worst Song: Battlestar Scralatchtica
👍
Aug 05 2024
View Author
5
Yeah I like it. Reminds me of the Matrix Soundtrack but significantly more listenable; more rolling and organic in the bass lines. I thought I knew this band, but no Kenny! its PRIMUS that did the South Park theme, not INCUBUS.
So, this is nu- or funk metal. Not for everyday. But its a great Funk to push through by at 8PM after a long hr slog when here is decidedly poopy but paperwork to do!
Productivity kick. Influenced by bands I like, as it turns out. Makes sense.
👍
Aug 01 2024
View Author
5
10/10
👍
Jul 23 2024
View Author
5
Great transitions. Nice rock album to listen to
👍
Jul 04 2024
View Author
5
Love this. Their best by far.
👍
Jun 30 2024
View Author
5
When this album started, I knew that I would like it but also could quite grasp why it would be considered an essential album. It is certainly to my taste, but then a lot of bands would be that I’d still admit aren’t exactly groundbreaking. However, as this album continued, I began to really appreciate the complexities of what I was hearing. Rach said there were parts that reminded her of more industrial music. I commented that there were parts that sounded like Alkaline Trio. Then suddenly it might sound like OPM. I love just how much is happening on this album. It is genre bending, but bends into everything I like.
👍