Reviews (page 6 of 7)
Incubus? I’m Outcubus
2.5 stars
2.5 rounded down to 2. Drive still a good song. Didn't know Pardon Me was Incubus.
Wow. Way to grab your attention instantly with the gritty, fast-paced, riff-heavy Privilege. This is a combination of about five different genres, but it overlaps most heavily with post-grunge/metal bands like Tool and AiC. (Nu-metal? Isn't that just a made-up words for young, self-indulgent garage-rockers who think their music is significantly more inventive than it is?) Now, don't get me wrong: this genre-conglomerate isn't terrible by itself. But it is mildly terrible when Incubus does it. That low, ultra-distorted guitar sound, particularly when relentlessly coupled with an identically-written bassline, gets old pretty quickly – and the strongest tracks end up being the mellower ones like Consequence (the first half), The Warmth, Drive, and I Miss You. And often, those tracks forget to be mellow within a couple minutes. It probably doesn't help that I'm sick and bedridden while listening to this record. If I can't stomach anything spicy or acidic, it follows that Incubus would do very little for me. The opening 30 seconds of Stellar is honestly fantastic. That ultra-chill bassline and lead guitar tone, the multiple interacting melodies... it's no wonder this was chosen as a single. The title track is all over the place. I think the time signature is changing rapidly during the stupidly-written chorus ("Fuck me in my own way / (repeat ad infinitum)") but I'm not focused enough to work it out. Whatever the case is, it feels like Incubus is trying too hard to be cool. Later on the album, I don't even know where to start with the song Battlestar Scralatchtica. Dwight Schrute doesn't know where to start either. Unfortunately, in terms of raw instrumentation, it's one of the strongest in the album, and I'm having trouble faulting it for anything other than its incredibly stupid title. (But then later: The DJ-esque vocals. Yeah, those are crap. Whew.) I don't see any of the appeal of Pardon Me. That synth-organ in the back is pretty irritating and persistent, while the vocal-guitar combo reads like a knock-off Linkin Park (who boast significantly stronger melodies overall). 2/5 Key tracks: Stellar, Drive, I Miss You
Pat and Chad, I’m sorry to tell you Frank will never love you. As you may have guessed I’m with Frank here. Some kind of childhood mind meld group think. I have a very strong reaction to the vocal style. It reminds me of sublime for some reason, comes across as pretty “put on”? I don’t know. Chicks dig incubus is the real lesson here.
My high school girlfriend had a poster of this album on the wall of her bedroom and I'd often look at it after we'd had sex with this vague feeling of guilt because I knew I could never truly love someone who liked incubus.
At the risk of being the contrarian here, I've never been high on this band or this era of alternative rock. I feel like this is sort of the nail in the coffin of '90s alternative rock -- something that started off being weird and wonderful and ended up being sort of corporate and bland. I think bands like Incubus are why bands like the Strokes and White Stripes were such a welcome change around this time. Not the worst thing I've ever heard, but would not listen to this again. I'm not sure what the best song is here. "Stellar" maybe? I don't know. 2.5 stars.
Stinkubus. Seems to feel like the most boring elements of Korn, Linkin Park and Nickelback but a little stinkier. Favourite tracks - none.
I thought the guitars were fun and the drums but the vocals left me absolutely cold.
Scritchy scratchy, not really talenty
Falls into the trap a lot of 90s radio rock fell into. Lots of cymbals. Cool it on the cymbals boys. If not for Drive this would have been completely skippable - but Drive is an all timer (and coincidentally soft on drums….) so it gets a 2
Hate the vocal style.
2.5. The singles still work, but a lot of the rest is just filler or aged poorly. They seem like nice guys and I’m happy for their success, but this is very 1999.
Almost delightfully mid
weird generic nu metal crossed with pop rock ballads must have been in high demand for this list. Drive, I Miss You, and Pardon Me seem like the standouts for this album which is strange when they sound nothing at all like the other tracks (Battlestar Scralatchtica is so silly on its own), it was a pretty big slog to get through by the end of it.
Didn’t realize the “Drive” band was nu-metal. Fans of that song must have been so disappointed when they bought this album. It was fine but I have no idea how it made the list. 1001 albums is just a lot I guess
I've always thought that the best thing about Incubus is how easy they are to forget. Thanks a bundle for the reminder, Bob. Now I've gotta start the forgetting all over again.
There's something about the sound of this band that I don't care for. Never have, and I'm surprised they're on this list.
I liked this band better when they were called 311. Album could have been called “Jump Rope” because I couldn’t stop skipping.
This album is not a breeze. Cause it blows hard. (Kidding, its alright. Just not very interesting.) 5/10
Really space-like and hovering sound that I could immerse myself in more than I could enjoy. Also the vocals were not the most pleasing which didn’t help. Obviously recognizing Drive, the rest of the songs all had some cool stuff going on but nothing was especially my favorite. While this was cool I would not listen again.
Monotonous. I thought Incubus were more energetic than this.
how did this make the list. Like it’s not bad but come on.
I didn't hate this album which surprised me. When the group got away from the heavy head-banging music with the strong guitar riffs and the ponderous drums, there were songs that I liked: example: "I Miss You". I appreciated that the songs weren't terribly long also.
ik was echt aan proberen te zoeken naar iets goeda wat ik hierover kon zeggen maar no
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be thereeeee (das het enigste goed stukje uit dit album, de rest is gwn een beetje lame sorry)
Holy shit this is the one that has Drive on it.
2.5 - ok, mostly carried by drive
I never listened to Incubus, but I remember that, when I was a kid and their videos were in rotation on MTV, I found them pretty boring. After listening to this record, I want to tell the "teenager" me this: "You were extremely right!" Only saveable track is Drive, bonus point.
Incubus deliverers intriguing sounds (When it Comes/Make Yourself) and cringy lyrics (Make Yourself). They seemed to have succeeded with two radio hits. I understand why Drive became so popular, but don’t understand why this band did. 2.5 rounded down. Post Script: Sometimes this project feels like Groundhog Day.
Ohhhhhh kay
I know contemporary Incubus tends to be more of a punchline than something people enjoy listening to but I did enjoy this look back at their earlier stuff. It’s not an album I’ll ever listen to again but it was solidly fine. Round up to 2.5 stars.
The dudliest dude rock of the early 2000s. Some of the gnarliest lyrics penned upside down while chugging a keg. Also, there’s a random hit in this that snaps you back to being 15 in a Kohl’s in a very real way.
Alternative-Rock, 1999 -> 2
Much less bad than Limbus Kit
Incubus.... I didn't think it worked in 1999, and I'm not convinced it does now. Not sure how this ended up on the list. I certainly would not include it. More interesting albums than this from the period of 1998-1999 that to my knowledge are not on this list: Nine Inch Nails THE FRAGILE, Rage Against the Machine THE BATTLE FOR LOS ANGELES, Vast VISUAL AUDIO SENSORY THEATER, and Massive Attack MEZZANINE.
The most bland version of an edgy band possible.
I'm baffled as to how this made the list. I'm not a fan of nu-metal anyway, but surely there are much better and more influential examples of the genre. Utterly uninteresting to me.
Not a style I enjoy
Epitome of late 90s/early 00s man rock, not my favorite alas
If I were 25 years younger, I would probably give this at three. But I’m too old for it now! 😂
Thought I'd like this more. 'Drive' is such a good song that it makes the rest of it look even worse because nothing comes close to it. Ah well.
Mild nu-metal with some hip-hop scratching, some dub/reggae bass/beats and normal non-shouty vocals. A little more palatable than most nu-metal, but still mostly forgettable. The track "Drive", one of the singles released from this record, was fairly popular on the radio and is marginally memorable, "Pardon Me" has some System of a Down and Faith No More homage, and "Battlestar Scralatchtica" is a novelty funk-lounge ditty with turntables, but nothing else particularly stands out.
This is the sort of shit the kid that drank Monster 24/7 named Kyle would listen to while raging on Modern Warfare 2. And this isn't metal. This is shit.
They learned all the wrong lessons from Deftones and 311.
weirdly nostalgic for me for some reason drive is definitely the best track
I’m just a bit of a hater when it comes to this kind of thing
This is an album. It has notes. There are songs. The songs follow a tempo. The tempo varies sometimes and sometimes the notes also change.
I’m in the early days of this and am trying to make an effort to understand the appeal of music I just don’t get. And I can see how this kind of raw distortion would appeal to young men. But I am neither young nor a man and it just makes me feel like I am being yelled at. The band does tone it down during the song “Drive” and that is what I added to my Generator playlist.
The best song on this was Drive, and I don’t even like that song. It was just the most melodic. Not a fan of the nu-metal grungy whatever. There’s a large amount of 90s alt rock that I just don’t love. Incubus doesn’t hit the spot for me
Brandon Boyd spends most of the record sounding like he’s searching for a melody in real time, only occasionally landing one ("Drive") before politely moving on.
Big meh
5/10 - kind of typical American rock from the 90s, can't say I'm enamoured
Nah
I don’t understand why I needed to listen to listen. It sounded like late 90’s hard rock which is not a genre I particularly like. I knew Drive and Pardon Me.
I guess the dj was their standout sound?
This is another one of those “just ok” albums. It might fit on a list of 10,001 albums but probably should not be on a list of 1,001 albums. It sounds ok with a pleasant mix of alt rock styles but they’re clearly taking their sound from many great bands that came before within 10 years from when this was released and it doesn’t sound like they’ve taken that sound and elevated it much. The vocals are good, the musicianship is good, and there’s some interesting things going on with the arrangements and the mix but I still can’t help but think that this sounds a bit second rate. There’s some potential here though and with further listens and perhaps a deeper examination of the lyrics it might click with me but for now this goes in the ok pile and I’m unfortunately left with that feeling of hoping for a better album tomorrow.
Similar to the Chilis, they successfully changed their sound from rap-rock-turntable-whatever to palatable “alternative radio”. Some of the songs are solid, but gosh, did I just listen to the same song 12 times over?
Such an unusual blend of 15% enjoyable and otherwise completely insufferable. lol Drive Saved a song: N RYM: N
This takes me back to high school, pretending to love Incubus since they were my crush’s favorite band. Not worth it, definitely not an album you need to hear before you die. Drive is the only song I truly enjoy from this one.
It was OK. A little too cheesy for me. Won’t listen again.
Make Yourself is my 80th Book Album this year and the fact that I had never seen its cover art in my life made me question whether or not I had actually heard Incubus’ music before (even though I was pretty sure I had). Seriously, this artwork is one of the most Y2K-looking things I’ve ever seen and it doesn’t fit the vibe of the music at all – it feels like it should be the cover for a vocal trance compilation from 1998. With that out of the way, this was honestly a pretty tough one for me to get through. Brandon Boyd’s vocal style got grating very quickly and his lyrics/melodies came across as pretty amateur – it felt like I was listening to Scott Stapp sing freestyle over early Linkin Park instrumentals. The only track that felt like it had legs on the songwriting front was "Drive," which was understandably the album’s biggest hit. The band backing Boyd actually came across as quite solid to me – not amazing, but perfectly functional and occasionally proficient. One of my favorite tracks on Make Yourself was "Battlestar Scralatchtica" (terrible name for a song), where the band and DJ basically just jam/scratch for 3+ minutes. Songs like "Nowhere Fast" also have some really interesting things going on in the instrumental department, which I definitely appreciated. That said, even good instrumentals can’t make annoying vocals and sucky songwriting significantly more tolerable. I was actually considering giving this album one star until "Drive" came on and things sort of started to pick up after that... just not enough to bump it higher than two stars. It’s not a top 1000 LP of all time, that’s for sure. Highlights: Nowhere Fast, Drive, Battlestar Scralatchtica, Pardon Me, Out from Under
I find this hard to explain. I *thought * I liked this album, I thought I had listened to this several times. But - there's songs on here I don't remember ever hearing - that I just really don't like. I'm confused, but other than two tracks on here, I will never listen to this again.
Mezcla de grunge y nu metal totalmente coyuntural. En su día tenía interés para los jóvenes en 1999. Hoy no se merecen una escucha atenta.
They never had any success in the UK and I see why. All the ingredients are here but the results are lacklustre and boring. Next
listed as alternative, I find it more Rock/Hard rock. Some of the same stuff. not impressed
Just because it's a good Incubus album doesn't mean it's a good album. But what other band before them had a turntable scratcher?
Music for a generation I'm not part of. Didn't hate it, but didn't particularly warm to it either.
Not necessarily a bad album but not my cup of tea. There were 2 or 3 songs I actually enjoyed.
An early entry of the Nu Metal bands and the sound of New Years 1999, where it was hard to avoid them...try as I might. I'm listening to it again to see if taste and perspective have shifted enough to feel like I'm enjoying this. Drive and Privilege are pretty good, Battlestar Scralatchtica is amusing in its novelty and benefits from the touch of the Ozomatli DJ, but isn't great. The rest of the album just isn't that good.
Each song very samey...
Incubus just feels so dated to me, and I didn't particularly like it when it was contemporary
3/10
Singles aren't bad but it's pretty generic nu-metal/alternative.
Stupid American alternative metal crap. Unexciting and soulless. Also why on earth name your band incubus? That’s not tough you nuts.
Sad
cool album cover
I fully expected to hate this album. I didn’t which is nice, but also didn’t like it that much either. It’s extremely 90s and it’s a fine example of late 90s nu metal. Which is a genre I really don’t like at all. But if I had to listen to nu metal, this album would be fine. The best song here is Drive which is basically Dollar Store Alice In Chains
It was alright but not something I would go back to
Inte för mig
Faith No More lite. I'd rather listen to The Real Thing ;-)
Foo fighters-ish slop
Sounded a bit like Red Hot Chili Peppers at times and also a bit like Foo Fighters, but not as good as either. Enjoyed a few songs but the lyrics were terrible, knocking this down from 3 starts to 2.
Is this where Nu Metal was born? If so, it was a very handsome baby shorn of those long golden locks and not a double denom nappy in sight. (Sorry, I've only just woken up). I liked it, there were no particular standout tracks, but nothing particularly jarring either.
Alternative rock. Sounds like a band I’d expect to hear at a high school talent show.
Dit voelt heel erg als R O C K. Ik weet niet zo goed hoe het te omschrijven maar als een soort Nickelback achtige rock? Poprock? Is dat iets? De site zelf noemt het metal, ik snap die vergelijking wel een beetje, nu-metal ook wel. Dat klinkt wel een beetje zoals dit is. Het volgt een beetje het standaard riffje van zacht beginnen en dan HEEL VEEL GELUID YEAAAAAAAAAH Ik haat dat. Maar vind het hier nog niet verschrikkelijk tot nu toe. Oef, Make Yourself is een afslag die ik liever niet had gemaakt, wat een herrie op het einde. Hoop niet dat dat hun 'nieuwe' sound is, want dan ben ik geen fan. En dat is toch een beetje de sound waar ze voor gaan. Popmetalnurock ofzoiets. Ik krijg er erge Linkin Park/Nickelback vibes van, en van beiden ben ik totaal geen fan. 2 sterren, want het is niet zo verschrikkelijk dat ik het nooooit nooit meer wil horen. Maar liever niet. FAVO: The Warmth
Nu Metal and Alternative Metal are two genres that could either be really good or really "douchebaggy". Sometimes you get a mix of them, sometimes you one or the other. But man this album really borders douchebaggy. It does have a mix of hits or shits in my opinion. Incubus is a very boring band that I could care less for and it confuses me that this album even ended up on this list. This album sounds as though it was made for the one guy in the 2000s that would dress up in a red Yankees hat like Fred Durst, have frosted tips like Mark McGrath or wear Fox Racing clothes unironically. It is just an out of style album with one song that is replayed over and over again on the radio. Favorite Tracks: Privelege, Consequence, The Warmth, Drive Rating: 2/5
Hm. Why special?
"Pardon Me" was all over Boston rock radio in 1999. I can remember thinking it was sort of cool back then. Today, it sounds too slickly produced and fake-y. The rest of the album was surprisingly boring.
The band’s playing is pretty tight, but I found none of the songwriting impactful or memorable…
Goodbye numetal. Well remember Linkin Park and Slipknot et al. And incubus…. You were also there.
There is the hit, but rest of album not my stuff...kind of boring to me...
Weird and edgy in a bad way
Make Yourself is a perfectly serviceable alternative rock album with touches of Nu Metal and Rap. It's played well by talented passionate musicians but for all its tightness and skill Make Yourself is also pretty boring affair that while easy to listen to (nothing here makes me scream for the album to hurry up and end) I found it vastly forgettable. It's the kind of album that someone will ask me sometime if I have ever heard it and I will say that I have and when asked how it was, I will reply that I honestly don't remember that I don't recall hating it but also don't recall loving it. I'll smile and say, "Well I better get going, it was good seeing you" I'll get in my car & break in the new speakers in with some Motorhead.
not really big on this Will I listen to again: 4%
A little too punk for me. 3.1/10
Man, those vocals are ATROCIOUS. Musically some of this wouldn’t be half bad, but the way he sings ruins everything.
Nunca conecté con Incubus. Probé varias veces con tres discos: SCIENCE (me acuerdo que en el foro de LIA había un personaje con la tapa del disco como avatar), con este y con Morning View. Y no sé, reconozco el talento y virtuosismo de la banda, pero cuando termina el disco me quedo sin ningún recuerdo efectivo de las canciones. No sé, todo bien con la gente a la que le gusta esto, pero para mi siempre va a ser una segunda marca de Faith No More. Ni siquiera los singles me parecen muy memorables. Vamos a ver, voy a poner acá las canciones que me gustan a medida que vayan apareciendo: Nowhere Fast está buena, tiene efectos con la guitarra que son interesantes que parten de la melodía vocal (pero que tampoco es muy memorable, no me extraña recordar poco de este tema); The Warmth es bastante mejor. Mucho más memorable la melodía vocal (más que a Patton me parece que acá se copiaron de Kiedis y los RHCP) y el tema de vuelta tiene cosas muy interesantes con la guitarra. Potencial mejor canción del disco; Make Yourself también está bien: es más punky y radio friendly; después de ese tema viene Drive, canción más pop que también está bien. Obvio single del disco. Por ahora es la 2da mejor canción después de Warmth: de vuelta me parecen alucinantes los arreglos con las guitarras. Out from Under: el último tema es uno de los mejores, es de los más agresivos del disco, y eso es algo que me parece que la banda debería hacer más. Las otras ("Meh"): la primera canción me parece un mal opener, muchos scratches y muy genérico; Consequence: tmb menor: tiene una melodía simple pitipitití, pitpipipitú que primero se hace de forma desnuda con la guitarra y después viene en forma de explosión y distorsión; When It Comes es super genérica, me aburre y no tengo ganas de escribir tanto; Clean tiene como mucha intro y construcción pero no llega a nada; Battlestar Scrachláctica es una verga (iba a poner Garchláctica): es un tema instrumental que no dice nada. La única canción mala del disco; I Miss You es un temita menor, una balada de menos de 3 minutos, en un disco con mayor contenido me caería mejor que acá; Pardon Me, otro sencillo del disco también me parece un toque genérico. No sé, me da lástima no poder conectar con esta banda. Es un tipo de música que ME DEBERÍA GUSTAR, pero no conecto, no conecto para nada. No entiendo cuál es la gracia de este disco. Tiene potencial para crecer, pero todavía no llegó ese momento. Le pongo 2 estrellas. Sería un 5/10 para mi.
I didn't mind this, it was good background music to my day.
One good song lifted it up from one star
Fade, sans originalité, sans saveur, sans être vomitif : le tofu des albums de rock.
Very different album
I've heard so many great things about this band. Now that I've listened to one of their biggest albums, I'm not sure why. They're not bad musically, just typical 90s rock. The lyrics, however, are just bad. Worthy of maybe a high school rock band, but not a record released on a major label.
Like an aldi version of RHCP. I couldn't get into it at all. I didn't turn it off though, so it's a 2 star effort for me.
“I feel emphatic about not being static/And not eating the bullshit that's being fed to me no more/Cause now I'm full.” Ugh. This kind of rock music just doesn’t do it for me. It’s a combination of the weakest parts of its parent genres: the flatness of metal and the labored, pained lyricism of alt-rock. It’s bewildering to me that this is labeled as “metal” at all. There are some interesting production choices and turns of melody I guess, but it’s just so overwrought and uniform that I could not enjoy it.
It's like a metal band that just wont commit and needs a gimmick - extra nu!!
Definitely would not have guessed this to end up on this list. I know it had some hits and it was pretty popular at the time it came out, but still. Kind of want to read the book to see the reasoning behind its inclusion.
A few bangers that I enjoyed hearing again. The rest I don't plan on revisiting
Tror ikke lige det var min kop te. Kan normalt godt lide den genre, men der var intet der fangede min opmærksomhed. Var også bare syg og i dårligt humør og ked af det.
Always thought I would enjoy this band more
Didn't find it all that great. Probably a little too hard rock for me. I liked the lead singer voice though.
Never really got these guys. To me it feels like Tool for people who want a less aggressive vibe and less intrigue. And arguably less interesting. It’s prog rock if it was played by the jocks to attract the chicks instead of the nerds to be complex and complicated. Drive is good tho.
Nu Metal is up there for my least favorite genre. Surprisingly I was kind of thinking this would be an exception near the start. That quickly changed to me counting down the songs until it was over. Rating: 1.8
J'aime pas vraiment la voix du chanteur et la musique est elle-même est assez meh. Ils essaient d'être spéciaux en mettant des sons bizarres mais ca fonctionne vraiment pas.
Incubus is just RENT 2. Roger hit it big with his One Song, got famous, alienated all his artistic friends, and ended up writing this bitter whiny garbage. Very nostalgic but not very good.
I know of the singles from my days watching MTV. Stellar, Pardon Me, Drive, are all enjoyable. Beyond that, I never realized how big this album was, so much so that you have you listen to it before you die.
Some pretty good, for listening while skiing or driving, but not for hangng out. Not awful
I didn’t warm to this album with the first few songs. However, it had grown on me by the time it got to the song that I can remember hearing on MTV at the time, Stellar. Overall, there are a few decent songs on it, but it is quite ‘samey’ and there is overuse of the scratchy DJ sound. I’d probably agree with the decent number of people reviewing it that suggest it shouldn’t be on this list. 2/5 stars.
While it certainly reminds me of my junior high years; pardon me while I still haven't grown to like em 25 years later.
This may be an overly critical rating, but this album just wasn't quite what I wanted it to be. I was unfamiliar with this band, but the sound is familiar to me (and somewhat nostalgic). Unfortunately there was a fair bit of the album that I thought didn't work well, and it compounded over time.
The sound of Incubus brings me back to the days of listening to P.O.D. in friends’ basements, but I’m not really nostalgic for nu metal. There wasn’t much on this album that stood out to me, and the lyrics are a little whine-boy for my taste.
Your dose of predictable, cliché, commercial American Nu Metal. Foo Fighters like. I spare my 1*s for the absolute worst albums so this is a 2, some songs are not too bad and one or two songs could be fun at parties.
I could tolerate this in small doses but that’s about it . I’d never choose to listen to this on my own.
Very normie
coveret ligner en winamp animation haha, meget of its time jeg kunne godt lide det nummer, der var på den første guitar hero. ellers lyder det som dime store tool
I’m going to be basic and say that I liked Drive but everything else was mid
I thought this sounded vaguely familiar, and then "Drive" came on. And I'm pretty sure that song was on one of the Madden games that I played incessantly as a kid, but I couldn't confirm it through the magic of Google. Honestly, this whole album feels like watered-down music. I couldn't tell you what the original was supposed to taste like, but I can tell you that it's lost whatever makes it stand out. Not to say that this album is necessarily bad, but it's definitely not great, and parts of it aren't really all that good. "Drive" ends up being my favorite song, but I think that's mostly due to its recognizability than anything else. Favorite Song(s): Drive
I struggle to describe Incubus to people in explaining why I don't like them, and actually sitting down and listening to this, I think I've got it - they're Deftones if Deftones sucked, and if the lead singer was determined to do goofy-ass vocal affectations and obsessed with making sure people saw him as an intellectual, but being the kind of 'intellectual' who read two books, has a freshman-in-college-level vocabulary (as opposed to the average 8th-grade-level) and wants everyone to know those things about him.
I was very surprised to see this band on here. I remember Drive being on the radio and thinking it was ok. I still think so. The Incubus song I enjoyed the most was Megalomaniac, but it’s not on this album. Overall this sounds really dated and I’m not into it at all. Side note, Brandon Boyd was the only nu-metal adjacent singer that appeared on the pages of my teen mags. He has a nasal voice that I’d expect to hear from an emo singer.
Incubus? Really? We all really need to hear Incubus before we die? ... are you sure 1001 album gods? I dunno about that. I think my life would have been just fine without hearing this album, maybe even better. I actually predict this album will have a negative impact on the trajectory of my life. So thanks a lot 1001 records... look at what you've done. So, ya... I really didn't like this. It's moody post-grunge with hints of hip hop and nu metal. It's as bad as that genre mashup sounds. O and the cherry on top of this shit sundae of an album: cheesy record scratches sprinkled throughout the track list. What a choice. I must say I'm really baffled by the significance of this album and band. Is this the peak of the post-grunge genre? And thus it's included on this list to have that genre represented? That must be the reason. Or maybe they're massive and relevant in America? I dunno. They didn't seem that big here when I was growing up or maybe I just missed the boat. I know the radio singles that still get airplay and I remember enjoying a late career song from them called Megalomaniac that got a lot of play on much music. Honestly, that song was better than most of this album, but apparently that's a hot take. I consulted an Incubus fan and I was told that Megalomaniac is from a bad album and is not considered classic material. But I have a feeling that the Incubus fanbase doesn't have the best taste in music... but that's obvious from the phrase "incubus fanbase." Thank god for the song Drive or else I'd probably have given this a one. It holds up well. It's a good song for alternative rock radio. It's for sure this album's saving grace.
Score: 5/10 Favorite Track: “Consequence” Make Yourself is the kind of album that neither offends nor excites. It just exists. It stays in a constant middle gear, coasting on alt-rock textures and vague angst without ever finding a real pulse. There is some quality here. The band is tight, the production is clean, and occasionally a track like “Consequence” hits a solid groove. But most of the album feels like background noise for someone else’s nostalgia trip. It is not a disaster, but it is not essential either. For a record that once tried to sound vital, it now comes off as forgettable. You do not need to hear this before you die.
Metal was never broken so there was zero requirement for a Nu (sic) Metal.
I had to google Incubus to see if they are a Christian band based on that vocal styling. They are not. Some very solid guitar and bass work. However multiple penalties for "Battlestar Scralatchtica" and this: "And it feels like a matador is taunting me With his reddest red cloth and I am the bull Yes I feel emphatic about not being static And not eating the bullshit that's being fed to me no more 'Cause now I'm full"
1. privelege - 1.5 2. fazt - 2 3. conzequence - 1 4. uuarmth - 2 5. comez - 1 6. ztelalr - 1.5 7. yourzelf - 1.5 8. drive - 2 9. clean - 1.5 10. battle - 1.5 11. mizz - 1.5 12. pardon - 2 13. under - 1.5
Shocked to see this pop up today. I've never in my life thought that everyone needs to hear an Incubus record. This album sounds like it would be blasting out of the Monster Energy Drink tent at some kind of festival where a dude named Kyle is giving out free samples. It's not for me. It's so dated and doesn't hold up at all. People love Drive but that song is so overplayed I'm fine never hearing it again. I mean I've heard worse albums but I'd never play this again and I would probably turn it off if it came on randomly. 2/5
I have an aversion to "nu metal". Even the name triggers me. Consequently I wasn't looking forward to this. The first half of this album was much better than I was expecting though. It's not very metal or "nu"; not particularly memorable either, but streets ahead of the likes of Korn and Limp Bizkit. It dropped off for me in the second half though, where the turntable comes to the fore more and, ironically, where the two hits I was familiar with sit (Drive and Pardon Me sound horribly dated to me). This is not the album to win me around to the genre.
Day514 - i tried to like incubus when they came out but they just seem so pretentious. re-listening didn’t change my mind
Fun album but nothing really crazy. Pretty classic 90’s-00’s rock band but has a little bit of a heavier sound than I was expecting. Really fun to lock in and listen to individual instruments. Everyone is totally on top of their playing, particularly the bass part for me. Also had some unexpected funky and out of the norm tracks that I enjoyed. Fav Track: Battlestar Scralatchtica
I don't even know what the heck this is supposed to be, it's like poppy, grungy metal maybe? Whatever it's trying to be, it's not working. It all sounds the same and nothing stands out. How in the world can you make music that is so grey and pedestrian.
I agree with another review I saw on this site. You can be metal or you can be not metal but this wants to be both and it doesn’t work. At least for me. 2/5
As far as Nu-Metal goes, this isn't so bad... But it sure isn't anywhere near as good as Deftones
An interesting fusion , I think this is the type of album that only could have come out when t did .. it didn’t click for me, although drive was an add and the scratch off was a cool listen
Ugh. Was not looking forward to trying to listen to this. "Battlestar Scralatchtica"??? Help.
Alt Metal, eh? All pretty dull stuff to my ears.
2.5
This music is just mid. It’s pablum. It’s vanilla. I’m not aware of anyone stating this band or any of their albums were pivotal or important. I do not get why this is on the list.
I didn't much care for this when it came out and still don't. It's...fine.
A lot of skipped tracks.Only good song is drive. Battlestar starlactaca was interesting compared to the rest.
Very underwhelming 90 rock. Not bad enough to warrant a 1- just unremarkably bad.
Drive's got a pretty great hook. The drums manage to be low energy nu metal somehow. Some innovation for the time maybe though I'm pretty sure turntables had been incorporated to rock before. The lyrics are truly atrocious. Experience the warmth before you grow old, bro.
Boring.
Absolutely crap. The music itself is grand but that singing does my head in. Stand out song (cause he's not singing) - Scalachthica
Found this pretty meh overall.
i just don’t get the appeal of this type of music. annoying gym bro pump up music. the instrumental record scratching track was cool though
What genre is this?
It wants to rage, it wants to rock and I suspect it does to teenage boys, whose hormonal surges distort their hearing. One senses it wants to be seen as serious and edgy, as well as clever and provocative, but it cops out with the same tired tropes and transitions on every song – the formula is intense bit/contemplative bit/intense bit (the only variation being that some songs go contemplative/intense/contemplative). There’s a reason that funk metal (or nu metal, whatever) has gone from sub-genre with a bullet to micro-genre approaching invisibility in just a few decades. Rather than hearing before one dies (or ever again), one'll be content to actively ignore and seek better listening for one's remaining days.
Not my jam. Started badly - did improve a little throughout the album and at least there was some variation (battleship scralatchtica was a surprise). Only listened once and could not face a repeat.
Make Yourself ‘I’m not eating the bullshit that’s being fed to me’ You may not be eating the bullshit, but we’re all listening to it. It’s not as abject as Linkin Park, which is a very low bar, and there are occasionally some vaguely interesting instrumentation and melodies, but it’s still just not very good. The utter unfunkiness of their funk-metal just absolutely reeks of ankle length jorts, wallet chains and soul patches, and the whole album starts to feel very stagnant after 3 or 4 songs, and is a slog to get through. It's on the cusp of 1 and 2, I’ll go 2 as relative to some metal we’ve had it’s not horrifically terrible, but ultimately it is a very uninspiring collection of dated, re-hashed metal tropes, DJ noises, adolescent lyrics and whiny vocals. 👿👿 Playlist submission: I Miss You
After the tender, if murderous, charms of Willie Nelson, this is about as welcome as a fart in a boiler suit. It has a stuck-in-treacle tempo throughout. It really becomes the very definition of dirgey. Although the last track nearly wiped out all my good will, it's saved from a one-star by 'Drive'.
Not really my thing
Did not know that one - to noisy, to much crossover, to much late 90s for me today
It wasn’t bad but I won’t listen again.
Wow another mid album. Are we sure this isn’t a list of the most mid albums of all time? Singer sounds super generic/ bad. There were some interesting guitar riffs and songs. Some songs literally sounded the exact same as others.
Meh, it's fine. Wouldn't listen to any song other than 'Drive' again.
Thought I'd enjoy this one but couldn't get into it . 2/5
Absolutely mid
2 for the one song I know
I'm kind of glad I got this as #1050 because if I got it early on I might not have persevered. Completely fine and unremarkable. Consequence was alright. Another poorly chosen record to make the site lie and say that metal is one of my least favourite genres. "It feels like trading brains with an imbecile". Hmm, yes. Some of it reminds me of RHCP, which is not good news for the rating. I can almost see a Randy Orton Vs Triple H pre-match rivalry recap package as this plays.
2-3
Ei mennyt lemppareiden joukkoon. Soundit on aika öö hämmentävät. Täs on jotain kaikuja grungesta, mutta paikoitellen tää nyökkää enemmän numetallin puolelle. 2/5
Tavallaan ihan menevä levy, mutta tylsän turvallista. 2.5/5
Drive is still a great song… hard for me to get into anything else here. I know this album was huge and well liked by people with similar tastes to me, I guess I don’t vibe with it much.
This album felt like pretty gutless rock for a large part of it, thankfully it really picked up pace at the end. I wouldn't say this is a very good album but its a good example of what commercial rock was like at the end of the 90's. Make Yourself and the last 3 tracks I really enjoyed. Don't think I will ever really revisit this album but there's some worthwile singles on here. Still woefully generic though.
Not much for me beyond Drive which is a great song. Rest is sorta samey samey.
OK album. I don't see what Incubus brings to the table that puts on the 1001 list. The only song I was familiar with before listening for this review is "Drive" and, for whatever reason, I thought is was the guys from Alice in Chains singing.
album had two good songs and 10 boring ones The good ones: Pardon me, Drive
Only song I really liked was the one with no singing.
Drive is amazing and perfection. The rest of the album is nothing special. Rounding up to 2 stars because Drive exists.
If I had to explain what modern rock music is to someone, this album would be a good example. It’s well-made, but there’s nothing here that truly surprises me or resonates with me emotionally. So far, my favourite track is Drive.
I am not a fan of Incubus. The first track had me curious, but before the song was over, I had a feeling that this was going to be a disappointment. All of the signature 90s alt/grunge/rock are there, but they feel generic and unconvincing.
I am not a fan of Incubus. The first track had me curious, but before the song was over, I had a feeling that this was going to be a disappointment. All of the signature 90s alt/grunge/rock are there, but they feel generic and unconvincing.
started out ok got weeeeaaaakkkkkk
It is not awful. 2/5.
A bit samey to other genre-specific bands. Yawn, wish they had an original thought between them.......
Surprised I'd never heard this one before. Pretty decent proto-nu metal with some funkiness/grunge mixed in, but not exactly my style. A couple gems.
Inte min grej, men ändå lite okej groov 3/10
2 because drive, 1 for the rest. It feels like everyone is uncomfortable with the sound they make.
It's absolutely wild little I can enjoy this album now, when it formed such a crucial piece of my life circa 2000. There is no nostalgia. *i listened to this album probably twice a day for a year.* it arguably got me into music, it got me into the internet and internet culture. Incubus was the first band i saw in concert. And yet today ... nothing. Shout out to the incredibly active Incubus message board of the year 2000.
This is the kind of music that makes me say the 90s sucks.
This sound like all of the alternative metal fillers of every band from the 90s put together.
This album suffers from being both post-grunge and nu-metal at the same time. Really cheesy, unappealing, dated songs other than a few exceptions. 2/5
I can’t say this really deserves a spot here. The hits are ok, but the rest is pretty bad.
Didn't get it then. Don't get it now.
Never really though about Incubus much at all, beyond a vague feeling that I wouldn't like them -- we will see that happens today. During: yeah they are ok -- sounds like POD or so many other Nu-metal, alt-metal bands from the 90s, lots of lyrics tailor made for teenagers. After: Meh, forgot they had a DJ. On the songs that I heard the DJ -- the scratching felt way out of place.
Not as bad as I expected.
Kinda boring. Nothing really grabbed me. Even the hit Drive.
Meh
One from the time when Nu Metal hat all the street cred in the world. Now, that time is but a distant memory, thankfully.
Pardon me while my 42 year old self bursts into flames because my high school self was into this band.
Absolutely nothing rock, embarrassing that's its on this list.
Crooner grunge, basically. I liked Incubus when I was a teenager, but it's honestly slowly faded in the intervening decades. It feels, I guess, a little childish and empty-hearted. But I also don't hate it.
Takie se z grubsza to jakaś wariacja na temat Linkin Park, ale słabsza. 2/5
What to say other than "Meh".
Not for me. Couple of radio hits that are poppy, but I didn't even like those.
Incubus has always fallen into the Foo Fighters category for me: typically the only good songs on a given record are the ones you hear on the radio. With Make Yourself this is decently true, but there are some solid tracks in between the heavy hitters. I thought Clean and I Miss You were alright, and that Battlestar Scralatchtica should never have been made. I've heard the song Drive so many times by this point in my life that I could probably play it on every instrument. And Pardon Me is definitely one of their best songs ever, which is kind of my issue with the record: most of the songs sound like versions of Pardon Me where they didn't quite nail the dynamics, melodies, transitions, layering, etc. Not a bad album, but as a whole not better than the singles.
Eh.....
I did not enjoy this and do not think it belongs here, but I’ll give it two stars because of the scene in Stealth (a movie about a jet that becomes sentient and downloads every MP3 on the internet so you know it’s a bad guy) sets fire to a bunch of people while Pardon Me plays.
Whiny metal, really not something I enjoy. "Drive" was by far the best song. Nu-metal is really not my jam. Adding rap does not make it better.
I never really got into this band. I think it’s a combination of the singer’s voice and the rap aspects. Some of the music is pretty good. Jazz inspired I think in some places and more metal in others but it’s just never worked for me.
Hard with industrial/synth sound
Definitely not my cup of tea. It sounds very dated, and takes all the main ingredients of awesome alt-metal groups like deftones and Tool but leaves out all the exciting parts. It’s not so awful that their songs are unlistenable, there’s just a bite missing!
Not my tea. People like it. Good for them.
A band I know absolutely nothing about. I played it through once - it reminds me of so many late 90’s American “hard rock” bands that I was never really interested in. I liked Stellar & Drive, but even they’re generic. Not for me.
By-the-numbers stuff here.
Nothing remarkable.
Remember the premise: 1001 albums you must listen to before you die. BEFORE you die. I suppose the idea of listening to albums that captured a zeitgeist, even for a few seconds, is a worthwhile exercise to demonstrate your curiosity and ability to contextualize a record in its time. But if you were to suddenly die without listening to 'Make Yourself' by Incubus, you'd be fine. While not outright inept and offensive, this is not an edifying album or even a good album. But if I were to posit some sort of defence of Incubus, it would be that they're a band of commercial success trying to actively meld multiple genres together while still retaining the framework of a hard rock band. Which is interesting. But of course, they would not be the first to do this and they would not be the ones to perfect this idea either. I'll be honest: I did not immediately recognize single 'Drive' after examining the track list, but as soon as I heard the chorus, I was reminded of its whiny Dawson-Creek-soundtrack-chorus. In all sincerity, there are some nice little moments: the watery guitar sound on 'The Warmth,' for instance. The bass sound is 'Battlestar Scralatchtica' or whatever the fuck it's called is delightfully gooey and deep. But to reiterate: you would not miss anything important if you died before listening to this album. C
This isn't a bad listen. It is quite goofy / embarrassing, though. I don't think has aged well at all, and as we get even further away from 1999 it's going to become a true relic. The affected singing and the guitar riffs are so completely of a time and place. I had a good time, but felt like a dumbass while doing it.
La portada es muy de 1999, pero la música tiene esa cualidad eterna de la música aburrida. Sí, hay alguna que otra novedad, una adición al conjunto de elementos que hace pensar que Incubus sí aportó un sonido "único" a la escena musical. Si tan sólo resultara en algo más memorable.
“We’ve got Soundgarden at home.”
suckubus, more like
Why?
I'm not going to talk about what I think should and shouldn't be on this list. You can't question the list, at least not publicly. You need to have faith in the list. Music is subjective and every album on this list is someone's all time favorite album and worth listening to. That being said. It's hard to say how I've been rating these albums. By how much I enjoyed it? Or by how good I think it is? Either way I think that this is perfectly well made and mostly unenjoyable. This is the soundtrack for a movie about a cool 17 year old boy spy who plays by his own rules and brushes off his leather jacket when he walks away with the real artifact. This is the album your younger cousin is referring to when he says he likes metal and punk rock. This is disney channel cool guy music. I think it's pretty well made and has some interesting choices but most of it bored me and I was painfully aware that I was listening to it.
Didn't like this at the time and didn't like it just now
It's Incubus. It's nice safe radio friendly church social background music.
ja ganz nett und sogar mit "drive" ein Hit vorhanden
The album sounded like one long song. Their most popular songs are good, or I just know them from the radio. The rest sounds similar but unmemorable.
I guess "Drive" is an okay song but the rest is terrible
I was happy to see this one on the list! Not because it’s a work of art or anything, but Stellar was my first real favorite song when I was younger - I couldn’t stop listening. It’s still good today (Drive still sucks too).
I just can't get into Incubus.
Fine for what it is etc. Not for me.
How was this trend ever successful in music? The hits on the album are okay pop songs. But the DJ is TERRIBLE and the "metal" elements laughable. I mean, I get why angsty 13 year Olds were into it, but how did music execs and critics get on board?
In a nutshell: the blueprint album of music’s most divisive genre. Yes, Korn, Sepultura and Slipknot laid the foundations of nu-metal. But we can blame/thank Incubus for shaping it into the messy beast we know today. Occasionally decent guitar-work. Utilises “loud-quiet-loud”. Emo-esque lyrics. It’s not for me. However, I’d rather have this album on the list than a Limp Bizkit album. Overall: 3/10
Metal still isn't my thing (as evidenced by the fact that the only song I like on here is Drive and I wouldn't call it metal at all). Not aggressively bad but probably never going to revisit.
A somewhat annoying listen, with random interesting moments. The band sounds decent (although I don't love electric guitar tone ) and the singer obviously sings well but there is something in his tone and expression that sounds really whiney to me (and somewhat dated )
Not my thing
This is one of the more monotonous albums I've heard so far. I'm struggling to think of something interesting to write about this album that brought nothing interesting to the table. One thing I won't hold against it, though, is that it is clearly pretty dated. It definitely is a glimpse into its era, so if that's what you're looking for for some reason, give it a shot.
This might deserve a 1 but I didn’t find it totally repulsive. Maybe a 1.5, rounded up for the dumbest song title on the list yet. You know the one.
Not as good as I thought
Nothing new
Can't say I'm a fan of nu-metal or whatever but I did listen to this whole thing. It has that one song "Drive" that I remember and have put on a driving themed road trip playlist. "Battlestar Scratatalitcica" or whatever wad ok. So I liked the songs that don't sound like the rest of the album.
what the hell
The musicianship and production on this isn’t bad (dated nu metal flourishes aside) but I really can’t stand the singer.
I did actually like incubus as a teen, but haven't listened to anything by them in at least 20 years. Can't say it held up very well at all.
Not great by my tastes
Not a fan of this emo metal, cringy lyrics and feels like losing an element of metal
Incubus lie somewhere in between the high point of System of a Down and the very low point of Limp Bizkit. Which is to say it's ok nu metal but not much to write home about. I think I listened to this entire album multiple times when I worked in a record store but the fact that I'm not sure says a lot. The songs 'Stellar' and 'Drive' are good enough to be a little enjoyable but it's not enough for me to say that this album deserves its place on the list.
ehh
Now I understand why the only song I ever heard by these guys was Drive. And boy howdy, for YEARS I had people telling me I NEED to listen to their other stuff. "It's way better than Drive, they have a crazy unique sound!" No it isn't, and no they don't. They're one of countless bands in the late 90s-early oughts that got lost in the nu metal sauce. I'll say this, the vocal approach does separate the band a BIT from their peers. But overall this is not a unique, challenging or important imprint on music history.
bruh, this aint it. Is this why people don't like nu-metal? 3/10
Voor metal valt het mee, weinig geschreeuw, en gitaar met een idee, alleen een idee dat ik niet voel.
Cover art is very cool but the name of the band and the art together make me think this is something I won't like. Opening tune roots me in a specific time; "ah this" I think to myself. Easy to listen to, there's nothing to hate here, but also it doesn't feel special in any way. Might have been fine in the moment but that moment has passed. I can identify no reason for this album to be on this list. That said I didn't hate it, not at all; there's nothing to hate, nothing to love.
Incubus is one of the more palatable nu-metal bands for me, but could not do a whole album. It just sounds all the same
Never heard of Incubus before so didn’t know what to expect. Took a listen and discovered it to be run of the mill guitar based rock not very different to the 100’s of similar bands churning out radio friendly rock. Some do it better than others and probably Incubus do just that but it made no lasting impression on me. Reading their reviews and discography realised they have been doing it for years and have extensive back catalogue. So had a listen also to their latest album Morning View for comparison and to see how they had developed. Most of the tracks could have come from and not out of place on 1999 so concluded that they have stuck with tried and tested formula which is so very often the case with this type of music and bands making it and for me reason I don’t like it.
Ayayay noo thank you sir. Very unfortunate to listen to this. 2/10 I think and I can’t decide between a 1/2 out of 5. This really felt like nails on a chalkboard at some points. It was just something I forced myself to get through it was very difficult to finish. I think i’ve definitely heard worse, but wouldn’t listen again.
ugh: nu-metal. A million layered and compressed-to-a-millimeter guitars is definitely not something I enjoy at all. The production is something I immediately notice, can't ignore, and can't stand. e.g. the vocals right up in your face. ok - that was my initial knee-jerk reaction, but ... I will admit there's a lot of complexity and depth here. Song 2 "Nowhere Fast" is a real surprise - I actually love these swirling guitars in the verses. my usual rant: vocals are annoying. they're always annoying. why do singers even exist. ok onward. but overall ehhhh....I know I have to adjust my tastes or radar or whatever to be more accepting of this kind of recording (no *breath* in the audio anywhere) but it's hard and I'll never like it; that uber-late-90s-compression studio trend just kills every dynamic and sounds completely mechanical and unreal but not in a good way. e.g. "Stellar" just in the first minute is a perfect example - the quiet part isn't even quiet, just subdued, then they crush it into the 'loud' chorus - it just sounds so goddamn fake to me. Which is a shame - because the arrangement, the chord structures, the instrumentation ... all of that is really creative. I'd have liked those mellow parts to be actually quiet - let me hear the sounds of the room (n.b. there *was* no room). As for the music...I really really don't like the heaviest parts of this record ... having said that the quieter (read: clean guitars) parts are quite interesting. These guys are definitely talented, so points for that creativity, but it's so infrequent and the album actually gets worse as it goes on. What a review eh - ok, i'll sum it up in one bad phrase -> it's impressive but frustrating. I know I'll never reach for it. 4/10 2 stars. (I also reacted with: "oh so THIS is the band that does that milquetoast wanna-be Alice In Chains song "Drive"!!!")
There is some enjoyable music in places. I really enjoyed the bass, drums, and riff in Warmth. Then the songwriting comes in and it sucks. The songwriting throughout is terrible
This doesn’t work for me, although I liked it a bit better than I thought I would. I suspect I don’t like much of anything in this genre, but of course I’m not quite sure what the genre is. Drive is a decent track.
This is going to be a tough one. Oh I like Stellar, I didn’t know that’s what it was called. But yeah, this is formulaic and emotionally manipulative. Turntables! Big choruses! Lyrics that seem to be deliberately mixed low! You can pick one or two songs and you get the idea of the whole album.
90s metal is absolutely my jam - I even used to be in a band that covered a song from this album - but I never liked Incubus. Too much hippy shit
Non-exciting rock stuff
Not my style of music.
I owned this CD, listening again was quite the nostalgia trip! Honestly, not as good as I remember, though Drive is still a fun listen. 2/5
This is pretty awful. Another reviewer wrote that its like something that Jesse Pinkman would listen to, and I think thats right on the money. 2/5
This ain't my jam. It's pretty generic and bland.
Not my thing.
Egentligen inte skitdåligt men gudars skymning vad trist. Hört roligare musik i en massa garage och källare.
Hui! Starkstrommusike!
I didnt really need to hear this before I die. Why were there whales being tortured in the studio? It wasn't a good record but it's not the absolute worst I've ever heard.
minus a star for *reads again, wrinkles nose in disgust* Battlestar Scralatchtica.
Another one of those meh albums with one good, popular track. That cover art tho. It looked like it's a poorly generated AI pic.
2.5
Shockingly generic late 90's, early 2000's rock. Incubus is the type of band that wants to be nu-metal, but can't fully commit to it because they need to be less abrasive and through a few ballads in...because there are albums to sell, you know? No reason this album should be in the book unless "generic rock" is a category the editors believed was underrepresented.
This album is VERY of it's time and sounds a bit dated. I should be in the target demographic for Incubus having been coming into my teens when this came out, and I liked some other bands in the "nu metal" genre. 12 year old me found Incubus kinda whiny though, and modern me definitely doesn't click with this. Extra star because drive is a decent song I guess
Tråkigt men lite mysigt... önskar det var ännu mer cheesy
Part of that godawful 90s nu metal clean and polish sound when bands decided the only thing missing from the traditional vocals/bass/guitar/drums set-up was a BLOODY TURNTABLIST. Incorrect.
Wasn't really metal. I expected worse.
Incubus was what my most obnoxious acquaintances kept telling I should listen to. Back then, it felt like Incubus was trying hard to be a distillation of everything that was popular on the charts in the 90s. It didn't resonate with me then, and it still doesn't. Recording is competent, balance is nice, musicians know what they're doing (though it seems like the drummer might be at the wrong gig). Definitely of a time. And it's just not hitting right.
Drive is essentially the single bright spot on this one. Still better than Korn
Very Nu Metal. I find it all a bit irritating. Except for the funky turntabalism track, which is actually pretty ace. Mainly because it doesn't have any vocals on it. Or sound remotely like anything else on the album. It gets a point for that.
I've never really liked Incubus. I guess this album is fine 2.5/5
Meh
Ok sounds fairly generic 90s grunge, nothing to get excited about. That may be harsh but what can i say.
I thought Incubus sounded like a death metal band, so that was a relief. It wasn't very interesting, though.
kinda nice I guess
It's okay, but I'm not the biggest fan.
I’ll always associate this album with the football coach with serious anger issues that I had in middle school who listened to it on repeat, and from what I’ve learned since I really think that’s the target audience here
Hard, heavy metal-ish crap
as many others
I had heard a few of Incubus' radio hits back in the day and enjoyed them. I guess they're one of the better bands of this genre, with some good songwriting and solid musicianship. But I really found this album fairly unremarkable. I'd rather listen to Tool any day. Maybe they're on the list too, I don't know.
I’ve heard worse nu-metal albums - the musicianship and the production are generally pretty good on here. The songwriting is so boring though, and the choruses are just so strangely written, their momentum just feels so flat every time
I had this album when I was 14 and it was brand new (that's right, it's about time for me to start getting my prostate checked!) Even back then I didn't like it that much. I liked the previous album more (and that's not very good either) and I only really listened to a couple songs from this album. 20+ years later I like it even less. Honestly, there's better alt-rock/nu metal-ish stuff from the era that would've been a better addition to this list (White Pony, Iowa, Lateralus, Korn's S/T) What a waste of a spot. I'll give it a 2 I guess but I wanted to give it a 1. P.S. When the singer does that Mariah Carey-esque thing on Drive, you know the "oooh, oh, oh" he let's out? That always made me cringe. It still does. Yuck. Oh and this is tagged as Metal? Lol. I love metal but shit like this makes my overall score for the genre low. This is not, and never has been metal.
Not a moment of note. Standard US shouting over loud guitars and drums with hardly a song of note. I’m sure they loved it in the US but it’s not worth any of our time. I don’t actively hate it but nothing happened on it. Nothing at all.
I know I've heard of this band before, but I don't recall hearing any of their music. I enjoyed this album and I'm glad I've been introduced to them. I know that hearing them now in 2023 is obviously very different from hearing them in 1999 when this was released, so I can imagine how it probably sounded somewhat different from other music at the time. I know we've heard a lot of similar music, whatever the right category is (alt-metal-funk? something like that?). These musicians are very skilled, I can really hear that.
Mediocre alt rock album
I was really underwhelmed by this album. As for as alternative rock goes, I would choose many other ones over this. Lyrics and performances were subpar and didn't leave you anything worth thinking about. I would give this album 1 star but they wrote "Drive" and that song was in "Surf's Up" starring Shia LeBouf. Stand out track (but not in a good way): Battlestar Scralatchtica
4/10 not as bad as I was expecting; every now and then a song started out surprisingly alright, only to ruin itself with the same garbage that makes this band loathed by so many
I think the best I can say about it is that I didn't hate every song. I feel my rating is generous. Radio friendly 1999 nu-metal is not the vibe.
Nice try Incubus. It's going to take more than heavy guitars for me to like this. Too polished and trying too hard to appeal. No thanks.
naw
Just odd. Pretty much every track sounded the same. Pretty dated. Apart from that Battlestar one, which really was an oddity. Not my thing really.