Early 2000s Albums: Incubus-A Crow Left of the Murder

ALBUM OF THE DAY:

A Crow Left of the Murder-

Incubus (2004)

Incubus is an American alt rock band from the late 90s and early 2000s that many people recognize. Specifically, the album Morning View (2001) is what really put them into the spotlight for a while with songs like “Wish You Were Here” and “Warning”. However, I think there is not enough appreciation for this one—-

A Crow Left of the Murder, released in February of 2004, was their 5th album. This album crosses many interesting barriers with metaphors and symbolism, and draws on lyrics that paint pictures of a more dystopian world controlled by power hungry “megalomaniacs”. While the band is not specifically pointing out any person or entity in the songs, the lyrics give the powerful message of absolute power. What happens when the power hungry are in charge? So, the album starts strong with that first track “Megalomaniac”, which hits on all of the themes of the album from the very start.

Another popular song from the album is “Talk Shows on Mute”. This is probably one of my favorite tracks on the whole album, because that dystopian theme is played upon in lyrics like “Come one, come all into 1984. Yeah 3, 2 , 1 lights, camera, transaction”. Plus, the music video is like this really weird and trippy 1984 meets Animal Farm mashup that I can’t help but love. Some other great tracks worth listening to on the album are “Southern Girl”, “Agoraphobia”, “Beware! Criminal!”, and “Sick Sad Little World”. "Agoraphobia" is another track that sticks out to me personally, because the lyrics to me are just so powerful. As the words echo from Brandon's echoing voice, I hear the raw emotion behind it: "I wanna stay inside, I wanna stay inside for good." This, I think is a sentiment that many can relate to, not just those with agoraphobia.

As far as the musicality goes, I really love how in this album that had chosen to do so many different and unique intros to particular songs, playing on the repetition of loud sounds or odd sound patterns to bring the song into focus. Tracks like "Megalomaniac" go from this weird repetitive noise from the guitar pulling us into the song. "Pistola" is another track that uses weird repetitive noise at the begining to bring the song into focus. That repetition, shortly followed by the guitar singing through makes it truly a unique experience.

I have always appreciated their ability to bring sound into their music and make it fit with the music so well. As is in Pistola, you hear that weird noise repeated in the background of the song throughout, which kind of ties everything together in this really cool way, to me. Then, you have songs like "Priceless", which to me is more reminiscent of their earlier sound from the album Make Yourself. I feel like that song could be on Make Yourself and it would work there as well. Incubus is one of those unique bands that can be experimental, and yet still keep their unique sound, while also not compromising the quality of their sound.

The strong symbolism and message of this album I think is what makes it so unique and interesting. That, along with the strong vocals, guitar, and drums make this album very much worth listening to. It connects us to the times, in a lot of ways, and I think it’s even something we can listen to and relate with today, especially “Talk Shows on Mute”. If you like alt rock from the early 2000s, you would definitely dig the vibe of this Incubus album. I give it an 9/10, as it is one of my top favorites of theirs.