ALBUM REVIEW: INCUBUS - IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

When a band’s sound changes or even progresses, it is always a process that if not good, then definitely controversial. Most fans will always be more reticent to accept any major change that a musician or band may want to make to its sound. If the characteristic sound that brought its fans stays for more than one album, there will always be a strong rejection from any hardcore fan to anything new, different from what he is already accustomed to. I one will always welcome change, especially progress. To see, better say listen to a band growing up as its members evolve as people and subsequently as artists. Nevertheless I too often mourn the good old days of many sounds.

Five years after their previous studio album and Incubus has come back with a sound definitely evolved. Their latest album If Not Now, When? was, before its release, announced as a record with a totally new direction. And so it was set to be a total surprise to the fans. Incubus themselves also stated that it was not an experiment, the entire album was thought out and focused. Well, they sure knew what they were doing.

Unlike other artists, who we shall not name, whose albums border on the lines of sleep and even catatonia, ‘If Not Now, When?’ shows that the guys know how to write a good ballad. It is not a noisy and engaging album if one could say so, it is one to taste, to enjoy and appreciate at quieter times. From the beginning of this album, what strikes you is the realisation of how much you have missed Boyd’s voice. Yeah, he had a solo album, but we are talking here about Incubus.

You won’t think much of the first song, the title song, but it will crawl under your skin. It is as delightful and pensive as Friends and Lovers and The Original. The tone of the two is balanced by the dramatic In the Company of Wolves and Tomorrow’s Food and the fast paced Switchblade with Adolescents (first single with a black and white video). Still, do not expect your old Incubus here either. A matter to be appreciated even more.

To be appreciated like the entire of If Not Now, When?, an album that clearly sets a different path for the band and its fans. And what a lovely path it is!

~ Smaranda Gingarasu