Monuments and Melodies

Incubus drops a line

The US rock band Incubus was formed in 1991, by that-time schoolmates Jose Pasillas, Brandon Boyd and Mike Einziger in Calabasas, California. The young artists made their concerts and promoted the music with the help of their school teacher, who had some acquaintances in the entertainment business. Musicians Chris Kilmore and Ben Kenney were added to the band much later. In 1999, the band managed to break through due to the release of twice-platinum album Make Yourself, which propelled three radio hits. The following releases by Incubus were also a big success among the listeners, the collective was Grammy-nominated, while their latest disc Light Grenades debuted on the first position on the Billboard chart. Well, this command can be easily called one of the most influential in the sphere of alt-rock during the last decade. In 2008, the members of Incubus decided to take a creative break before the record of a new studio attempt. They concentrated in their private business – mostly family affairs and education. They plan to get down to the new long-play in late 2009. However, this year the artists made their mind to drop a line to the eighteen-year-long career and release an evident in such situation best songs collection Monuments & Melodies. However, the double album includes not only the hits of the artists for this decade, but also a descent collection of rarities.

Radio hits and rarities

The disc Monuments & Melodies was divided into two parts by the musicians – the first one contains all or almost all radio hits by Incubus, while the second is a real jewelry shop pf b-sides, rarities and a couple of surprises for the devoted fans of the command. The album opens with the lead-single and an absolutely new track Black Heart Inertia. This strong rock tune and a wonderful, fresh for the public melody Midnight Swim, written in the classical Incubus manner, can give us a hint in which direction the musicians are going to move on their future follow-up. Such beautiful songs as Dig, Pardon Me and Megalomaniac, which were in heavy radio rotation in the past, also decorate the first part of Monuments & Melodies. To make the perfect picture of Incubus’s pop triumph, they lacked only A Certain Shade Of Green. However, it is represented in the second part by an acoustic version A Certain Shade Of Green (Acoustic). Taken away from all the official discs of the band due to some reasons, tracks While All The Vultures Feed and Anything, the latter being written obviously under the influence of The Police, are sure to impress the listeners and make an input to the positive reputation of the artist. The bright and impressing spots on the album are also compositions Punch Drunk and Pantomime, while the album is crowned by the daring cover for Prince’s song Let's Go Crazy.

Monuments & Melodies: the end of the chapter

The collection of the best songs and rarities Monuments & Melodies is definitely a welcome addition to any play list of an alternative rock fan. This disc not only gathered the most popular singles by Incubus under one cover, but also provided us with the wonderful b-sides and a couple of brand new tracks, which deserve no less attention. Thus, the compilation Monuments & Melodies is sure to be an ideal purchase both for the long-time listeners of the band and those, who recently got interested in the creativity of the talented quintet. It will definitely remind the public of the glorious moments of the collective’s career and expose its repertoire from the unexpected sides. It seldom happens that the song that were excluded from the official releases due to some reasons, are as memorable and gorgeous as the ones on Monuments & Melodies. Actually, a collection of best songs (one at least) is a regular law for any this or that way popular band nowadays. For Incubus, as you could guess, such album was a question of time. Especially, if you take into consideration the fact that they are subscribed to the major label of Epic. However, even such idea spawned creative and soulful approach among the band members. As a result, it is hard not to enjoy Monuments & Melodies.