Incubus’ sixth Epic album, “Light Grenades,” is already off to a smashing start thanks to the single “Anna Molly,” which is No. 2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart. Several tracks stay true to the band’s more hard rock-oriented side, particularly the gnarly lead riff and pounding, punkish pace of the two-minute title track, the overdriven chorus of “A Kiss To Send Us Off” and the punchy “Rogues.”
Beyond the hazy, effects-drenched opener “Quicksand,” the band conjures “Led Zeppelin III”-esque acoustic riffs on “Paper Shoes,” spaces out on the atmospheric “Dig,” burrows into a simple midtempo ballad on “Love Hurts” and jams out with abandon during the outtro of “Pendulous Threads.”
“Light Grenades” also includes the two-part “Earth to Bella,” one version of which divides the track list in half, the other of which closes the album.
Guitarist Mike Einzinger says Incubus is excited about returning to smaller venues with a North American tour that will begin next month. “We haven’t played theaters in a very, very long time,” Einzinger says, “and we just decided it was a really good time in our career to kind of just step back. We were playing in these massive arenas for, like, the last five years, and it was fun, but it just seems like it needs to be small again, and special for us.”
