REVIEWED: If Not Now, When? by Incubus


Admittedly, I stopped listening to Incubus 'seriously' right after 2001's Morning View because, to reiterate the point that I made in the previous review, I was one of those who stopped or didn't grow up after 1999. At the time it feels like as if the band has deliberately alienated their fans by releasing materials that no longer 'rock my socks off', or something. And while critics left and right were talking about maturity in sound, none of those that was written makes any sense to me. Not until 2011...

Admittedly, it did take a very long time for me to properly digest the fact that Incubus is no longer the band that I used to like when they were merely Red Hot Chilli Peppers' carbon copy (1997's S.C.I.E.N.C.E.). And very long time it is since in that time, the band has gone on to release another two albums, A Crow and Light Grenades, the latter which I didn't give even the slightest of a chance for a listen. Before this Incubus has pretty much lost it. But not until 2011...

Admittedly, after I braved myself and gave their new album a spin did it start to hit me hard right on my face and everything starts to make a lot of sense. Everything as in the whole sound evolution thing in which I rejected outwardly in the first place. I thought that bands like Incubus are supposed to be a hard rocking band until they cease to exist (or until they have rendered themselves irrelevant), and that by improving on a sound that was already perfectly theirs into an unfamiliar territory that they were making a big mistake. But then not until 2011...

Admittedly, after an endless two weeks' worth of a serving of the refresher that is If Not Now, When?, I have now a very clear image of what Incubus is in relation to their new, more experimental sound - for a band maturing and growing more comfortable in their own skin, they no longer have to be the pushover that tries so hard to impress other people, to nail home a point. For me, the previous three studio albums are like the transitional phase for them, and this sixth long player is the finished product. This is 2011...

Admittedly, when looking at all of their previous releases (and yes, I've given both A Crow and Light Grenades a fair amount of careful listening), If Not Now is probably not their strongest record to date, repeating practically the same thing that I've written about My Morning Jacket's new album. The opener for example, sounds like a cheesy 80's Olympic anthem of some sort, so they sound kind of debilitated and humdrum. Then they too had the sort-of Silverchair-circa-Diorama moment (for me anyway) with "In the Company of Wolves". But it is all good. Because the whole material was constructed strictly as a unified whole of a single entity (the album), it works. The one or two weak-er moments are therefore quickly forgiven and accepted as one of the means as a whole, rather than a unit that sticks out like a sore thumb. And admittedly, thanks to this album, ironically now I am of the opinion that 2004's A Crow Left of the Murder is Incubus's strongest studio offering to date - and this is coming from someone who three weeks ago, and for a good whole decade thought S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was their best album. To those who has yet to grow up past 1999, give this album a fair and proper chance for a listen and it will reward you. It's a wholesome record through and through. Besides, this is 2011...