Incubus’s lead singer, Brandon Boyd, is a highly attractive individual. That being said, it seems that he was blessed in the looks department rather than the musical genius one. I can admit that some of the songs on their past albums were catchy and aurally pleasing; however, the follow-up to 2001’s Morning View, A Crow Left of the Murder, lacks the kind of songs that will make adequate radio play or sell out concerts. Even Boyd’s sexy scruffiness can’t bail him out of that predicament.

This album attempts the nearly impossible: rocking harder while attempting to broaden musical horizons capable of drawing fans of myriad musical genres. While Incubus does manage to sound heavier, with more bass, darker lyrics and a little more screaming, they seem to have lost the very thing that made them popular in the first place: originality.

Sounding more like a mediocre hybrid of Linkin Park and Pearl Jam, Incubus’s style has become a muddled mix of styles and sounds. Still, songs like “Megalomaniac” will have you chuckling with lyrics like “You’re no Jesus / You’re no fucking Elvis,” while the piano on “Here in My Room” will remind you of mid-’90s alternative