Every Incubus album ranked: From worst to best

A Southern California crew of three guys formed a band while still enrolled at Calabasas High School in 1991. Since then, other members have come and gone, but Brandon Boyd, Mike Einziger, and José Pasillas have stayed true. They started as weird but talented — and eventually transformed into rock music mainstays with chart-topping singles and world tours. 

Incubus is one of those rare bands that found their purpose within growth and adjustment, rather than losing their essence. It almost feels like once they let go of what they were supposed to think was cool and embraced something more natural and wide-reaching, they found the musical core of who they truly are. When they made the stranger ideas more complementary and the sharper edges more balanced with the tender ones, the result was a stretch of top-tier rock albums defining an era.

To rank their best albums, you need to start with the early and late work and build up to the middle sweet spot. We did our best to chronicle how they got there and slowly, but surely, faded after their due date. This is Alternative Press’ list of the worst to greatest albums by an undeniably significant late 90s through early 2000s band. 

Read more: Every Foo Fighters album ranked: From worst to best

Every Incubus album ranked

Island

8. 8 (2017)

The most recent Incubus album is unfortunately also the worst. They went back to trying to find a balance of smooth and rugged sounds post a softer expression, but also took some sonic risks. Some tracks use more modern alternative sounds, which erases their signature feel to no avail. They unfortunately just don’t feel organic, but instead forced. There are even some hip-hop and Latin rhythms that don't make any sense. Power to them for trying stuff out, but I do think there’s a reason they haven’t put out a body of work since.

Immortal

7. If Not Now, When? (2011)

This marks when Incubus went completely soft for an album. While it may have been authentic for them to lose their youthful grit, it, sadly, did not result in the music many of us desire from the group. The album’s most popular song “Adolescents” is viewed as such for a reason; it is the singular moment where they achieve the balance that they found within their previous four albums. It is in fact a really solid song that does hold up with many of their other classics, but doesn’t quite save the rest of the project. The boy walking a tightrope on the cover becomes a bit of an interesting metaphor for their relevance and holding onto their audience with new music. It's impossible to listen to the album and not wonder whether they fell off.

Epic/Immortal

6. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (1997)

Incubus got signed and took a hard and decisive pivot into nü metal on their least palatable early album. There’s still a slight semblance of funk roots, but they are minimal and mostly in some of the bass. For this album, Incubus still seemed to mostly be emulating the sound of others, rather than finding their own differentiation. They had moved from Primus to Korn in a way that didn’t quite match the laid-back SoCal ethos that the band members emulated. Luckily, Incubus are such solid musicians that they could muster enough somewhat realistic youthful rage to be almost believable at moments. However, the thing that makes this Incubus’ early album theleast best is that the effort clouds the magic of Brandon Boyd’s vocals. He is lost in the hard-nosed angst because, in reality, he’s purer without it. (One pleasant exception is “Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song).”)

Stopuglynailfungus/Epic/Immortal

5. Fungus Amongus (1995)

Pre-label Incubus clearly derives from Primus influence and funk metal. The magic mushroom-themed album has some kooky textures that do not mirror at all what the band’s core sound would eventually become. One thing for sure is the album feels full of youthful experimentation and goof. The cutting-through vocals of Brandon Boyd when he isn’t doing the screaming metal textures — which would eventually be the centerpiece of the band — are riddled with potential on tracks like “Shaft!” and “The Answer.” The other standout moments of the album lie within the instrumental solos filled with intricate bass playing by Alex Katunich, pulsing drum riffs by José Pasillas, and choppy guitar solos by Mike Einziger.  While the band could surely play, nothing was polished or breakthrough quite yet. 

Epic/Immortal

4. Light Grenades (2006)

This is the band’s most underappreciated album and their last really great one. There’s an argument for calling this project Make Yourself 2.0, due to some very obvious parallels. The clearest is the pathway from “Drive” to “Dig,” their other most radio-accessible track. We are here to proclaim that the latter is just a bit superior, due to its slicker chorus and tinge of festival-friendly, guttural energy. It could also be said that due to the success of “Drive,” this album was reaching for even more songs like it that aren’t quite as good such as “Love Hurts.” But then you get a song like “Oil and Water” from this line of sonic thinking which captures the difficulty of an opposites-attract relationship that feels worth fighting for. This is one of their best songs. The rest of the album is about 50/50, but with other standouts like “Anna Molly” and “Earth to Bella, Pt. 1,” it's always due for a reminiscing listen. 

Epic/Immortal

3. Make Yourself (1999)

This marks when Incubus first started to figure it out. There are still a lot of nü-metal core sounds lacing the project, but for the first time, they intertwined some smoothness and sonic sunshine. The first example of this on the album is “Nowhere Fast” where Brandon Boyd contemplates his own life trajectory and, for the first time, shifts from rage singing to crooning. The song also adopts a sort of soft-loud sequencing at the center of the band’s sound, like Radiohead in their own LA way. While some have described this shift as Incubus going more “pop,” it feels way more like the guys found their more authentic pocket. They never truly fit in with the Korns and Limp Bizkits of the musical sphere, and instead lean more peacefully euphoric. “Drive” is still the band’s biggest song and most down-the-middle radio pleasing. However, this album is way more defined by anthems like “Pardon Me” and “Stellar.”

Epic/Immortal

2. A Crow Left of the Murder… (2004)

Distorted radio transmissions and guitar amplifier sounds fold into building electric guitar strums and snare drum rolls, which then erupt into Incubus’ critique of ego-centered lunatics and their best opening track on any of their albums, “Megalomaniac.” That’s how this essential addition to their catalog starts. It then reverts a bit too far back into their nü-metal musings at times, but also produces some of their other greatest tracks. “Pistola” is a masterclass in soft-loud and record-scratching blended fury. “Southern Girl” and “Here in My Room” display Incubus at their most lustfully intimate and Brandon Boyd at his most vocally sleek. The band lets a bit too much darkness creep back into this project for it to be their best, but when they do find the right balance, it is exhilarating. 

Immortal

1. Morning View (2001)

“There are no songs that sound alike. Some of the songs are very heavy, some of the songs are mellow, melodic, and beautiful. A logical evolution from where we were before,” Mike Einzinger once said of the making of Morning View. 

Off the success of Make Yourself, Incubus realized who they really were and leaned all the way in. They rented out a beach house in Malibu to exist within their ultimate creative space. The result is an album that feels like riding an endless wave. Each time the tide crashed differently, the band embraced it with openness. The intensity of “Nice to Know You,” “Circles,” and “Under My Umbrella” never feel overwhelming, but instead exude more of a celebration of the potent reality that a journey through love and heartbreak can provide. The longing of “Wish You Were Here” and “Are You In?” bring in the listener to yearn right along with the band via open chords and rolling drums. “11 am,” “Warning,” and “Mexico” even juxtapose melancholy morning blues with sonic summer breeze. There is every type of the best version of an Incubus song within their most captivating body of work they ever released. Not a skip in sight.