Light Grenades
A rare case in which a band actually gets better with time, this California hard rock quintet seems to have finally grown into its skin on its fifth album. Casting off the dated slap-bass funk and pointless nu-metal angst of its early years (well, mostly),Light Grenadesis not only a worthwhile follow-up to 2003'sA Crow Left of the Murder--the expansive disc many fans consider Incubus's best--but shows improvements all around. Singer Brandon Boyd has learned to temper the words he plucks out of the thesaurus with genuine heartbreak, while the rest of the group proves it can do a lot more than offer up nonstop grooves.--Aidin Vaziri