Recognizing that everyone has weaknesses, a couple agrees to extend grace to each other and weather life’s storms together (“Dig”). On “Love Hurts” the band clings to youthful idealism yet realizes love takes work and is worth the effort. Other songs trust that a rocky relationship can get better (“Diamonds and Coal”) and mention our need to care for the environment (“Light Grenades”). Despite containing allusions to biblical events such as the plagues on Egypt and the great flood …
The title track seems to put stock in evolution’s theory that man emerged from a primordial slime (“Just peeked our heads above the mud”). The vocalist is addicted to “Anna Molly,” a woman he views as his salvation (“I’ll crawl to your name/I’ll bend to the earth”). Resigned to some apocalypse threatening their romance, a guy requests “no more words, just the sound of resplendent tongues colliding” on “A Kiss to Send Us Off.” “Love Hurts” repeats the toast “Tonight we drink to youth.” Creepy cartoons in the CD booklet are morbidly grotesque.
Incendiary title notwithstanding, Light Grenades mostly explodes in shades of gray. Its lyrics serve up both optimism and pessimism—sometimes within the same song—while avoiding moral extremes. For Incubus, that’s an improvement. The sexual content and harsh profanity on their last album have been replaced with opaque philosophizing and ambivalent melancholy.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
