**** (out of five)
The SoCal quartet Hoobastank jumped onto the scene in 2001 withthe hit song "Crawling in the Dark". That title seems to have madean impression with the band considering their latest release, "TheReason," has a darker, edgier twist on the band's youthfulness.
"The Reason" starts off with the screaming rocker "SameDirection" which has a strong resemblance to the tracks that theirself-titled album was full of. During the chorus of "SameDirection," frontman Douglas Robb screams, "But I'm not ever goingto know if I'm right or wrong, 'cause we're all going in the samedirection, / And I'm not sure which way to go because all along, /We've been going in the same direction." This song is reminiscentof "Crawling in the Dark," with the soft verses and screaminglyhard chorus. Yet throughout the next eleven tracks the band tacks anew direction.
The rest of the album takes a dark turn, with lyrics such as, "Ithought it was too good to be true, / I found somebody whounderstands me, / Someone who would help me to get through, / Andfill an emptiness I had inside me" during "What Happened to Us?" aslow, almost emo, ballad.
The album's title track is no different than that of themajority of the album. "The Reason" (the song) starts out with aslow piano intro, and soft drum hits keep the mundane tonethroughout the song. Midway through the disc is "Lucky," astrangely cheesy ballad seems to take the album out of the dark andbrighten up the album. With a chorus that goes, "You make me feellucky as I can be... / You make me feel lucky as I can be... / Nomore dark days, only sun rays, / No more hard ways with you today,"and cheesy string arrangements the album seems to brighten up. Yetby the next track the low guitar chords and strong drum hits havereturned.
The album may be darker, lower, slower, and a big change fromthe three-year-old self-titled release, but for some reason it ishard to turn off. Maybe it is the catchy single the band has with"The Reason" or maybe the whole album just seems to catch the darkside of me. Hoobastank may have crawled out of the dark, but theyhave given up a darker reason to buy their music.
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