Hoobastank - The Reason

Fri 21st May, 2004 in Music Reviews

Hoobastank’s brand new album The Reason may not be exactly what you’re been waiting for. There has been a high positive response to songs such as the upbeat rock track entitled Out of Control and their slow pop-rock ballad The Reason, unfortunately that’s as far as the positive feedback stretches. It is just another generic pop-rock album sure to have it’s hits more so with the radio stations than the hardcore fans of their previous album.

The Reason is yet another album that blends into a music world engulfed in mediocrity. Douglas Robb, Hoobastank’s lead singer, should be commended on his beautiful harmonies in What Happened To Us? Hoobastank’s Out Of Control gives us a taste of Robb’s heavier more rough side of his vocal energy, yet only moderately pulling it off.

As with all pop-rock albums it has its fair share of ballads. In What Happened To Us? Robb’s lyrics are remiscent of typical love songs ‘I thought it was too good to be true, I found somebody who understands me’ until the chorus abruptly shifts to an aggressive outburst of heavier riffs accompanying the lyrics ‘what happened to us? We used to be so perfect, now we’re lost and lonely’. With it’s catchy riffs, it may be perfectly suitable for driving music, but for leisure?

The riffs and solos in each song are slightly varied, but nowhere near enough to be able to label Hoobastank as a unique rock band. To put it simply but sternly, Hoobastank are average musicians who produce average music that sells to an average audience. Perhaps the aggressive yet bewilderingly catchy song Crawling in the Dark and the adolescent anxieties that are apparent in Running Away released on Hooabstank’s self titled EP, makes it hard to maintain the quality and meaning of each song on the latest album.

With a little more compositional experimentation, the album might have been a little more successful with Hoobastank’s original fans. The lyrics once again follow the same theme of living a life of struggle as an adolescent in today’s society yet with one notable difference, love songs. The Reason has had so much success as a single release purely because it is a pop-rock ballad that stretches its lyrical and vocal arms wide around today’s increasing mainstream pop-rock culture.

All in all The Reason is obviously made to appeal to a wider audience. As a result of this, it is hard to say if Hoobastank will ever really find their creativity after becoming a large component of mainstream so suddenly. It’s a shame that in order to evoke a large response and entice a wide variety of listeners, Hoobastank had to resort to pop-rock instead of experimental, heavy rock.