Review by Dan:

Having toured with Linkin’ Park following the release of their self titled debut, Hoobastank come to the party with “The Reason”. This second offering, in my opinion a massive improvement on their debut, displays an excellent balance between aggressive, fast paced rock, and emotional power ballads. For example, openers “Same Direction” and “Out Of Control” rudely leave the listener somewhat breathless, and the anger is easy to hear in “Let It Out”, whereas the slower “Lucky” and the title track benefit from a strings accompaniment, as does the melodic “Disappear”. Think Nickelback, P.O.D., even Trapt or Lostprophets, however there’s more feeling in Doug Robb’s vocals, and more urgency in the drums and guitars, and this is what makes Hoobastank stand out in the already congested post grunge/nu-metal genre.