Hoobastank

Asian edition of 2001 debut album from the California bred alternative rock outfit includes one bonus track, 'The Critic'. 13 tracks. Mercury.

The XXX-rated quartet Hoobastank arrives on this self-titled major-label debut as a nu-metal Weezer, though without anything as cheekily subversive as "Hash Pipe." The similarities lie more in Hoobastank's tight playing and vocal harmonies than in the overblown post-teen lyrics. In track after track, singer Douglas Robb is in crisis; whether he's intoning or yelp-rapping his words, they are never as articulate as the emergency-siren guitar of the punkish "Pieces." Even the grateful love song "Let You Know" is weighed down by an expectation of times "when I'm feeling like everything and -one is hurting me for something or other." Dude, get yourself a Popsicle. The album's 12-song sequence moves inexorably toward clichéd Limp Bizkit guitar riffs and one true change of pace, the spacy, Deftones-like "To Be with You." Unfortunately, its lyric is nothing more than a sensitive-guy attempt to convince a girl to "give in." Sweet. --Rickey Wright