Best known for their 2003 single “The Reason”, Hoobastank is back with their first proper release in three years, Fight or Flight. The album opens with their lead single, “This Is Gonna Hurt”. The pulsating guitar riff gives a feeling of angst and frustration to the song. The single, as well as “You Before Me” and “The Fallen”fitting for the post-grunge, alternative metal genre the band has gone in.
All the songs aren’t heavy though. “Can You Save Me?” is mellower than the first few tracks and has good potential for the mainstream. It would have been easier to do around 2004 when alternative could be heard all over radio, but it’s not impossible. “No Destination (Fight or Flight)” continues in that vein, with Linkin Park-esque production.
“Incomplete” is much lighter than even the light alternative tracks, and “A Thousand Words” is both heavy with drums but melodic with its Latin guitar line. Where the album begins with the sound their core fans might expect, the rest of Hoobastank’s release goes back to the sounds that made them known to the general public. It’s a good decision too, because that’s where the best tracks are.