Alt-rockers Hoobastank are unlikely ever to be known for anything other than their 2004 power balled “The Reason,” but they soldier on nonetheless, delivering yet another generic, forgettable collection of radio-friendly meaninglessness on the annoyingly titled For(n)ever. Most of the songs are harder-edged than “The Reason,” tailored for the rock-radio audience that brought the band to prominence in the first place, but the album doesn’t skimp on the cheese, either—“So Close, So Far,” “Tears of Yesterday” and “You’re the One” are all blatant attempts to recapture the success of “The Reason,” but they’re all completely interchangeable; as awful as “The Reason” was, at least it was reasonably catchy.
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Not that the heavier tunes fare any better; they may be a little more in-your-face than the slightly more varied work on 2006’s Every Man for Himself, but they’re still indistinguishable from each other and from most of the other mediocre hard rock on the radio right now. Singer Doug Robb wails monotonously, and hack producer Howard Benson turns the guitars into a mechanical wall of slick indistinctiveness. It’s all thoroughly soulless and pointless, mere space filler in between Incubus and Nickelback songs. “As soon as this song is done/I’ll be gone,” Robb screams at the end of the album’s final track. If only.
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