Hoobastank

This well-scrubbed California four-piece combine aggressive new-metal riffs, swooning melodies, pained lyrics of masculine anger and self-pity, and big, happy grooves. It all holds together, in the same way that grunge bands have mixed exuberant music and whiny vocals for years. "Running Away" and "Crawling in the Dark," high-octane and tuneful, with achingly earnest lyrics ("Is there something more than what I've been handed?/I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer") set the tone for the first album. The followup mostly stays the course, with an increase in the ballad quotient ("The Reason," which became a huge smash) and an unwelcome addition that most of their L.A. rock peers wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole: Hollywood strings. (BEN SISARIO)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide