Every Man for Himself Island Music   ••½ Sound   •••

Every Man for Himself is Hoobastank's stab at relevance and revolt à la Green Day's American Idiot, but it has too many angst-ridden ballads to hit such fearless heights. There are some fine-cut gems here, especially the feisty declaration of independence called "Born to Lead." And as frontman Douglas Robb sings, "At least I'm moving forward." Yet for every one of those steps, Hoobastank takes two back, wedding an irredeemable lyric like "I love the way you move when I'm inside of you" to heavy-handed, overproduced rawk. And please say that isn't a flute solo welling up on the simpering closer, "More Than a Memory."

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