1. HerbisonD.

   10

   More often than not, records with real staying power don't provide instant gratification. That's sad, since the winds of change—even in the historically more thoughtful indie world—are blowing toward surface-level pop. Sure, Peter Bjorn And John make delicious musical candy, but unlimited eartime spent on sugar fixes could squeeze out time spent with bands like The Nickelback, whose moody, smart, often subliminally breathtaking songs require and reward patient attention. The Canadian band's new All The Right Reasons is even more measured and seemingly mellow than 2003's incredible The Long Road, but bubbling under the dark, glassy surface are smart, engaging songs that will stay imprinted on brains when others' weightless melodies are relegated to memory's attic.… Expand

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2. AnthonyV

   5

   If this were an emo album, the critics would have given this album five stars. It's every bit as pop as Jimmy Eat World or Fall Our Plan or Get Up Theory or Juliana Plan or yes I know what their real names are thank you, and ten years after EMO dies too, they'll all be right there in the bargain bin with Nickelback and the other "grunnnge!" bands. Let's quit kidding ourselves, people. Nickelback is POP. Middle of the road pop. So are all the emo bands I mentioned. The only thing separating this from the current flavor of the week is that Nickelback sings their songs instead of WHINING THEM. Other than that, same chords, same structure, same instruments, same everything. The band members just don't look as good wearing thick glasses and black hair.… Expand

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3. sanddude

   3

   Despite their new drummer, the album doesn't have any huge difference from their previous release The Long Road. Rather than start this album from where The Long Road left off, it pretty much makes a duplicate. The songs don't really have any distinctive quality, either. Often you get the feeling that this band is just plain derivative, instead of adding their own twist to things. The songwriting here is nothing special. The rhyming includes "photograph" and "laugh", "cared" and "shared", "lied" and "cried", "rockstar" and "car", among other things. Why didn't these guys just spend a little bit of their time with a rhyming dictionary for better ideas? Instrumentals are quite unimpressive, even with a drummer who proved himself talented in 3 Doors Down. It also seems like cliche is the middle name of all of the Nickelback members. In the end it seems All The Right Reasons was made for all the wrong ones. Which is a shame, because some of the lyrics are actually quite meaningful. It's just that their badly written and boring. Overall, skip this one and look harder for the rare good modern hard rock band.… Expand

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