With their fourth album, {^All the Right Reasons}, {$Nickelback} ditches any pretense of being a {\grunge} band and finally acknowledges they're a straight-up heavy {\rock} band. Not that they've left the angst of {\grunge} behind: they're a modern {\rock} band living in a {\post-grunge} world, so there's lots of tortured emotions threaded throughout the 11 songs here. But where their previous albums roiled with anger -- their breakthrough {&"How You Remind Me"} was not affectionate, it was snide and cynical -- there's a surprisingly large sentimental streak running throughout {^All the Right Reasons}, and it's not just limited to heart-on-sleeve power {\ballads} like {&"Far Away"} and {&"Savin' Me,"} the latter being the latest entry in their soundalike sweepstakes. No, lead singer/songwriter {$Chad Kroeger} is in a particularly pensive mood here, looking back fondly at his crazy times in high school on {&"Photograph"} ("Look at this photograph/Every time I do it makes me laugh/How did our eyes get so red?/And what the hell is on Joey's head?"), lamenting the murder of {$Dimebag Darrell} on {&"Side of a Bullet"} (where a {$Dimebag} solo is overdubbed), and, most touching of all, imagining "the day when nobody died" on {&"If Everyone Cared"} (which would be brought about "If everyone cared and nobody cried/If everyone loved and nobody lied"). Appropriately enough for an album that finds {$Kroeger}'s emotional palette opening up, {$Nickelback} tries a few new things here, adding more pianos, keyboards, and acoustic guitars to not just {\ballads}, but a few of their big, anthemic rockers; they even sound a little bit light and limber on {&"Someone That You're With,"} the fastest tune here and a bit of relief after all the heavy guitars. All this makes for a more varied {$Nickelback} album, but it doesn't really change their essence. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide