Kilgore's second album Search for Reason -- the first, Blue Collar Solitude, was released under the name Kilgore Smudge -- is an impressive step forward for the alt-metal quartet.

They have the desire to blend styles, drawing from hardcore punk, metal and post-alternative industrial and grunge.

Unfortunately, producer Ed Stasium gives the band a big, glossy, powerful sound that can occasionally conceal the fact that they're one of the more literate and arty metal bands of the late '90s.

Beneath the sheen, it's possible to hear the group's intense, metallic core and their flair for layered, yet melodic, songwriting.

Occasionally, the group's reach exceeds their grasp, but on the whole, Search for Reason is an impressive sophomore outing.