This compilation album contains seven different bands from the Michigan/Ohio music scene. All bands are represented with two songs. The band Inner Recipe creates a real catchy atmosphere with their song "Odonata", probably the best track on the album. Listening to the bands Four Years Gone and Braillehouse it’s hard not to be distracted by the fact that these bands sound too much like Greenday and respectively the later U2. Bands like The Trade and Eightfold Path are far more original. Their compositions are nice but the production is too weak to really impress.

Branded is a fun punk band that reminds me a bit of The Clash, their track "Why Me" definitely has a lot of potential. Phestur is the seventh band on the compilation and sounds like a Guano Apes look-a-like.

Although I’m not very impressed by the average production of this album and knowing that some of the bands are not very original, The Way It Works is still one of the better compilation albums in the genre and give you a nice idea of the music scene in the Michigan/ Ohio region.