SUPERCHARGED

On their first album since 2021’s <i>Let the Bad Times Roll</i>, Orange County punk icons The Offspring waste little time showing off their sneering wit while adding infectious melodies that rank among some of the group’s best. Opener “Looking Out for #1” cruises along with a chorus of shuffling drums and a wall of guitars as Dexter Holland looks back on how far the band has come: “Well, we used to believe in the hope and the dreams,” before concluding, “Well, they cut you down to size.” Elsewhere, Holland takes a meta approach to songwriting, taking a look at The Offspring’s relationship with fans on the metal-leaning “Come to Brazil”. Over double kick drums and shredding guitars, he sings, “It doesn't matter how many times we came/’Cause they want us back again just the same.”