The Offspring Supercharged

On their first album since 2021’s Let the Bad Times Roll, 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.”