Deftones – Private Music
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – August 22, 2025

Deftones have built a career out of tension—heavy enough to crush, dreamy enough to float—and Private Music is their most dialed-in balance of those extremes in years. It’s not about brute volume or reckless chaos anymore; it’s about mood, texture, and control.

Chino Moreno is still the band’s spectral anchor, his voice drifting between whispers, croons, and the occasional serrated edge. On infinite source, he rises slowly above a haze of shoegaze guitars before the whole thing detonates. cXz hits with the kind of visceral punch that proves the band hasn’t lost its bite, while i think about you all the time strips things back into stark intimacy—quiet but commanding.

What makes Private Music work is its confidence. The band isn’t reinventing themselves—they don’t need to. Instead, they lean into the language they’ve perfected: echoes of Koi No Yokan’s atmosphere, Diamond Eyes’s muscle, refracted through a softer, dreamier lens. It’s less about cathartic release and more about the kind of resonance that lingers long after the song fades.

This isn’t a record built to win over the unconverted. It’s a reminder, for those already tuned in, of why Deftones still matter more than two decades on. Private Music is heavy and tender, familiar yet fresh—proof that staring into the ether doesn’t mean you’ve lost the ability to strike.

Final Score: 6.25 out of 7 stars

Good Charlotte – Motel Du Cap
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – August 8, 2025

After seven years away, Good Charlotte return with Motel Du Cap, an album that leans into nostalgia while making peace with adulthood. The Maddens have aged gracefully—less sugar rush, more aged whiskey—smoother, but still with bite when it counts.

The opener, “Check In at Motel Du Cap,” sets a cinematic stage with strings and spoken-word atmosphere, before “Rejects” barrels in to remind us of their scrappy pop-punk roots. “Stepper” pushes the mantra “show up for life” into widescreen pop, while collaborations range from the tender indie shimmer of “Pink Guitar” to the country-pop lilt of “Deserve You.” Not every experiment sticks—Wiz’s cameo on “Life Is Great” feels more novelty than necessity—but the band’s willingness to stretch speaks to their comfort in evolution.

It’s the back half where the heart reveals itself: “The Dress Rehearsal” digs into legacy with theatrical sweep, “Castle in the Sand” reflects on love and time with awkward beauty, and “GC Forever” lands as a gentle farewell and love letter to fans.

Yes, it’s uneven—some tracks veer into cliché, others feel stitched from different moods—but when the band leans into sincerity, the results resonate. Motel Du Cap won’t replace The Anthem, but it doesn’t need to. It’s Good Charlotte grown older, a little scarred, still cracking jokes, and still able to deliver hooks that matter.

Final Score: 5.5 out of 7 stars

The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – August 1, 2025

The New Eves don’t simply write songs—they conjure them. The New Eve Is Rising is a debut that feels less like an album and more like a ritual, steeped in folk mysticism and post-punk chaos, equal parts unhinged and transcendent.

The opening title track unfurls as a manifesto—chanting, strings, and spoken-word theatrics that feel like you’ve stumbled into a feverish ceremony. From there, the band shape-shifts restlessly: “Cow Song” stomps with pagan funk, “Highway Man” spirals into a shrieking folk ballad, and “Mary” pares everything back to a lullaby so fragile it nearly breaks. These aren’t experiments for their own sake—they’re deliberate collisions of beauty and abrasion.

The record’s power lies in its tension. “Rivers Run Red” blends pastoral flutes with pounding, apocalyptic rhythms, while “Circles” erupts into a howl of rage and reclamation that feels destined to become a rallying cry. Closer “Volcano” offers no neat resolution, only a slow-burn eruption of strings and woodwinds that leaves the listener rattled, awed, and oddly cleansed.

There’s a rawness here that borders on unraveling, but that imperfection is its strength. The New Eve Is Rising is as theatrical as it is visceral, a daring debut that declares The New Eves not just a band to watch but a force already fully formed.

Final Score: 6 out of 7 stars

Wet Leg – moisturizer
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – July 11, 2025

Wet Leg’s sophomore effort trades the bratty chaos of their debut for something sleeker and more deliberate, and it works. moisturizer still brims with wit and weirdness, but this time it’s delivered with polish rather than prankish abandon.

“Crispy AF” rides jagged guitars and deadpan charm, while “Warm Hugs Only” drifts into neon-lit tenderness, showing a band comfortable slowing things down without losing their edge. Elsewhere, “Rubbed In” dips into glossy synth-pop and “Slippery When Wet” laces a sinister groove with a chorus built to stick. Even when the band experiments, they keep it anchored by melody and sly humor.

Not everything lands—some of the quieter tracks veer toward forgettable—but the album as a whole feels like a step forward: cheeky as ever, but smarter, moodier, and more self-assured.

Final Score: 5.5 out of 7 stars

Frankie Cosmos – Different Talking
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – June 27, 2025

Frankie Cosmos’ Different Talking plays like a scrapbook—short bursts of melody stitched together with memory, humor, and quiet ache. The songs, many under two minutes, carry the intimacy of diary entries but land with surprising emotional weight.

“Pressed Flower” and “Vanity” sparkle with hooks that stick long after the record ends, while “Bitch Heart” and “One! Grey! Hair!” balance vulnerability with playful wit. The closer, “Pothole,” drifts out like a sunset, simple yet affecting. The arrangements are fuller than early Cosmos recordings—piano flourishes, soft synths, jangly guitars—but the DIY intimacy remains intact.

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, nor does it try. Instead, Different Talking offers comfort in its consistency: sharp, self-aware indie pop that’s breezy, tender, and quietly resonant.

Final Score: 5.5 out of 7 stars

The Bug Club – Very Human Features
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – June 13, 2025

The Bug Club’s Very Human Features is scrappy, witty, and irresistibly catchy—a garage-pop record that finds charm in rough edges and sly humor. Across thirteen tracks, the trio bend hooks into odd shapes without ever losing their breezy appeal.

“Twirling in the Middle” surges with fuzz-drenched energy, while “Young Reader” and “How to Be a Confidante” show off the band’s knack for wry, literate storytelling. “Muck (Very Human Features)” pares things down to a hushed folk interlude, and the closer leans into calm reflection with a wink of optimism.

The album doesn’t reinvent their formula—scruffy riffs, cheeky lyrics, flashes of weirdness—but the band tightens it. Vocals stretch into falsetto, rhythms jolt unexpectedly, and the songwriting feels sharper, more emotionally curious. A few tracks blur together, but the high points are disarming in their immediacy.

Very Human Features isn’t flashy, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s the sound of a band comfortable in their groove—confident, clever, and brimming with personality.

Final Score: 5.5 out of 7 stars

Turnstile – Never Enough
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – June 6, 2025

With Never Enough, Turnstile expand the technicolor world they built on Glow On—this time leaning into dreamier textures and unapologetic pop shimmer without losing their hardcore pulse. It’s an album equally comfortable sparking a pit as it is soundtracking a summer night.

“I Care” glides on gated reverb and buoyant grooves, nodding toward The Police, while “Light Design” dabbles in pedal-board psychedelia. Still, the band knows when to bare teeth—tracks like “Sole” and “Sunshower” explode with riffs built for chaos before dissolving into ambient haze. Flutes, synth pads, and ’80s-pop flourishes pop up throughout, yet the record holds together with surprising cohesion.

It isn’t as groundbreaking as Glow On, but it doesn’t need to be. Never Enough feels confident, playful, and evolutionary—a band stretching its palette without losing its identity. At its core, it’s Turnstile saying: we know who we are, now let’s have fun with it.

Final Score: 6.5 out of 7 stars

Foxwarren – 2
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – May 30, 2025

Foxwarren’s sophomore effort is less a traditional album than a collage—fragments of folk, psych, and pop stitched together with samples, dialogue, and home-recorded textures. Built from files traded remotely, 2 captures both the looseness of its process and the intimacy of Andy Shauf’s guiding hand.

“Dance” opens with orchestral warmth before tumbling into glitchy beats, while “Listen2me” stomps with playful glitch-pop irreverence. “Strange” leans into whispered psychedelia, “Yvonne” offers Shauf’s gift for sentimental storytelling, and interludes scatter like dream fragments between them. It’s uneven at times, but the melodies ground the sprawl, sticky and quietly brilliant.

The closing run—“Wings,” “Serious,” and “Again&”—lands with hushed resonance, less a finale than a gentle goodbye. 2 may not be blockbuster, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s inventive, intimate, and full of subtle surprises—the sound of friends experimenting and stumbling onto something quietly luminous.

Final Score: 6 out of 7 stars

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – May 2, 2025

PUP’s latest is messy, cathartic, and brutally honest—a breakup diary screamed through fuzz and feedback. Who Will Look After the Dogs? trades the band’s old chaos for something slower, darker, and more self-aware, but it still hits like a gut punch.

“No Hope” sets the tone with panic-attack guitars and Stefan Babcock’s howl of resignation, while “Hallways” turns the album title into a metaphor for loneliness and responsibility. Elsewhere, “Olive Garden” leans on PUP’s signature gallows humor, and “Get Dumber,” featuring Jeff Rosenstock, captures camaraderie in chaos. The quieter moments—especially “Shut Up,” stripped down to shaky vocals and bare guitar—land with surprising weight, proving the band doesn’t need speed to hit hard.

It’s imperfect by design: ragged edges, glitchy textures, lyrics that veer between fury and fragility. But that imperfection is the point. PUP are growing older, rougher around the edges, and more human for it—louder than ever, even when they’re whispering.

Final Score: 6 out of 7 stars

Samia – Bloodless
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – April 25, 2025

Samia’s third album is raw, unflinching, and deeply alive—an emotional autopsy set to folk-pop and shoegaze grandeur. Bloodless trades the sharp sarcasm of her early work for poetic vulnerability, chronicling identity’s dismantling and rediscovery with startling clarity.

“Bovine Excision” sets the tone with its eerie metaphor and deceptively buoyant hook, while “Carousel” leaps from everyday romance into power-chord euphoria. Elsewhere, “Lizard” and “Sacred” shimmer with neon pop and country-tinged grit, balancing self-interrogation with sharp humor. Even when tracks like “Spine Oil” drift, the album’s conviction never falters.

The closer, “Pants,” distills Samia’s gift: turning something mundane into a piercing reflection on selfhood. Bloodless is equal parts tender and defiant, demanding the listener’s presence and rewarding it with songs that linger long after the last note fades.

Final Score: 6 out of 7 stars

A Day to Remember – Big Ole Album Vol. 1
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – March 21, 2025

A Day to Remember’s Big Ole Album Vol. 1 is peak ADTR: punchy post-hardcore shot through with pop-punk hooks and just enough swagger to remind you why they still own the lane. It won’t redefine the genre, but it will make you crank the stereo like it’s 2008 again.

“Snake Oil” opens with grit and fire, all crunching riffs and chorus lift, while “Hidden Gems” leans into emo shimmer. The band balances heaviness with catharsis on “Headstones & Lessons,” and hits anthem mode with “Turn It Up (Floor Meets Ceiling).” Curveballs like the acoustic “Resume High” and rap-rock detour “Hipcheck (Part 2)” keep things messy in a way that feels true to their DNA.

Not every track lands—some riffs recycle old tropes, and a few lyrics slip into cliché—but the spirit remains undeniable. Big Ole Album Vol. 1 is ADTR grown up but still swinging, a reminder that they can deliver grit, melody, and “fuck-it” energy better than most.

Final Score: 5.5 out of 7 stars

Dutch Interior – Moneyball

Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – March 21, 2025

Dutch Interior’s Moneyball trades the scrappy lo-fi of their early work for a lush, eccentric take on Americana—pedal steel, banjo, synths, cello, even a screwdriver thrown into the mix. The result is sprawling and occasionally messy, but always warm, lived-in, and sincere.

“Canada” opens in reflective slow burn, while “Sandcastle Molds” bursts with rollicking energy and a Fleetwood Mac–by-way-of-broken blues feel. “Wood Knot” leans into three-chord Neil Young simplicity, and tracks like “Science Fiction” and “Beekeeping” bring orchestral drama and tragic sway. Through it all, the band’s camaraderie bleeds into every arrangement—music less mixed in a studio than born out of friendship.

Not every lyric or riff hits, but the spirit is undeniable. Moneyball is Dutch Interior’s most fully realized work yet—quirky, expansive, and heartbreakingly sincere.

Final Score: 6.5 out of 7 stars

Coheed & Cambria – The Father of Make Believe
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – March 14, 2025

Coheed & Cambria’s latest entry in the Vaxis saga is both familiar and freshly polished—a prog-rock epic that stands on its own even if you’ve never cracked the lore. The Father of Make Believe leans into the band’s signature mix of ambition and accessibility, balancing big hooks with narrative sweep.

“Yesterday’s Lost” opens delicately before launching into cinematic prog-pop, while “Goodbye, Sunshine” and “Searching for Tomorrow” deliver the kind of soaring choruses built for arenas. Claudio Sanchez finds intimacy on “Corner My Confidence” and “Meri of Mercy,” while the sprawling Continuum suite closes the album in classic Coheed theatrics.

Not every experiment lands—“Play the Poet” meanders, and a glam-punk detour jars the flow—but the risks keep the record alive. Ultimately, The Father of Make Believe proves Coheed can still expand their universe without losing their knack for immediacy.

Final Score: 5.5 out of 7 stars

Caylee Hammack – Bed of Roses
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – March 7, 2025

Caylee Hammack’s Bed of Roses is bold, gutsy country—an album that wears its heart proudly but never tips into sentimentality. Her gravel-and-honey voice can soar with Dolly-like finesse or cut with fiery grit, and she uses it to full effect across a set that blends sass, vulnerability, and sharp storytelling.

The title track sets the tone with defiance, while “Breaking Dishes” channels Miranda Lambert’s swagger. “What My Angels Think of Me” strips down to tender confession, and songs like “Mamas” and “The Pot and the Kettle” sparkle with wit and lyrical bite. The back half slows—“The Hill” stomps folk-style, while “Oh, Kara” and “Tumbleweed Men” close with campfire intimacy.

Not every moment lands with equal punch, but Hammack’s world-building ambition—paired with her unflinching honesty—makes this a record that lingers. Bed of Roses doesn’t reinvent country, but it chisels it into something tougher, smarter, and unmistakably hers.

Final Score: 5.5 out of 7 stars

Doves – Constellations for the Lonely
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – February 28, 2025

Doves’ reunion album trades the soaring anthems of their past for something moodier and more cinematic—a textured journey through isolation, resilience, and quiet beauty. Constellations for the Lonely leans into atmosphere over propulsion, and the shift feels earned.

“Renegade” opens with brooding force, while “Cold Dreaming” and “In the Butterfly House” drift into lush, ambient dreamscapes. The Williams brothers step forward vocally on several tracks, bringing fragility to balance Jimi Goodwin’s grit, and songs like “Saint Teresa” and “Stupid Schemes” add folk and acoustic warmth. The closer, “Southern Bell,” lands as stripped-down and quietly hopeful, a heartbeat instead of a grand finale.

Not every experiment sticks, but the album’s emotional core lingers. Constellations for the Lonely is less about anthems and more about atmosphere—a haunting, resonant return that proves Doves can still find light in the shadows.

Final Score: 6 out of 7 stars

Ex-Vöid – In Love Again
Reviewed by Charles Iwuc – January 17, 2025

Ex-Vöid’s In Love Again is scrappy and luminous all at once—indie rock heartbreak dressed in fuzz, harmony, and just enough chaos to sting. Former Joanna Gruesome members Lan McArdle and Owen Williams transform punk’s jagged edges into something sleek, sad, and strangely beautiful.

“Swansea” detonates with a raw guitar blast, while the title track drags heartache through candy-coated riffs. “July” shimmers with jangly nostalgia, “Nightmare” sneaks in banjo twang beneath distortion, and “Pinhead” drifts toward shoegaze hypnosis. Even their sped-up cover of Lucinda Williams’ “Lonely Girls” lands both reverent and cheeky.

At its core, the album thrives on the duo’s harmonies—folk-tinged and tender against the noise, recalling Richard and Linda Thompson at their most ragged. Closer “Outline” strips back to fragile guitar and layered voices before swelling into cathartic release, encapsulating the record’s balance of ache and grit.

Messy in places, but intentionally so, In Love Again finds beauty in the cracks—a headphone album built to bleed into your soul.

Final Score: 6 out of 7 stars