Newman - Your Next Move (2026)

Best tracks: Always Love You / Force of Nature

Essentially, it's standard melodic rock with a slight hard edge. But the sound is strange, as if the band was meant to sound like they were coming from a mountain, but instead came out on a hill. This sound creates a certain chaos in your head, even more than the strange combination of unexpectedly harsh riffs and singsong AOR choruses. "Force of Nature" makes a good foray into the '80s, but in the chorus it reverts to the album template. "Always Love You" is best on the top ten, but I honestly think it's not the sound needed here. The flaw is either in the concept or in the execution. I have nothing against fusion, but this clearly misunderstands the goal—either immersion in the '80s or modern melodic rock. You could say retrowave, but that's also a miss.