An Unabridged Ranking of Every IV of Spades Solo Album

With Unique Salonga’s departure from IV of Spades in 2018 and the band’s hiatus two years later, it seemed that CLAPCLAPCLAP! (2019) would remain to be the band’s sole album. But on an unassuming Wednesday in July 2025, IV of Spades returned complete with a new single titled “Aura.” A new album would soon come after in August and won Album of the Year at the recently held 39th Awit Awards.

Andalucia contains tracks that carry the distinct styles Zild Benitez, Blaster Silonga, Badjao de Castro, and the aforementioned frontman Salonga have honed during their time apart. In hindsight, you could say that the split was crucial in order for the quartet to arrive at this point of maturity and musical synergy. This ranking does not aim to pit each member against each other and reopen old wounds. It aims to fold these solo efforts back to the arching narrative of IV of Spades.

The piece is written by someone who first saw the then-rising band around the Katipunan gig scene in the mid-2010s up to their sold-out reunion concert in MOA Arena in 2025. I argue that the individuals and the collective co-exist in a shared history—that these solo albums were informed by their time together and their split as much as their eventual reunion is.

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During the pandemic, de Castro formed the experimental rock band and supergroup Party Pace, with legendary Eraserheads member Raymund Marasigan, Chicosci bassist Eco del Rio, and guitarist John Apura. They released records showing how play remains integral in any artist’s arsenal. It feels wrong, however, to subject their albums Nauseous and MoreHawks to the standards of the more traditional records in this list. But I see it fitting to put these on top right here, not as a footnote but as a headline in this collection.

Right off the bat, I want to say that PANGALAN is not a bad album. None of the works in this list is. Following Salonga's highly experimental debut, this sophomore effort leans more into the artist’s introverted side. The problem is that the young frontman's momentum wound down because of such an active choice.

The eight-track album includes instrumental aural pieces like the opener “Korporasyon” and “Delubyo,” tracks whose length weigh down the whole album. It does have catchy tunes in “Bukod-Tangi” and “Lamang Lupa.” At first glance, the high-burst energy of the latter’s musicality can be a bit out of place in this album about introversion, but looking at it closer, its poetics of psychedelic anxiety makes perfect sense. This disposition also registers in “Mga Katulad Mo,” although it is more like an offensive punch than the defensive retreat that was “Lamang Lupa.”

“Pahinga” whips you back in the slow reverie of Unique’s mind and soul at this point of his life. The best is saved for last—"Huwag "Kang Magagalit” perfectly encapsulates the essence of the whole album. And it answers the quandary set by the album’s second track “Dambuhala.” Unique is, contrary to his name, just a guy burdened by the weight of fame arbitrarily bestowed upon him.

To put PANGALAN at the bottom almost feels like a sin. But to relegate it as ‘least’ means that a Spades’ bar really is that high.

Benitez' first solo album Homework Machine is his least memorable, but that’s only because the artist who refuses to be distilled to a single genre still has far better records ahead of him. The debut album has a characteristic of being a pandemic album, in that it’s a passion project willed into existence during isolation rather than being a professional record under a label.

The 10-track album came days before IV of Spades officially announced their hiatus. Spite is the operative emotion greeting it in the first four-track stretch “sinungaling,” “bakit,” “dila,” and “mapagpanggap.” Where that spite comes from is inexplicit; although look between the lyrics and history, and you may get it. 

The album shifts gears halfway with “habulan,” “alalahanin,” “iiwanan ng lahat,” and “hawla.” Suddenly, the band's bassist and multi-instrumentalist now embodies the persona of someone cherishing his loved ones with the fear of being left behind. Homework Machine has two opposing attitudes. That’s fine, but it also has the style where pixel sounds envelop them throughout—a curious choice of triangulation. You can say yearning during a rocky phase is these attitudes’ unifying umbrella, them being two sides of the same coin. The last two tracks, “takbo ng panahalon” and "agaw-dilim," do reconcile these. But one side still does not work with the stylistic concept as well as the other.

Silonga's sound diverges least from what IV of Spades was known for. While Unique and Zild were doing their own thing, Blaster formed the Celestial Klowns to continue disco. And MY KOSMIK ISLAND DISK is a disco funk album through-and-through, just with a slant of snobbishness. It’s disco, just not THAT disco! 

MY KOSMIK ISLAND DISK is a cohesive nine-track album. In some ways, however, it suffers from a lack of musical variety. “ARMONYA” opens as the aural piece. After that, the lyrical tracks keep on coming: “O KAY GANDA” and “DISKO FOREVER” serve as odes to disco itself; “HUWAG MABAHALA” and “NARARARARAMDAMAN” offer a plea to be free of the worries of the world, the very philosophical tenet of disco. “KOSMIK DREAM” ties these two threads together. It is a soulful meditation on the healing nature of sound, backed up with unexpected Japanese passages.

“PRELUDE” transitions us to the final two tracks. The penultimate “MAGUNAW MAN ANG MUNDO” is a slow, yet epic, meditation on standing firm up until the end. “SA HULI ANG PAGSISISI” wraps up the album: Disco never dies! And its vanguard is an artist holding on to a favored genre after the hit of an undefined band hiatus. Regrets be damned. 

MY KOSMIK ISLAND DISK as a concept album has a clear thesis, but 7 songs continued telling it when one already would have been enough.

Benitez puts his personal history in his discography. His fourth and latest album, Superpower,is a victim of circumstance because of this. It’s hard to enjoy listening to the album knowing and ignoring the speculative history behind them. The eponymous opening track alludes to a "Supergirlfriend!" on the onset. Although the Y2K aesthetic-inspired 10-track album also functions as a sort of travelogue. The album's most iconic “Lia” is a sprawling love song dedicated from the heart of Tokyo. “Ewan kO !!! and "Maginhawa Street” takes us through the veins of Quezon City as it recounts the start of a love story.

Superpower is the most musically playful album discussed thus far. My favorite is “I.N.A.S.”—a funky track akin to a Japanese role-playing game OST. “Segurista” plays like the rock track from the 2000s alt bands of our youth. “Huwag Nang Ipilit,” “Dilim,” and “Kahit Saan” are then the slow-burn pieces from those same bands. “Kahit Saan” sounds like a remnant from Medisina, which came before. “Kaibigan 2023” ends the album with a sonic downer, contrasting the energy set by the album’s first half. It also contrasts what the persona values in the beginning from a girlfriend to his current set of friends.

Superpower is a snapshot of the musician's own life. I don’t know if it’s a snapshot the artist would like to forget or memorialize in the present. Because of this, it’s hard to think of the album not having an enduring shelf life.

Timing is a detriment to Silonga's second album, Last Fool Show. It was released a couple months before “Aura.” Hence, it was overshadowed by the astronomical prospect of the reunion. That’s a shame because the 9-track Last Fool Show is a step forward from his previous album. It’s a dark evolution, if you will, of The Celestial Klowns’ glam music.

“Hardin” gives a stellar appetizer of what’s to come, complemented by “Unang Kagat.” The stretch from “Boomerang” to “Hayy” to “Hari ng Kapalpakan” represents Silonga's best work as an artist who puts his musical savvy before his personal woes at the forefront. 

Then the anime opening-esque “Walang Katuturan” serves as an interlude to “Akala Ko,” “Kamukha,” and “Anong oras na? "These tracks drive home the idea that, like the album before it, Last Fool Show is also a concept record. This time, it’s a Gothic fairy tale with more musical variety to spice things up a bit. I’m excited with the idea of Silonga releasing another solo album, the most, only to see what zany world The Celestial Klowns would take us next.

Halfway into the list, and you could say we’re in “great” territory. Salonga's underrated 7-track third album Daisy (5 tracks if you’re discounting the eponymous intro and reprised outro) is a short-but-sweet dedication to inner healing without the patronizing platitudes. That may be weird, because Daisy is a sad-sounding album. But it’s the kind of attitude that recognizes your emotions by not insisting on positive ones. I always referred to the album as ‘free therapy.’

“Haring Araw” reminds you that there’s sunshine waiting on the other side. Yet it does not egg you on to go there immediately but rather patiently waits for you at your own pace. 

“Away-Bati” explores the turbulent duality of a relationship as the persona ponders whether a loved one could ever just be a loving person. It is contrasted by the relatively upbeat song “‘Di Mapalagay," which comes after. Here, we hear the persona excitedly waiting for the arrival of the loved one and the prospect of a loving relationship they’d bring. Dread sandwiches the previous two tracks with the trilogy-closer “Panahon” as it shatters that illusion, giving us the portrait of a withering love affair.

Finally, “Kabanata” arrives, greeting the person who is ready to face his emotions and move on. It fulfills the promise of “Haring Araw,” although not right then but in the foreseeable future.

The album, compact and concise, is structured symmetrically with “‘Di Mapalagay” as the sliver of joy at the center in this otherwise downer of an album. Yet Daisy seeks not to weigh you down further but to carry that weight with you.

Benitez' 10-track sophomore album Huminga starts with the banger song of the same name. There’s another possible IV of Spades reference in “Apat.” Then the momentum continues with “Bungantulog” and “Paalam Mahal.” “Kyusi” must be his quintessential love song. So much so that the imagery of Quezon City and the mode of the travelogue keep popping up in his later hits.

Like “Apat,” “Hari” disrupts the momentum. And it must be said that Benitez's charm is less enduring when he makes music as hit pieces. “Hari” and “Apat” are not bad per se. They’re intriguing at the moment, sure. It’s just that like his other outlet tracks, they don’t usually have that long of a shelf life. Unfortunately, “A Love Song” and “Glyndel” do not pick up the dip. Fortunately, the two final tracks, “Wala Nang Kumakatok” and "Hele," do.

The folk rock Huminga is leaps and bounds better than his initial effort. What I see as his best album, however, is yet to come. Why then is it this high considering my gripes? Because there are enough banger hits here to forgive the others. And they are hits that form the foundational identity of the artist.

The stoic frontman's 12-track debut album Grandma took the anxiety of his departure from IV of Spades and turned it upside down. Some, especially me, believed the album was the perfect tradeoff. That is, if Unique had to leave in order to realize the album, then perhaps it’s worth it. 

The avant-garde Grandma is a superb exercise in creative freedom. You can say this as early as the intro “M” and “Cha-Ching! "OZONE (Itulak Ang Pinto)” still crawls up my skin every time I hear it because it’s such a funky tune, yet the history behind it is so grim. Its darkness spills over to unassuming tracks like “Jules” and “I’ll Break Your Little Heart,” making you second-guess beyond their surface. 

“Sino,” a love song that rivals even the chart-topping “Mundo,” remains his best song. IV of Spades rearranged “Sino” into a rock ballad during their reunion concert. You could argue that’s a better rendition. But Unique’s haunting, soulful voice gives so much character to his songs, it’s hard to think of them as not his.

This is true to other tracks in the album: the short interlude "Paalala," which bridges us to the thematic twins “Goodnight Prayer” and “Midnight Sky," and the thematic brother to “Jules” half an album after it, “Apoy ng Kandila.” One of the most memorable uses of a song in a film is when “Apoy ng Kandila” closes the coming-of-age Cleaners (2019).

“We Know” and “My Old Friend” end the album and wrap up what Grandma may actually be: a record of a band frontman processing the reasons for his departure.

For a time, it seemed that the first Spades solo album was insurmountable. 

Until we arrive at the only album that created a subculture. Part of what made Medisina great is the viral gothcore-wearing Panikids tagging along with Zild in music videos and gigs. I was not part of them, but it has to do more with my age. I, (un)fortunately, was in the right age to don 70s clothing during IV of Spades’ pre-hiatus height.

The 11-track grunge, punk rock Medisina is an album I can confidently say is a 'no-skip.' Benitez' third outing strongly opens with a personal protestation in "CRAB" and then a social one in “Dekada ‘70.” “Lumang Kanta” is among the travelogue-romance songs we talked about before.

Let’s talk about duologies rendered in the album’s genre influences: “Duda” and “Duwag” are siblings tackling insecurity. “Bahala Ka Na” and “Isang Anghel” oscillate between detachment and attachment. “dasal/kasal” and “Oh Lunes Na Naman” exercise formalist playfulness. 

“15” returns to the sardonic tone of the beginning. I don’t know who the artist is addressing here, however. Could it be a specific person or a whole demographic? The eponymous closing song is Benitez' crowning glory as much as “Sino” is Salonga's. 

His discography shows what it looks like for an artist to have an ‘era.’ Out of all the solo albums here, Medisina best encapsulates having cultural impact, a following, and a specific idea of its artist in a specific time.

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