Two of my favorite groups put out new albums within days of each other, so you know I’m going to give them a proper review!
82MAJOR got a full-fledged promotional schedule for the release of their new single album, Heat. At first I didn’t realize this wasn’t another mini-album, but either way, I’m impressed with the release of new music so soon after FEELM came out. In my opinion, this was a smart move. “Sign” was a song that finally was giving them some more mainstream momentum, so Heat‘s two tracks sound like a real natural progression from those songs. The lead single that was being played on all of the Korean shows was “Like Fire.” It actually got them their first win on one of the shows! They’ve totally deserved it before now, but I hope this is the spark that really blows them up.
To me, “Like Fire” has a lot of similiarities to “Sign,” but of course it’s different enough to stand on its own without comparison. I do actually think this song did a good job of marrying the more refined, popular sound of “Sign” with a lot of their more quirky, older songs. I’ve always been a fan of how unique 82MAJOR’s music has been, so it was nice to get a little more of that back. The second single, “wyd?” is also getting some love at the live shows and special recordings – it even got a music video! That particular video is much more different compared to all of their other high quality concepts, but it was very fun and a neat new spin on what we could maybe see from them in the future. With the amount of songs they’ve released since I got to see them last year, I really hope they make another trip to the US for some shows soon.
Now onto &TEAM’s first Korean comeback with mini-album, Mark on Me. Firstly, the visuals are insane. As they normally are, but it all looked so clean with a bit of a darker vibe, not dissimilar to their first Korean album, Back to Life. With that being said, the sound could not be more different. I will admit that a first listen left me feeling a bit disappointed. Something about almost all of the songs just felt very anti-&TEAM in terms of style, and also they fel a bit generic. Now, I’ve since listened to the album a number of times and have really come around to the songs, but I still stand by that it’s a bit jarring compared to the sound of all of their other records. It’s not my favorite, but I appreciate the risk in branching out to something different. We’ll have to see if this translates to future work.
The title track was SO STRANGE listening to it for the first time. Nicholas started the song with the craziest vocal change, and it was a little off-putting at first. Compared to most of their upbeat and hard-hitting tracks, this one was really scaled back, but it did give all of their vocals a real chance to shine. Someone mentioned that this songs sounds a bit like Imagine Dragons, and they’re not wrong, but I try to forget that comment, because at the end of the day I did end up really liking the song. And I also really like the music video! It was much calmer than what we’ve seen from them before, but the visuals were stunning and paired well with the song.
My favorite song on the album is “Good Boy,” which also sounds quite different from their usual stuff, but it SLAPS! Cortis members had a hand in the writing and production of this song, which I do think is pretty evident in it, but I do think the style suits them. My only complaint is how freaking short it is! I could listen to ten plus minutes of this! The chanting bits were a cool element that they’ve not really done before, too. “Love Jang” is as if “Buzz Love” and “mismatch” had a child – it’s got mall and 90s pop/R&B vibes, but darn if it isn’t catchy. It’s perhaps sounds the most like some of their older stuff, which I obviously like. “Night to Howl!” is a 2000s pop rock dream! I honestly couldn’t get over how pop rock it sounded. If this song was in English and came out in 2003-2005, people would be obsessed with it. “Accelerate,” like “Good Boy,” is far too short for how good it is. It’s like it finally gets going and then it’s over. “Empty” is my least favorite track on the album mainly because of the ballad vibes it gave off, but K sounded great towards the end of the track.
All in all, two of my favorite groups gave me lots of amazing stuff to listen to, and I hope their paths cross in all of their promotional efforts!