The Teasers Had Such Promise... But It Seems They Were Misleading...
The post-apocalyptic style is fabulous (definitely bridging on the end of far too common, but still, it's not yet as overly common as the straight up fake gangster). I was genuinely excited for this debut. And it started off so well! The teasers and the first 30 seconds of the MV have SO MUCH PROMISE in them, the potential here was absolutely amazing! The 1st teaser shows off some smokin' hot bodies and some fantastic skills. It also advertises a big budget for epic editing and hella hot CG that promised to carry over into the full track and the main MV. The 2nd teaser was also exciting, being that all of the epic promise of the first teaser was built upon and filled out with unique powers, distinct features and faces and some kick-ass choreography. It was a bit worrisome, showing the post-apocalyptic wasteland poorly constructed around them with a green screen, but I was certain that it wouldn't be a major feature in the full MV. The track still sounded pretty kickin' and I was pumped to hear the whole thing.
And then the release arrived and I was thrilled. The eerie intro, the fabulous CG of crows transforming into band members, the low-pass intro building up building up as the choreography flashed to shots from the teaser. And then the lyrics dropped in... they're not bad, though the vocals need a lot of work to really be impressive (at least two of the members weren't even singing in the key that their voice suits and it sounded strained), but they're not engaging in the way I hoped they would be. The vocals are flat and the smoothe slides just sound sloppy against the gritty backdrop. And the pre-chorus jumps jarringly into a new rhythm for a measure or two before falling back into the drone-like hum of the rest of it. It's not a bad song, but it's certainly not the epic earworm that I was hoping for. It's a good enough debut track, but it's nothing that's changed the game for rookies (while it easily could have been). That's the part that rubs me so wrong... this could have been so good, incredibly good, and it's just not. It's okay.
As for the MV, the choreography is pathetic. It's beyond lazily designed. Whoever they got to choreograph this should be fired, or at least reassigned. Seriously. I don't say that very often, because it's never wise to wish someone out of a job, but this is just awful. The choreographer simply failed to do their job. These guys are SO capable ... as dancers, as martial artists, as stunt men ... and this routine is so simple that even I can do most of the moves (especially those in the chorus). And beyond that, it doesn't even look cool. I'd understand if there was camera pandering and moves designed mainly to make them look good, but this routine doesn't even do that much! It's absolutely tragic and I weep for them for having to sit quietly while it was decided on for them. Not enough time was spent showing the members individually, there wasn't enough in their styling to delineate them in the group shots, the thin excuse for a story setting is confusing at best though it holds some intoxicating potential if (by some miracle) it gets flushed out in a follow-up, and the lyrics aren't connected concretely to anything and they really have nothing to do with the visuals (which are rather inconsistent and nonsensical anyway). I like these rookies, and I'll be keeping my eye on them, but this release could have been so much more than it turned out to be...
And then the release arrived and I was thrilled. The eerie intro, the fabulous CG of crows transforming into band members, the low-pass intro building up building up as the choreography flashed to shots from the teaser. And then the lyrics dropped in... they're not bad, though the vocals need a lot of work to really be impressive (at least two of the members weren't even singing in the key that their voice suits and it sounded strained), but they're not engaging in the way I hoped they would be. The vocals are flat and the smoothe slides just sound sloppy against the gritty backdrop. And the pre-chorus jumps jarringly into a new rhythm for a measure or two before falling back into the drone-like hum of the rest of it. It's not a bad song, but it's certainly not the epic earworm that I was hoping for. It's a good enough debut track, but it's nothing that's changed the game for rookies (while it easily could have been). That's the part that rubs me so wrong... this could have been so good, incredibly good, and it's just not. It's okay.
As for the MV, the choreography is pathetic. It's beyond lazily designed. Whoever they got to choreograph this should be fired, or at least reassigned. Seriously. I don't say that very often, because it's never wise to wish someone out of a job, but this is just awful. The choreographer simply failed to do their job. These guys are SO capable ... as dancers, as martial artists, as stunt men ... and this routine is so simple that even I can do most of the moves (especially those in the chorus). And beyond that, it doesn't even look cool. I'd understand if there was camera pandering and moves designed mainly to make them look good, but this routine doesn't even do that much! It's absolutely tragic and I weep for them for having to sit quietly while it was decided on for them. Not enough time was spent showing the members individually, there wasn't enough in their styling to delineate them in the group shots, the thin excuse for a story setting is confusing at best though it holds some intoxicating potential if (by some miracle) it gets flushed out in a follow-up, and the lyrics aren't connected concretely to anything and they really have nothing to do with the visuals (which are rather inconsistent and nonsensical anyway). I like these rookies, and I'll be keeping my eye on them, but this release could have been so much more than it turned out to be...
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