Music Assessment: &TEAM – Again To Life

Since their debut in late 2022, &TEAM have developed a powerful Japanese discography. All of these singles have additionally been recorded and carried out in Korean, making it really feel like they’ve already made a Okay-pop debut. However with the discharge of their first unique Korean album, the blokes have formally branched out to a brand new market. Title observe Again To Life arrives a day forward of the album and sees the group working with a well-recognized cadre of composers.

&TEAM have a number of distinct iterations of their music. I are likely to desire their anthemic rock sound and/or their gentle, funky dance tracks. Nevertheless, I’m not stunned they’ve gone again to their angstier roots for his or her Korean debut. For no matter purpose, angst and darkness appear to enchantment extra to worldwide audiences. I assume the moping round is simply seen as “cooler” even when the music itself is never as pleasing. Fortunately, Again To Life updates the sound of tracks like Beneath The Pores and skin and Scar To Scar with cinematic scale that feels extra epic. The manufacturing is fuller and the refrain pulses with extra power.

Whereas the verses are catchy, they’re virtually too repetitive to work. At a sure level, the melodic looping turns into monotonous and this isn’t helped by the manufacturing’s heavy use of vocal results. Perhaps some sudden spikes within the instrumental would assist these segments shine. As an alternative, a lot of the music’s drama comes in the course of the ascending hook at Again To Life‘s heart. This makes me lengthy for an equally dynamic bridge. Again To Life is over three minutes lengthy, however it’s nonetheless only a verse/pre-chorus/refrain/verse/pre-chorus/refrain construction, making the observe really feel a bit incomplete even when these particular person segments are longer than anticipated. Total, I believe that is very stable however removed from the group’s greatest work.

Grade: B