#dami... but alas. they hate me <- as i am pretty sure i will not be getting ANY of those. its taking me forever to read through all of

[volfoss]

talia deserved betterrrrr

[dreamca7cher]

Dreamcatcher - Alone in the City Album Review

1. Intro - usually I don't care about album intros, but Dreamcatcher's are always amazing and make me wish they were a full song. The eerie beginning and then slow buildup with the gradual introduction of the guitar and synth are fantastic. Makes me imagine a cyberpunk setting actually, which I still would've loved as the single theme, if not the overall album concept. They totally could have started the vocals right after that guitar riff and gone from there with a great song. Alas what could have been, maybe for the next album. Overall, 4.5/5.

2. What - I'm pleased that the newest single has maintained the hard rock sound, and excellent backing instrumental. The piano opening to the guitar are now a staple of DC singles, and I hope that never changes. The chorus is definitely the standout part of the song, Siyeon really steals the show for me. I wouldn't call Dami's parts raps really, but they're also pretty good and set apart the choruses well. However, I think they could've done more with the latter "what" part of the chorus; not that I hate it, I just think it underwhelms after Siyeon's first part. The tone of the song definitely has an air of searching for hope in the midst of haunting thoughts. Maybe I'm influenced by watching the MV, but I think they captured their intended message and tone of this song perfectly. I'm definitely going to be listening to this song a lot, but so far it probably falls somewhere in the high to middle of my favorite DC tracks. Overall, 4.25/5.

3. Wonderland - we knew this song was going to be slower from the highlight medley, but the end result is more interesting than I expected. The beat is good and I particularly like the falsetto that leads into the 'hush' parts. This is probably DC's most R&B influenced song, and sultry vocals are most evident in this song. The end is a little abrupt, making the song feel very short. Otherwise not especially outstanding to me, though my preferences are for faster songs anyway. Overall, 3.5/5.

4. Trap - I knew this song was also going to be slower, but was pleasantly surprised by the heavy drums. I guess the name is fitting, as the chorus is composed of heavy trap beats, almost approaching 2013's dubstep infatuation. But it's never overdone, only for the chorus, while the tone of the rest of the song makes me picture a run down, urban environment. Dami's rap shines most in this song. Overall, 4/5.

5. July 7th - DC prove they can pull off any style with this easy-going reggae oddity, that somehow still maintains their slightly off-kilter, dark sound. In other hands, this would probably sound like every other reggae song, but the combination with DC's vocals make it more interesting than usual. JiU's higher voice sounds really nice with this style, and Handong's lower register immediately after contrasts nicely. Reggae usually makes me think of islands and bright sunny beaches, but this song makes me think more of a lazy Sunday spent hanging out in a downtown park. Overall, 4/5.

Overall album score - 4.25/5. DC definitely experimented more on this album than perhaps ever before, which is always great thing. If my scores seem kind of low, keep in mind rock is my favorite genre so I'm more likely to prefer fast, hard songs. Just know that I judged these songs on a scale including all of DC's discography, which is a pretty high bar. I think DC proves with this album that they have the ability to pull off other genres if they wished, and could do it well while also maintaining their unique identity within the music. Other groups probably dream (heh) of establishing a distinct sound, which DC has really cemented with this album. I think most importantly, these songs invoked particular images in my mind with their tone, which doesn't usually happen with other albums. I could picture certain colors and particular places when listening to these songs, which is pretty crazy since this is just music. The translations for the lyrics aren’t out yet and I didn’t look at the What lyrics when writing this, so it’s all solely based on the music. I'm not sure if there's a word for 'translating sound to pictures' but it's something I've never experienced before. I understandably had high expectations of this album, and am overall happy with the results.