Song Review:: ATEEZ: Golden Hour : Part.2- Ice On My Teeth

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  • Release date: 2024 November 15
  • Album tracklist: Deep Dive, Scene 1 : Value, Ice On My Teeth, Man on Fire, Selfish Waltz, Enough 
  • Album runtime: 17 minutes

 Because of the heavyweights releasing albums today, and because KQ has a fantastic track record of releasing albums when I'm still awake, I'm going to review this one now to give enough space to both it and the other releases for today. Ooh, I'm excited for this one as it's the first comeback (that isn't a Japanese release) since I saw them in concert. For the record, the two that surprised me the most with their raw levels of charisma that had me fully entranced were Seonghwa and Yunho, so with that new awareness, I'm a little nervous. Okay. Let's do it.

The album runtime would be a lot closer to an average of three minutes if it wasn't for Scene 1 : Value being only about a minute long. 

Violin! Violin alert! There are a couple of spots where it almost sounds like a fiddle, even if realistically it's all much more likely to be a violin. But I don't know how I feel about the rest of the instrumentals. My feelings will likely change with the addition of the music video for this, but that violin makes me think of Sherlock Holmes for some unfathomable reason, both with murder mystery and also Victorian era, even though everything else doesn't match that. Actually, what that violin does is remind me of the Robert Downey Jr movies. The violin is a yes from me, please and thank you.

Mingi went lower than we normally hear from him, and we get occasional voice crackling and whispering from him, which is genuinely interesting. Ah, I think I figured it out. I love their cinematic, anthemic songs when they're dripping with drama and story. They're my absolute favorite genre of ATEEZ. And this one is not only very subdued vocally, but the lyrics fall into my least favorite genre of "look how much money we make". Are there sections of the lyrics where the song vibes more with what I like? Yes. But they're not enough to keep me from wrinkling my nose a little because the vocals also never have a strong climatic moment either, so the energy level through the song is maintained roughly at the equilibrium of a smooth lake. However, considering I've been playing it since I was five, the shout-out to tennis is much appreciated.

Ah, I'm a little disappointed. Not enough that I dislike it, but it unfortunately won't be one I'll likely ever listen to on repeat. Maybe one of the b-sides will do it for me. 

Okay. Yunho visuals right out of the gate. I don't know if he's full on in bias-wrecker territory for me yet, but bro needs to do something and I don't know what it is. Oh, those are their low notes. I'm fine. It's fine. We're all fine. Look, no matter how I feel about the song itself, the music video is stunning, the lore is loreing, and I want Mingi's coat. Again. I think that was my feeling when I came out of the concert too. Also, this music video reminds me a lot of the book 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which is an incredible murder mystery and I highly recommend it. We got a return of the bouncing car from Work. It's not the same one, but the fact that there are two in sequential albums in the same series feels like a significant event, especially when the two genres are so very, very different. And I'm half in love with the choreography, so as I suspected, while the track itself isn't entirely working for me, the music video is.



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