1004 (Angel)

B.A.P's newest album, First Sensibility, is out. I've talked about my admiration for their leader BYG before, but I should reiterate that the reason this group has still managed to capture my interest--whereas other K-pop groups tend to lose me after one or two trendy songs--is that they're a young group that experiments with a lot of new and different sounds. (Of course, much of this is due to BYG producing their songs, which basically reinforces the fact that I think BYG is awesome, but I digress.)

I don't like the blatant copycat scenes with Youngjae in the mirror maze--way too obviously inspired by Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors," which only just came out this past year. Too soon, man. The rest of the video itself is kinda meh to me as well, though the mirror and gun scene with Himchan at the end is interesting. But I care more about the music, and overall I do like the song, but I have to say that my favorite part is around the 3:20 mark when a very obvious tonal shift occurs as BYG enters with a solo rap. The accompanying guitar riff is very reminiscent of Metallica's "One" in the best way possible. I wouldn't mind listening to a whole song with just BYG rapping to that riff.

Speaking of which, not long ago I found a buttload of his old-school songs from his Jepp Blackman (Soul Connection) and Blackout eras, and I really like his old stuff. If he had more freedom with writing songs, I would probably be gobbling it all up.

ETA: WHAT THE FLIP, THIS IS THEIR FIRST FULL ALBUM? They've produced way more than enough material in the last two years to fill up at least another full album. What is this insane amount of productivity and how do I get it.  -.-