ENHYPEN was my number 1 ultimate group for the past 3 years. They were my introduction to K-pop- it was their album that was the first album I’ve ever bought, the first survival show I watched, first K-pop variety content I tuned into, first- well you get the idea. Their albums and title tracks have been quite consistent over the years. Even if some of their title tracks appear weaker than before, one can always count on ENHYPEN to deliver a solid K-pop album.
However, I must say my first impression of DARK BLOOD was less than ecstatic. It was the first Enhypen album that I reacted with- meh.
It is pretty shocking, even to me.
For one, almost none of DARK BLOOD’s tracks are particularly upbeat. They lean more on mid-tempo with a darker tinge. ENHYPEN albums usually have tracks that have a greater contrast with each other, at least when looking at it overall. The latter is not my usual taste. Hence it makes for one cohesive body of work- in fact, it is probably their most cohesive yet. But is it my taste? Not really.
Nevertheless, I knew that the album would end up growing on me. There are still some interesting production choices within the album that stuck out to me. However, I still believe that it may be their weakest yet.
Fate
The first track of DARK BLOOD, like all Enhypen albums, serves as the album introduction, with the majority of the ‘song’ being spoken words with an instrumental running in the background, transitioning into a fully-fledged song towards the end.
Fate suffers from a similar ‘fate’ to their last album’s ‘Foreshadow’, or many of their album intros in fact, in where it should have been made into a full song because the section that does include singing is pretty damn good. It makes me frustrated that it never got to fulfill its full potential.
Its production is quite majestic. In particular, it slathered background vocals throughout the whole song which serves well to add to the tense and somber atmosphere, as well as building it up to a sense of grandness to the point it induces goosebumps. It almost echoes church choir vibes, and it is very much a compliment here. Additionally, the choices made within the addition of different samples and instruments throughout the track were able to build it up effectively, swelling up to the point where the group sings, ‘hajima’, and it really is quite impressive.
Unfortunately, it ended too soon. It is always a shame.
The Vocal delivery was quite good. The lack of technique did not impede the effect it intended to achieve. Heeseung in particular did a particularly great job.
Hooks – 8
Production – 8
Vocal Delivery – 9
Overall – 8.25
Bite Me
It isn’t an exaggeration to say that ‘Bite Me’ is my biggest K-pop disappointment the whole year. It had so so much potential. I will never get over it (fully).
As an Engene, I was starved for an Enhypen album for quite a while. I was eagerly looking forward to their next title track. ‘Future-Perfect’, in my opinion, is their best if not one of their best title tracks and one of the best K-pop songs I’ve ever listened to. I had extremely high expectations.
Enhypen has been continuing the trend of having no bridge within their title tracks in the last 2 albums, with ‘Blessed-Cursed’ and ‘Future-Perfect’. Usually, I advocate for bridges and see them as a vital part of pretty much any song. I was able to get over its omission in Blessed-Cursed it still ran at around 3 minutes, and it wasn’t something that I was blown away within the first place. In Future-Perfect, the production was simply so hyped that it wasn’t needed. However, Bite Me is where I draw the line.
How can a song with such a good hook end in the form of its chorus end up feeling flat by the end of the song?
It is like the producers said, ‘Oh, this is a good melody’, ran with it, and pretty much relied on it the whole time.
Bite Me can be roughly split up into 4 sections, 1st half of the verse, 2nd half of the verse, the pre-chorus, chorus, and these sections are virtually repeated once, and the song ends.
The first half of Bite Me’s verses are solid enough and do the job. I have no problem with it at all. In fact, the second time it is repeated with slight melodic variation, I was quite happy with it, especially with Heeseung’s line and execution.
The second half of Bite Me’s verses are incredibly potent. It enters with the now infamous ‘Oh my, oh my God‘ phrase which has taken the fandom to their knees. Arguably, it contains the most interesting production, stripping back into this tense and minimalist percussion or string instrument (I’m not sure what it is myself). Additionally, it speeds up ever so slightly. This almost mimics a spider creeping up on you. A pretty exciting section, with a strong melody to match.
However, the pre-chorus ends up halting momentum into a chanted ‘come here and get some’. This is easily my least favorite part of the song. I am not inherently opposed to talk-chanting within K-pop. I have consumed and loved enough NCT title tracks. What pisses me off is that the second half of the verse made me so excited for the chorus as I completely expected the chorus to kick in with the production amped up. Yet it did the absolute opposite. I’m all for defying expectations, as long as it does not necessarily diminish the quality of the song, but this pre-chorus did not end up adding anything to it. I really don’t understand how this song could forgo a bridge but insert this section that did not help make the song better. Over time, it has grown on me for sure, but there could have been something here that is so much better. I know it in my soul. What doesn’t help is the inconsistency of the talk-chanting delivery. Some members make it appealing and charismatic, but others sound awkward and forced. I particularly like Jay as he sounded really committed and he sold the section for me, but with the inconsistencies, there is a limit to how much can end up liking it.
The chorus has such a strong foundation. Its hook has been in my head ever since it revealed itself in the teaser, but it never build upon it. It could have been so much more. What is worse is that the production does not switch up much from the pre-chorus into the chorus, so the halted momentum from the pre-chorus ends up bleeding into the post-chorus. This makes it sound deeply restrained. The melody itself is great, but I know that it can have been executed so much better if it was given more spotlight, contrasting it more with the rest of the song. Yet it seemed to be trying too hard for the song to be ‘cohesive’ which didn’t change anything because from the moment the song added the pre-chorus, it was never going to be cohesive in the first place. Hence, the production in this section needed to be amped up to make up for the lost momentum, but alas.
The producers ran out of ideas, did they? Or was this an artistic choice? In any case, I don’t appreciate the artistic choice if it is at the cost of making the song not as good as it can be.
Given how everything else played out, the song desperately needed a bridge to release the shackles placed on the rest of the song, building the energy up and going out with a bang. Yet it simply faded out, almost like an 80s song that didn’t know how to make a proper outro! Well, at least an 80s song knew better than repeating sections only twice and clocking out at around 2 minutes and 40 seconds!
This ended up becoming a full-blown rant, but I needed to get it out somewhere. It truly is disappointing.
Hooks – 9
Production – 6
Vocal Delivery – 9
Rap/talk chanting Delivery – 6
Overall – 7.5
Sacrifice (Eat Me Up)
Honestly speaking, I could barely remember anything about the song when I first listened to it. Now that I gave it time to sink in my brain, I can see the song’s merits.
The best thing about ‘Sacrifice’ is the combination of the production and the vocal delivery of the members. This song is some of the best I’ve ever heard the members sound. The absolute star of the show is Jay. The way he sang the chorus is absolutely gut-wrenching. He completely committed. To be honest, all of them really put in a lot of effort into feeling and immersing themselves within the song. This deserves a lot of props. But Jay does it the best. I would honestly listen to the song again and again just to hear him say ‘jowa’. However, it must be noted that the technical limitations of the members became very apparent apparent in a certain part of the song, specifically the post-chorus, where there is a Bb4 note present. Even with the autotune trying to do its best to patch it together, it is clear that it could have been executed better with a group that has stronger vocalists, so the song gets some minus points here.
The production, for the kind of vibe that it was going for, certainly was executed with flair. In particular, I’m a fan of how they pulled off the intro, pre-chorus, and chorus, with a lot of musical choices that get a nod from me, most notably, the use of percussion to create and release tension. However, it suffers from a similar problem to ‘Bite Me’, albeit to a much less extent, where parts of the song sound a bit lazy. The ‘bridge’, if one can even call it that, was simply a pretty one-note melody slathered with distorted vocal effects which probably link back into artistic choices in relation to the group’s concept and storyline. I don’t think it was the best thing that could have been done here, and the chorus repeats itself without its production amping things up, or any extra adlibs of the sort. Perhaps that was its intention, to be this sort of song, but when the song is already quite plodding for most of its runtime, isn’t it a good idea to take things up a notch at least at the very last 30 or so seconds?
Anyway, overall, it is still definitely a solid track. Not really my usual style, but it is well-executed. Again, had potential to be even better.
Hooks – 8
Production – 9
Vocal Delivery – 9
Overall – 8.75
Chaconne
This song grew on me the most among all the songs from the album. This is another track that is not my usual style, but it might be one of the strongest within the album.
What ‘Choconne’ does well is that it manages to remain engaging throughout despite being a mid-tempo track. I think this is quite rare in general, so I think it deserves some elaboration. The first few seconds already invite curiosity with the vocal effect slathered onto Heeseung’s voice which makes it sound like it is calling from far away. Paired with the dynamic synths emphasized with reverb, it is quite effective in drawing the listener in. It threatens to become forgettable as the vocals come in with its pretty linear melody, but then after every phrase, the production adds something new. Also, bless the producers for keeping the linear melody for only 2 phrases, moving forward to the next section to build the song. The use of the rock guitar is very clever and effective, switching the tone of the song, which again, plays into keeping the listener engaged. The melody it is paired with is quite the sticky hook.
The chorus itself has a very unique melody that I have never listened to before. It is unusual because it stays dissonant for most of the phrase, but it always resolves at the end, which adds intrigue to the overall song. The second verse also has a melodic variation from the first, with its uniqueness enhanced through the song’s vocal production, choosing a member with a pretty contrasting vocal tone to most of the group, Sunoo, to sing it. Just as I think we couldn’t win any further, there is an actual bridge, fully vocalized by Sunoo and Heeseung that is a welcome change of pace and tone for the song, with the production stripping back and letting them simply show their chops. Rare is the opportunity for K-pop songs these days to let the singers simply get the highlight, so this gets bonus points in my book.
Overall, I feel very satisfied with how the song was crafted, and I managed to find appreciation for a style that I usually won’t gravitate towards. To nitpick, I still feel like the last chorus could use more variation, but the song is already quite well-produced.
Hooks – 9
Production – 9
Vocal Delivery – 9
Overall – 9
Bills
From the get-go, this was unquestionably my favorite song of the album.
Bills does not really sound like a K-pop song. At least, I haven’t heard a K-pop song have the sort of production.
By far, Bills strongest asset is easily its melody. Throughout, it maintains its strength, from its chorus, to the verses, to the adlibs. It does not falter, which is honestly impressive. It sports one of the strongest choruses I’ve heard in a long time.
Its production is not showy in the slightest, but it greatly complimented the melodies from each section. Its clean mixing (which is unusual for a HYBE song) allowed spotlight for the vocals to shine through, as it should.
ENHYPEN sound great throughout the song, and thanks to the mixing, their tones were able to pop so much more than the vast majority of their songs. Heeseung deserves some spotlight for sounding absolutely glorious in this song. His singing gave the song half of its personality. He really did an excellent job in singing it in such a way that the listener can imprint the song with his voice and make it something to remember.
Overall, Bills may not break any boundaries, but it stands strong on its own merits.
Hooks – 10
Production – 8
Vocal Delivery – 9
Overall – 9.25
Karma
If there is anything stayed consistent within the last few ENHYPEN albums, they can be counted on to deliver a great rock track. Last year’s ‘Shout Out’ was a yearly highlight. New song ‘Karma’ takes some of the same energy, but it doesn’t reach same heights.
Karma has its hooks. And they are pretty good. But it something about the way its delivered makes it nowhere as compelling as ‘Shout Out’. Perhaps it can also be the emotional aspect tangled within ‘Shout Out’ that Karma lacks. It might also be attributed to how I’m not sure if ENHYPEN themselves sound like they really ‘don’t give a what’. Perhaps it prevents me from feeling as compelled as I should be.
Karma’s production is pretty solid. But I don’t hear anything particularly innovative, interesting, and seems to be quite a standard piece of rock production.
Karma started off as my favorite song in the album, but now I barely feel like playing it.
Hooks – 8
Production – 7
Vocal Delivery – 7
Overall – 7.25
Full Album
Overall Album Rating – 8.3
K-pop Evaluated 
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