Track Listing
- Baggy Jeans
- Call D
- PADO
- Interlude: Oasis
- The BAT
- Alley Oop
- That’s Not Fair
- Kangaroo
- Not Your Fault
- Golden Hour
1. Baggy Jeans
Interesting way to open the album, but here we are. I found it pretty intriguing that the original NCT U line-up (Taeyong, Ten, Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Mark) are chosen for this song (it was one of the 2 main promotional tracks). While the song is not smooth like the “The 7th Sense” was, this more felt like a NCT 127 track with the overall hip-hop feel. Since that first release, all 5 members just have gotten better and I’m loving the growth heard in the song from Taeyong, Mark, and Jaehyun’s rapping to Ten and Doyoungs strong vocals heard throughout. I will say them saying ~baggy~ ad nauseum was starting to grate on my nerves. It’s an alright song, solid choice though to promote since like I said it’s the original NCT U lineup that kicked off this wild ride!
2. Call D
Next song in and we have another returning grouping, Taeyong and Ten this time and I very much loved “Baby Don’t Stop” so I was wondering what would come of it this time. While the song isn’t as much of a bop, Call D is a bit more of a sensual track, a little more sexier? Likewise, Taeyong is singing again which is nice to here, but Ten is shining in the song for sure. I will say, I kind of like it but at the same time doesn’t really pop out at me in the discography either.
3. PADO
Going into the more interesting line-ups of the album, we start off with PADO which has (Taeyong, Jaehyun, Haechan, Mark, Johnny, Xiaojun, and Hendery). The beat of the beginning feels interesting and has a bit of a punch. There’s definitely a rappers/singers vibe with Taeyong, Johnny, Mark, and Hendery being the rappers throughout while Haechan, Xiaojun, and Jaehyun leading on vocals. It’s a pretty straightforward kind of song and I enjoyed how everyone handled the song. Though I do feel that like “Call D” it’s OK, but nothing that really pops out.
4. Interlude: Oasis
Even the interlude has specific members utilized like Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Jaemin, and Chenle. I kind of like the flowing arrangement of this one and it’s at least 2 minutes in length so it doesn’t feel unnecessary. I do like the song as a whole luckily and hearing Jaehyun, Yuta, and Chenle singing together is just incredibly pleasant. Jaemin and a lesser extent, Winwin were more of the rappers here and they just weren’t as prominent to the singers within the song, but overall the experience was really smooth and nice.
5. The BAT
One of the groupings I was very much looking forward to was this one between Taeil, Yuta, Johnny, Jungwoo, Jisung, Jeno, and Hendery with The BAT and honestly, this one definitely stands out from the rest of the album and in my opinion should’ve been a promotional track! It’s such a darker song, but the whole bat motif is fitting to it all. I was really impressed with Yuta and Jungwoo and more with Jeno as well doing them raps. Even with the chorus being as odd as it is, I still kind of found myself enjoying this a lot more than the last couple of tracks.
6. Alley Oop
Since the title is kind of a basketball thing, I wasn’t surprised that Alley Oop was more of a hip-hop fronted kind of track, but like “The BAT”, had an interesting line-up of; Jeno, Yuta, Jisung, Yangyang, Winwin, Hendery, Jaemin, and Jisung (which is basically more of the rappers outside of Johnny, Taeyong, and Mark). To me, the song doesn’t really move me in a strong way. Most of the rappers do well in their solos (Winwin once again getting smaller lines, and Yuta is the only one kind of singing in the track). Still it’s a solid showcase for most involved.
7. That’s Not Fair
Huh, I’m not sure why but this next track with most of the other rappers (Taeyong, Johnny, Mark, Ten and pulling in Yangyang and Jeno again) is giving me straight up Halloween vibes. Should’ve been after “The BAT” to be honest lol. Anyways, That’s Not Fair has once again a pretty straightforward arrangement and beat which fits to all 6 that are rapping. I did notice the Bach sampling in the song (which we will be returning to this option later on in the album), but in That’s Not Fair, the sampling is kind of a bit hokey IMO. This would be where the choruses happen and since it’s a duet situation during that…I don’t know it felt a bit cringe to hear? A little too kiddy sing-songy? I don’t know how to feel about this one….at least the verses were pretty cool!
8. Kangaroo
Changing the mood a bit, Kangaroo lightens things up with a more bouncier and happier vibe with Renjun, Chenle, Yangyang, Jisung, Taeil, and Kun in this go-round. It’s a pretty decent and non-harmful song with a lot of vocals coming out of Taeil, Chenle, and Yangyang and it just makes me happy to see these 6 together as their vocals are just chirpy (well Jisung has such a deeper tone that it’s kind of hard to not notice in Kangaroo). It’s definitely the album’s “Touch” so I appreciate something on the happier side of things.
9. Not Your Fault
As we near the end of the album, the last for the smaller groupings, Not Your Fault features most of the powerful vocalists here; Kun, Renjun, Taeil, Doyoung, Jungwoo, Xiaojun, and Ten. It is also the album’s kind of lone ballad (it’s more of a mid-tempo ballad though). As expected, I definitely enjoyed hearing all the voices in the song and they were all able to shine. Like most of the other songs, it’s pretty average and doesn’t really leave too much of an impression on me.
10. Golden Age
As the final track of the album, this was the all-member track and was the first to get a PV released and this song was just kind of mediocre to me at best. As I’ve hinted in “That’s Not Fair”, this song too samples a classical piece, this time from Beethoven and just comes off as incredibly chintzy and a bit weak for the group. What I do enjoy is that every member gets a solo line so no one is actually left out finally. Still, some of the song is just bleh and the them choruses don’t really work for me and the rapping in some areas is also quite jarring at times. Yeah this was a weak way to close the album honestly.
Tracks Recommended
- The BAT
- Alley Oop
- Kangaroo
- PADO
Song of Avoidance
Wow, this may be the worst offering NCT has given us yet with their 4th all-together album. Something about Golden Age feels lacking and it could be the lack of a NCT 127, NCT DREAM, and WayV song to really feel like a compilation album it feels like. Plus I felt like “EMPATHY”, “RESONANCE” and “UNIVERSE” felt more involved in the creation and the songs were a LOT more memorable than the ones seen here. Though this release seemed a bit rushed too, I mean beyond Lucas leaving, Shotaro and Sungchan leaving to become members of RIIZE and the current survivor show LASTART bringing in the last NCT unit, I think this album could’ve been pushed back a bit…but it’s also around the time where these members will need to do their military stuff, so I don’t know, but this album wasn’t the strongest.
Kurayami Monogatari 