If an alien came around the celestial neighbourhood looking for some good Earth music, THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL might be one of the albums I’d put on a Voyager Golden Record 2.0 of treasured tunes. Upon reading the disc, the beholder would be hooked on the buttery vocals, synth-imbued ear-ticklers, and villainous rap beats by the boys of ATEEZ. In their 2nd full album, the stage-devouring octet are back with an abundance of treats for the soul, with a couple primitive genres added in for good measure. Earthling or not, it’s a release anyone can enjoy.
The comeback was teased with three entirely different sets of promo images of the boys to give a taste for the concept: donning taekwondo uniforms in a burnt orange desert, eating black cherries pierced with little knives in distressed military band attire, and laying amongst giant violet cheshire cat tails in the third. Surprisingly these widely varied designs do quite well to represent the album, as it’s a colourful, imaginative piece of work, and the titular music video is simply nuts. "Crazy Form" is one of many of ATEEZ’s title tracks where the boys look like they’re just having fun performing. In the video, one sequence entails Mingi crashing a car into a bar, and after pouring himself a nice milk in a margarita glass, Jongho comes to shoot up said bar and fight their enemies.
Doused in chaos and a can’t catch me attitude, "Crazy Form" is about confidence, and their unchanging plans to make it their own way, as made clear in the chorus: ‘9024, Kick that drum / My ego’s in this show / To the moon we go / Hey, this is some Crazy Form’. Like almost every track on the album, the song was co-produced by EDEN, with rappers Hongjoong and Mingi on the writing credits. It’s a system that’s been consistent for ATEEZ since debut, and as long as they keep the formula cooking, they’ll always bring something tasty to the table.
In the album’s unit songs, all of the members had a shot at writing their own parts. Being the only member bestowed with his own solo, Jongho warms listeners' frosty winter nights with a voice that was built for ballads in "Everything". Every moment spent with the singer’s voice feels like watching intricate details being carved into pottery; it’s carefully designed, and the result is beautiful. Another singer who particularly impresses on this release is San in "IT’s You," who steals hearts with his siren calls in the pre-chorus, and other parts he approaches with the mature flair of classic R&B/soul stars.
ATEEZ have been building a Blade Runner-esque neon cityscape in their line of hypnotic synth-heavy B-sides in recent albums, namely "Take Me Home", "Cyberpunk" and "This World", with the latest to join those ranks being "Silver Light". Slightly more euphoric in feel than the others, the track uses bright, high-octave synths for a starry embellishment of its sci-fi layers. "IT’s You" is also freshened up with a similar yet much more gentle touch of synths in the chorus, more so to intensify the romantic beckoning. This exploration of the ‘80s nostalgic-future sound brings ultraviolet wonderlands to mind, but in ATEEZ’s case, it’s a dystopian city they’re fighting to save.
One thing in which the group has been committed to like no other is their storyline. The album’s songs take place in two dimensions, split in half with the purpose-filled instrumental "Crescent Part 2" (one of many nods to the moon in their works). The "Crazy Form" music video references tokens of their fictional universe (a pirate ship, a blue bird, and a magical hourglass-shaped artefact known as the cromer, to name a few), while the physical album comes with a written continuation of the storyline, in which the boys have been trying to rescue a numb society from another world through music. The ongoing tale emphasises the importance of emotions, expression and art, so it’s lovely to see ATEEZ themselves never be swayed from their rock-hard resolve to put out music that is unequivocally theirs, no matter the trends.
Call them interdimensional pirates, call them advocates for self expression; they’re the only group being both. You’ll enjoy the whiplash THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL gives you, whether that’s from the emotional rollercoasters, the head-spinning lore, or the beat drop in "MATZ". After breaking through the iron doors of a tough industry with organic growth, all ATEEZ want to do is dance.
