After their rather successful stint on Road to Kingdom, Verivery have made a rapid-fire comeback with their new mini album ‘Face You’. The group have slowly been going down a mature route since their debut and January’s Lay Back felt like one of the more successful transitions. However, their RTK comeback ”single” Beautiful-x pointed towards more buoyant sound. I liked that song quite a bit so the fact that it was a b-side on their latest project raised expectations for what they thought was a much more suitable title track. Unfortunately, new single Thunder does not fit that bill.
When Verivery debuted last year, they made their name on sharp pop hooks and a signature new jack swing sound that made them standout in the k-pop landscape. Sure it didn’t attract many international fans who for some reason won’t pay attention to something unless it consists of faux badassesry but for me they were a breath of fresh air. And even up until Lay Back I would say that they managed to develop their sound whilst still maintaining what made them great it in the first place.
Alas, rather than continue this natural evolution, Thunder feels like it came from a different group entirely. Much of that has to do with the awful chorus which easily ranks as the worst in the groups discography. It slows the song down to a crawl, halting any momentum it was building up until then. Produced by 1Tak, I was expecting the chorus to really shine but it just fizzles out every time. The boys sound great and even rattle off some stellar high notes but that lockstep production just hinders any promise it could have had. With slightly more invigorating production I could have seen this working much better. Something in the vein of their own Photo from earlier in the year.
But while the chorus is a non-starter, the verses are much stronger. They feel very much like the aforementioned Photo, providing an adequately eerie yet militaristic vibe to the entire track. Bolstered by a mix of clatter trap, heavy percussion and rock guitar it feels like it’s really going to blossom into somthing amazing. Chief amongst these standout moments is the dance break which feels noticeably gritty and perfectly suited to the tracks overall image. And while it swerves in unexpected directions, much of it still undercut by the buzzkill of a hook. It honestly begs the question why it chosen as the title track when we had Skydive and Beautiful-x sitting within the same mini-album.
Verses: 8
Chorus: 6
Production: 7
Performance: 8
Final Rating: 7.25 / 10
KBopped 
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