[Album Review] INFINITE H - 'Fly Again'

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INFINITE H - 'FLY AGAIN'

The boys of INFINITE H reach for new heights with their most recent mini-album,�'Fly Again.' This is not the first outing for the hip-hop duo; their first album dropped in early 2013 and charted fairly highly with their single "Special Girl." Now they're back with an EP full of new material. �

The album kicks off with "Fly Again," an unrepentant dubstep track serving as an intro. The spoken part in the beginning ("the most beautiful ugly sound in the world") is sampled from D-Styles' 2002 hip-hop album 'Phantazmagorea,' itself an album chock-full of samples, making its inclusion humorously ironic and appropriate at the same time. The song falls a little short of my expectations, perhaps because of its length (like most intros). I wanted more meat to the tune, a better hook. It's not bad, but it pales next to the brilliant subtle drops of Martin Garrix and Skrillex's violent sonic punches.

The next song, "Pretty," fortunately, does not follow "Fly Again's" EDM pretensions. It's a more hip-hop styled piece with a funky bass line and lively synths. We hear the expected harmonies from the boys, but don't worry -- It has plenty of rapping on this track, as well. To be honest, Hoya doesn't quite nail it here. His raps sound forced. The song picks up more during the second verse, Dongwoo's part.

"Aren't You Going Somewhere?" starts out with a more musical intro before the raps begin. The song sounds kind of like the rappers are competing -- who can do it better? Who can make their section pop more? I really enjoy the actual sung parts here. The falsetto, funky guitar, and the shooby-dooby-doos reminds me a lot of a '70s song. Obviously, the rap drags it into the modern era, and the hip-hop duo (along with Yang Da Il) keep this song really moving.�

The album eases into "Bump." On this song, the duo's raps are pretty well on point. I've made no secret of the fact that I like INFINITE H's labelmate Lovelyz, and Soojung does a great job of softening out the rough parts here, handling the singing that seems to be part and parcel of most of the songs on this disc. The song is pretty catchy, too, and the hook gets into your head: the repeated "buditchyeo" (bump).� It reminds me of HyunA's "A Bitter Day," G.NA's sweet voice in contrast to HyunA and Junhyung's raps. "Bump" tries to tell us that the boys grew up poor, but they're okay now.� How autobiographical this song is I'll leave to more knowledgeable INFINITE fans.

"Sorry, I'm Busy" picks up the pace and runs with it. Woven around a sinuous synth note, this song features raps by not only Hoya and Dongwoo�but also Champagne and Swings. The raps sound angry and aggressive here and by the second chorus, the melody changes, the synth riff becoming more frantic while deeper notes are introduced. It's an interesting stylistic choice (and helps the song really pop), but it doesn't seem to match the lyrics, which are just about being a star and being busy. �

Beginning with the sounds of enraged screams and a room being trashed, "Jekyll & Hyde" starts out with a bouncy rap and masterfully transitions to the crooned chorus. In my opinion, this is far and away the best song on the album. The sung parts sound very otherworldly and do a good job portraying the supernatural elements of this song. It doesn't altogether follow Robert Louis Stevenson's classic as the singer turns into Mr. Hyde whenever he thinks about the girl.

"As Long As You're Not Crazy" actually wears pretty thin fast. This song is entirely rap, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but here, it's just grating. It's not really on-point and is sort of half-spoken, half-rapped, which doesn't sound right. By the middle of the track, I think I was headed in the direction suggested by the title.

This is a satisfying collection of tunes. If I had any doubts about the rapping abilities of Dongwoo and Hoya, this album pretty much erased them. I think this album was well enhanced by the other artists as they had voices that were a good fit to the raps and gave them some punch.� Yes, there are couple misfires here, but they certainly don't ruin the thing. It's a solid, radio-friendly collection of hip-hop and a worthy addition to my playlist. I just skip the track at the end and my sanity remains intact.

Recommended tracks: "Jekyll & Hyde," "Bump," "Aren't You Going Somewhere?"

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