B.A.P - NO MERCY

B.A.P, which stands for Best Absolute Perfect, is a Korean boyband who debuted in 2012. The six members are called: Bang Yong Guk, ZELO, Him Chan, Dae Hyun, Young Jae and Jong Up. The group has build their reputation by winning several awards (such as The Strongest Newcomer award in MTV-K), as well as having good rankings on Billboard World Album Chart list. Japanese version of B.A.P's NO MERCY single is now also in Europe and is available in a digital format thanks to KStarRecords. The single album consists of four tracks.

The release starts with NO MERCY. The song has a very edgy and powerful atmosphere, which meets the expectation that the title gives to you. The song must have also credit about the interesting background beat that combines various rhythms brilliantly. The tempo gives a dynamic feeling and matches with the other elements. The chorus is catchy and simple. The rap parts from ZELO and Yong Guk are brilliant. When talking about K-pop genre, many groups has artists that are so called "rappers", because they must have a "main rapper" in a group - but these guys really have talent. As a whole, NO MERCY combines different elements, which are giving a bombastic and defiant feeling to the song. This track is my personal favorite from the single album.

The second track, HURRICANE, is a brilliant combination of an electro popish dance track and a hip hop song. The atmosphere in this song varies from perky danceable beat to slower rap-parts. Faithfully for the group style, the background beat changes smoothly throughout the song and includes several elements that still work nicely together. The singing parts are skillfully combined with tempo changes in the background beat. The chorus has a nice tempo and catchy "Hurricane" exclamations that will surely give earworms to a listener. The autotune in the right places gives a very nice extra touch. The track is an overall successful. It will make you repeat it immediately again.

DANCING IN THE RAIN is a beautiful and lively track, which makes listener’s dancing feet to joggle with the music. The atmosphere in this track resembles a summer cloud that can be watched without no worries in a sunny day. Compared to the previous songs, this is more light and dreamy but not too sweet. The background beat combines synthesizer sounds and fast popish beat, which makes the enthusiastic atmosphere. Perky tempo gives a lively support to the background beat. The singing style in this track is smooth and highlights the voices of members in a completely different light. However, worry not; the rap-parts also have its space. DANCING IN THE RAIN is a danceable and catchy song that makes the listener feels good.

The forth and last track is NO MERCY (Original Rap Version), which is actually the same song as the first one but some of the words are left in their original Korean form. The song also has English and Japanese parts. The track also works with this kind of combination. It is actually somehow refreshing to hear a hybrid song that combines even three languages.

All four tracks are strong and make you want to push to repeat button over and over again. They work greatly as individual songs - these songs are not just made for "fillings". Even though all of the tracks have different sound, they have B.A.P’s stamp on them; brilliantly paced tempo, background which gracefully combines various elements and excellent rap-parts. B.A.P is a great young group, which has found its own style very early. It is no wonder that they have gathered many fans all over the world and media attention just in a few years - they are very talented and distinctive.