ATEEZ made their comeback yesterday with their 13th mini-album, Golden Hour: Part.4, and the title track Adrenaline. It is the first comeback since last year’s In Your Fantasy era in Korea and their Ash era in Japan. The group is currently on their In Your Fantasy tour, which kicked off mid-last year and will continue through to April of this year.

With a title like Adrenaline, the song essentially promises a rush that will get your energy up and going. The verses kick it off, or continue the song, on a strong note, while the pre-choruses build the suspense. Adrenaline does a fine job of setting itself up. I wished I could say the same about the choruses. Admittedly, Adrenaline‘s centrepiece starts off strong, with heightened, bombastic EDM synths that feel well-rounded and logical. But it just ends there, and I find it incredibly frustrating that there is no follow-through. The centrepiece needs the extra support of a second part to feel like a satisfying, complete release of energy that Adrenaline has been building up to. I thought the bridge was handled well by the members, but the vocal processing was a tad overdone for my liking. This could have been said about a few other parts of Adrenaline as well. I did like the return of the chorus synths for the instrumental break, with an added pitting synth to drive the part forward. And for the final part of Adrenaline, I liked the direction, but the way it was produced felt a little too easy. Some more explosive synths to give the outro its last hurrah would have done the job.

The music video for Adrenaline is a powerful and impactful. There are some solo shots throughout the music video that made me go “wow,” for the way they complement the song’s powerful nature and highlight the members’ looks. HONGJOONG looks at the start with his eye patch being one of these shots. YEOSANG’s swept-back blonde hair look is another, as well as the aerial shots of WOOYOUNG at the end of the video (for obvious reasons). Post-production really lifted this video, as well. The only thing I thought was a bit funny was the lack of aggression from HONGJOONG, when he was supposed to shout “Turn the thing off“. The vocals just do not match the calm expression shown at that time.

As for the choreography for the comeback, I really liked the intensity, aggressiveness, and power they brought to, and gave off during, the performance. The presence of the dancers also heightens all of this. That whole dance break that coincides with the instrumental break was super cool, with YUNHO’s floor part being the biggest highlight of the performance. I also liked the choreography’s outro, with it leading the song to a strong ending on stage.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8/10