Yesterday, I finally got around to reviewing KINGDOM’s July release, KARMA. Just almost 5 months late. But don’t worry about their next review! As promised in KARMA‘s review, I will be looking at KINGDOM’s comeback, from yesterday, today. It is titled Black Crown and is from their third mini-album since debut, History Of Kingdom : Part Ⅲ. Ivan.

Black Crown opts for a similar foundation as their previous title tracks. But there is a bit more to this song, thanks to the additional few types of synths used in the foundation. It isn’t a great deal to make this song better, but it is enough to set it apart from the pack. What does make Black Crown better is the use of the choir chanting and the orchestral instrumentation. They definitely gave the song flair and very epic energy that makes it hard to miss on your playlist. There are also some other influences in the song. There is a bit of sampling of a ballet track of some sort throughout. which complimented the orchestral flourishes Black Crown had. It also added a bit of a creepy vibe to the song. Black Crown also had some dance synths embedded in the song (hear the very brief synth just heard at the start of the final chorus). I kind of wished they explored this side more, as could have taken Black Crown to the next level and help differentiate the track from their previous titles even more. Unfortunately, the rest of the song is a bit disappointing. The vocals were good, though I am not keen on the non-memorable melodies and shouty delivery of the chorus. Third time around, I am getting sick of it this chorus style from the group. Honestly, and this applies to the entire song, the producers really need to start exploring new genres for the group (or their producers need to be changed). There is a lot of consistency between the releases thus far, and if this continues, I fear that any appealing factor the group has will be dulled and the songs will become forgettable. Overall, I liked Black Crown‘s added elements, but the rest of the song is lacking and falling into a repetitive pattern with the rest of their main releases.

It appears that GF Entertainment has use a large chunk of their budget in their previous music videos. This unfortunately left Black Crown looking very cheap and low-budget. I would have preferred the music video to not have any green screen scenes, as they were the cause of the cheapness. I would have been fine with the ruin sets, and the story involving the two versions of KINGDOM, as they fight for the crown/protect the crown (depending on which side you are on). It also appears like the idea of the crown has awaken the evil side of member Ivan. As expected, the video focused on the King of Snow member (Ivan), who according to KPROFILES is named after King Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible). That would explain the snow (Russia has a lot of snow) and the ballet sample in the song (Russia is quite known for their ballet). Based on the ending of the video, we will be focusing on a Korean emperor. Based on KPROLFILES, the emperor in question is ‘Dangun, the legendary founder and king of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom’, and the member in the centre of this is Dann.

I think the only negative aspect of the performance has to be the amount of people on stage. There was so much dancers, it kind of muddled and made the performance messy for me. But aside from that, the start of the choreography looked very cool. The dragging of the female dancers was a really nice way to get them off the stage. The lifting of the members throughout the choreography added an artistic touch to the performance, as well.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 6/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 6.7/10