Dream Catcher also made their comeback earlier this week with MAISON and their second studio length album, Apocalypse: Save Us. MAISON follows the release of July 2021’s BEcause and the special mini-album, Summer Holiday.

MAISON is Dreamcatcher’s most electrifying title track yet. Right off the bat, the song brings in a electronic guitar riff that definitely promises great things. This keeps MAISON within Dreamcatcher’s niche of rock influence title tracks, as synths are shortly brought in and infused with the electronic guitar to create a dynamic and powerful backing piece. I liked the balance shared between the two sound profiles during the verses, but I was left disappointed with how the balance was continued into the chorus. As it stand, I find it incredibly hard to pinpoint the end of the verse and start of the chorus for MAISON, no matter how listens I have given it. It just sounds too alike. I wish one profile (either the rock or the synths) popped out more during the chorus in an intensified manner, This would have really helped give the chorus more definition and not have it blend in with the verse. At this stage, I have decided the section that contains the ‘Save my home in the …‘ to be the chorus, as it is MAISON‘s main hook and it is very catchy. For a brief moment, MAISON does take a breather from the intensity by inserting a melodic piano piece and I quite like how this climbed in intensity to return the song to its original mix of rock and synths. I also liked how they inserted that choir backing in the final chorus, for an additional dynamic touch. As for Dreamcatcher’s vocals and rapping, both were solid throughout and showcased intensity that complemented the powerful nature of the instrumental. MAISON is another strong song under the group’s wing, but does need a bit of refinement in its production.

The entire video was shot in front of the green screen. Not entirely sure how I feel about this. Usually, the green screen is applied to the background of a built set (especially for the choreography shots), and I think MAISON should have gone down this route. But this style isn’t that bad. It just feels overly artificial when it didn’t have to be. MAISON “sends a message to those who shamelessly destroy the environment in this current state of the earth, which is gradually losing its original state due to the actions of humankind” (taken from SOOMPI) and you could see this message in this music video, as it shows the world in an apocalyptic state. It also affects their world, which appears heavenly and beautiful in one scene, but broken and destroyed in the next.

I quite enjoyed how powerful the performance looked. This might appear to be an obvious statement as the performance matches the music and it reflects well, given Dreamcatcher’s past stages. But I found the group to be super charismatic on the stage whilst performing this track. Their moves, formations and transitions were strong, and it left a strong impression on me.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.2/10