Making their first comeback earlier this week was the rookie group xikers. For those who missed their debut, xikers is a 10-member male group who debuted under KQ Entertainment in March of this year with the mini-album House of Tricky: Doorbell Ringing and the title tracks TRICKY HOUSE and ROCKSTAR (the latter and mini-album have yet to be reviewed and I will get around to reviewing them). On Wednesday of this week, xikers returned with their second mini-album, House of Tricky: How To Play and double title tracks Koong and DO or DIE (the latter is the focus of this review post today).

xikers embrace a punk rock sound in DO or DIE, which I find exhilarating and thrilling to listen to. I found it to be super effective and a successful instrumental that gets right to the point and doesn’t mess around. Upon my first listen to DO or DIE, I found myself head-banging along to the music and energy, pretty much as soon as the song started. Since then, I have managed to control myself enough to write a review. But I will probably be slipping back into head-banging mode once I complete this review for subsequent listens. The electrifying concentration (yet slowed down tempo) in the bridge and the groaning-like approach to the vocals was a cool and logical progression to “switch-up” the song that has already embraced an already intense form of the rock sound. A bit confronting, but it felt right. The final chorus throws in some really cool drumming, adding to the intensified end of this punk rock dance track. The vocal parts in DO or DIE were well executed, with some parts being super clear and other parts being slightly filtered and processed. But it is done in a way that works with the punk rock sound, giving off a rough and craggy. The rapping in DO or DIE benefits from the energetic nature of the song in that it comes off as punchy and dynamic, while the filtering and autotune helps give off an edgier effect. The energy and intensity of DO or DIE unfortunately does forfeit the appeal and impact of catchy hooks and/or melodies, so I wished the song really built that department more to really stand out. But as it is, DO or DIE is super awesome in its own right.

The music video concept is a zombie video game. But instead of a survival game where one might usually run away from the zombies and shoot at them in order to survive, the members pretty much interact with the zombies in an unexpected way – by finding the ones who have music in their bodies. The right zombies then become the rock band who plays for the group. As the zombies play, more zombies come and end up forming a crowd around the group as they perform. From there, the video becomes a bit drab in that it flicks over to reality, where the members appear to look for the second half of the game from the video store. I would have liked to see that it not be reality, but more so an extension of that zombie universe.

The performance leaves me speechless (in a good way). It looks quite tiresome, but yet the members make it look so dynamic and powerful from start to end. Something I hadn’t mentioned about the song yet is the fact there is some commentary in it between the bridge and final chorus. On stage, that sequence makes everything feel so much livelier. I also liked how one of the members kick over another member during the bridge, adding to the thrill of DO or DIE.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.4/10