WOODZ is nominated for Best Male Soloist and ABYSS is nominated for Best Ballad in the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards. Support WOODZ and ABYSS by clicking here to vote today.

WOODZ announced that he will be enlisting into the Korean military later this month. But ahead of this, he also confirmed one final music release, AMNESIA, which dropped on Monday of this week. This follows on from his earlier 2023 comeback with ABYSS and Journey. AMNESIA will also serve as my final ‘new release’ review of 2023, as previously mentioned.

WOODZ kicks off AMNESIA with an alternative-rock ballad approach. And this start alone was breath taking to listen to. His vocals was extremely captivating and you could already feel the emotions behind WOODZ’s voice from this opening verse. Similar comments can be said about the second verse. But for the chorus, WOODZ takes AMNESIA up many notches with a powerful rock sound. And then he pushes the boundaries further with an even more heightened instrumental following the choruses. He has definitely tapped into the rock genre before in his discography, but this is the first time a song really blasts its way through and really grabs your attention. To be fair, the way this powerful rock sound comes off will either makes or breaks AMNESIA for everyone. Some will feel it is too much – it already feels so powerful that it overpowers WOODZ’s vocals in the latter half of the chorus. Others will enjoy it, with the powerful display being indicative of emotional heft AMNESIA delivers and the impact that the song delivers. I am of the latter category, though part of me does agree with the former regarding the overpowered vocals (hence why I raised it). But overall, I felt like the rush of energy from the choruses and the instrumental sequence following the choruses in AMNESIA to be quite exhilarating, which adds to the memorability of the song that firstly began with the captivating vocals in the verses.

In addition to the dark and grungy vibes that are given off at first glance through the rock band/singing scenes, the music video appears to be quite aesthetic. There is a fair bit to unpack in this video, such as the mysterious nature of the blonde person – it looks like they are contributing to WOODZ’s struggle, but they also rescue him. What does this all mean? Also the car crashing down into the room with the bathtub is quite intriguing. AMNESIA, according to Soompi, ‘asks the question what we have forgotten while living today.’. So, I am guessing these aspects of the music video are what WOODZ might have forgotten after moving on from a past relationship, given the parts when he is in a leather jacket does show him more ‘put together’ compared to the bathtub scenes? All very intriguing, and I am not put off by that.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Overall Rating – 8.8/10