MCND (which stands for “Music Creates New Dream”) were formed in early 2020, in the middle of the fourth generation, with five members: BIC, Minjae, Castle J, Huijun, and Win, by TOP Mediam.

Here are my credentials: none. Just none. I’ve never heard a song by MCND, I don’t know any of the members, and and I don’t even know what style of music they do. But I’m excited to learn more, so let’s get into it.

EP #1: Into The Ice Age

Top Gang’s MV has an interesting opening, with all the saturated colors against a gray backdrop. As someone who watches five different groups a week, I’m thankful for the name intros at the beginning. And that’s about all the good I can say, honestly; the song is just the nth example of shouty, irritating, somewhat culturally appropriative boy group music that I have heard enough of to last a lifetime. There’s parts that are better than others, like the rap verse which has a pretty decent flow, but by God, is this a trying three minutes and eighteen seconds, and it has me a bit on edge for what comes next, truth be told.

Ice Age’s opening, like Top Gang’s, does little to reassure me that the song won’t fall into the same traps as their debut did. It’s harsh on the ears in all the worst ways, and had me wincing ten seconds in. Thankfully, there are brighter spots in this song than there were in Top Gang, like the pre-choruses and especially the first part of the bridge, which finally make actual use of the vocals that I know are there. But the main hook again devolves into a shouty, nonsensical chorus (what, exactly, does “Make snow hail, come into ice age!” mean? Someone? Anyone?), that’s just exhausting to listen to. Why? Just…why?

From the EP, I enjoyed the surprisingly gentle instrumental and sweet lyrics of Stereotypes, which was my hidden gem.

Single #1: School Age

With a title like “Spring”, I was hopeful that this would be the start of a shift in MCND’s sound, but even I was surprised by how much of a shift it is. It keeps the harsh edges of their first two songs, but with a much glossier, peppier sheen, like they’ve regressed four years in age. But all my little gripes pale in comparison to my joy that there’s finally a good chorus! It’s full and doesn’t feel out of place in the song, and is even a bit catchy, and though I wish it went a bit further, I’ll absolutely take it. I especially liked the sing-along outro. I don’t know what prompted this change, but I’m here for it.

EP #2: Earth Age

Nanana, unfortunately for me, is a return to the sound of MCND’s debut…kind of? At least, that’s where I thought it was going from the first half minute, and while parts of the song (like that very forceful second verse rap) follow suit, the actual meat of the pre-chorus and hook are much more melodic and catchy. It melds hip hop and synth together in quite a satisfying way, and its outro is probably the best singular moment in any of their songs so far; sometimes you can’t go wrong with a simple, vocal-heavy chant. I’m going to cautiously label this song another step on the way to progress and cross my fingers.

From the EP, I enjoyed the synthy sound of Breathe and the chanty hooks of Bumpin’.

EP #3: MCND Age

Crush splits the difference between the two different styles of MCND that we’ve seen so far, operating on a harsh hip-hop base with smoother vocals layered on top. I get what they’re going for, but I’m not sure if this works. Again, there’s good parts of the song, but most of them are overshadowed by this affected, faux cool image they’re trying to project. And the chorus isn’t good, I’m sorry. Besides relying on an anti-drop and some over-auto-tuning, I just have no idea what the lyrics are trying to say besides “we’re cool, deal with it”. I’ll pass on this one, thanks.

From the EP, I enjoyed the percussive, funky beat of Louder, my hidden gem.

EP #4: The Earth; Secret Mission Chapter 1

Movin too is hip-hop and trap based, but I find it a little more interesting because of that unique instrumental (is it perhaps a traditional Korean instrument? It sounds a bit like one). Besides that, though, it sticks to the same formula of MCND’s past works: rap-focused verses, melodic pre-chorus with a good build up, anti-drop chorus, chanty outro, rinse, repeat. There’s not much for me to say on the song itself. Something I will say is that there are some great shots in this music video, especially the ones in what seems to be an outdoor marketplace; the warm browns, golds, and reds with the see-through fabrics are lovely, and I wish that this was the aesthetic they kept for the rest of the song, rather than the colder stages. One last comment: one of the members—I think it’s Huijun but I could be wrong—is wearing braids, which is just the cherry on top of my annoyance with this song.

From the EP, I enjoyed the brassy interpolations and Bossa nova influence in Cat Waltz, the funky, synthy sound of Bowwowwow (my hidden gem), and the fun-loving sound of Play Pungak. This is a pretty solid EP.

EP #5: The Earth; Secret Mission Chapter 2

I’m almost always nervous when a kpop song has a hashtag in the title, and #Mood is no exception. Nine times out of ten, you end up with something that sounds like an overworked intern shoved buzzwords into a pre-existing beat to meet a deadline, and I’m afraid that that was true here too. (The one time out of ten is Red Velvet’s #CookieJar, which, although a bit dumb, is catchy as hell and has lyrics that actually make sense). Also, I’m sorry, but it’s a bit hard to take Win’s forceful rapping seriously when he’s wearing hot pink pants, a huge sweatband, and an oversized sweater. We couldn’t have had him wear literally anything else that doesn’t make him look like an accidentally paparazzied celebrity circa 2007? Guys?

From the EP, I enjoyed the fast-paced, warmhearted sound of W.A.T.1.

EP #6: Odd Venture

Odd Venture, credit where it’s due, does do something new with MCND’s sound, adding in this bass guitar under the verses and overall just feeling like so much more fun than any of their past releases. I mean it when I say I genuinely enjoyed listening to this song, much to my surprise. It rectified all the issues I’ve had with their discography: it satisfies the build up, it stops taking itself so seriously, it melds the chantier tendencies with the more melodic ones, and it’s just…good. I wouldn’t go o far as to say it’ll be topping my favorites of the year lists or something, but I liked it, and hey, for now, I’ll take it.

I didn’t have a hidden gem from this album.

EP #7: X10

The first thing I want to say about X10 is that I really liked the music video, wacky graphics included, from the way it melded live action and animation to the opening with a spinning world. As for the song itself, I think it’s fine. It doesn’t make me cringe or roll my eyes or want to shut it off. I’m of the opinion that if your chorus is a double one (as in, singing the hook twice), it has to be a great hook; a lesser one will crumble under repetition. And unfortunately, I don’t think that this one is that strong. It’s not bad; there’s definitely potential in there, especially in the more melodic parts, but that potential is undercut by how harsh the other half is.

I didn’t have a hidden gem from this album either.

Verdict: TL;DR

I’m glad I did this. Yes, I mean it. Yes, I’m serious. MCND may not have been for me on the whole, but I’m always glad to discover a new group. I enjoyed watching the members rank their singles and watching their FanTalk on Celeb Confirmed. I got some good laughs out of it, that’s for sure.

My Top 5 songs were Odd Venture, W.A.T.1, Louder, Bowwowwow, and Bumpin’, with Play Pungak as an honorable mention. Unsurprisingly, if you’ve read even a line of this review, MCND gets a 6.75 out of 10 from me. I’m sorry if you’re a huge MCND stan; I do always feel a little bit bad whenever I give a group such a low score, but my patience was sorely tested during the 3-4 hours or so it took for me to write this. To be brief (as if), I thought that the majority of their singles were just bad, and of the songs I did like—most of which were b-sides—none felt very original or worthy of my time, if that makes sense. But I never give up on a group outright, and I’m hopeful that they’ll prove me wrong sometime in the future.

Next time, we’re onto a review that I’m hoping will change my mind on a group I’m usually pretty harsh on. Tschüss!