4 weeks ago
10
Xdinary Heroes returned with their fifth mini-album, LIVE and FALL, just under a month ago. The lead single is Night Before The End. This comeback follows their Troubleshooting studio album (which I have yet to review—but it is coming!), which is led by the single Little Things.
Night Before The End is an emotional rock ballad. While it is good, it isn’t great, and there are a few reasons for this. While the group hits the nail with the rock ballad genre, I miss the energy and unique flair that Xdinary Heroes have provided with their other comeback singles. I acknowledge that it would be challenging to merge the two while keeping true to both styles. But I think Xdinary Heroes would have found a way to pull it off. As such, Night Before The End does feel a little typical for my liking. Xdinary Heroes did a great job of showcasing the emotions and heartbreak behind the lyrics. Listening to the song in passing, it is hard not to notice the heart-wrenching delivery and passionate emotions the members poured into it. However, hearing something more memorable from Night Before The End would have been nice. It doesn’t necessarily detract from my praise of their vocals, but I think Night Before The End would have spoken louder had it brought on a memorable melody or line. Overall, Night Before The End is good, but it needed something more and/or individualised to make it great.
This is my go at interpreting the video, which I think brings both the heartbreak behind the song and the mini-album’s concept to life. The music video depicts the members as butterflies, representing the mini-album’s ‘live’ concept. However, the video also shows the butterflies burning up as they fly up while the members fall to the ground (the ‘fall’ concept of the mini-album). As shown in the video, the fall also represents falling out of the idea of love, which is mentioned in the lyrics of Night Before The End. This depicts the current state of their relationships, hence the heartbreak and sullen expressions of the members throughout the video. I like the band moments, mainly for the fire, representing the passion and emotion they put out there in my mind. Seeing additional light in the dark music video was also lovely.
Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.7/10
English (US) · 