Bangtan Sonyeondan, Bangtan Boys, BTS; whatver you may call them, they’re known and back. After a six-year musical hiatus brought on by mandatory service in the South Korean army, all seven members: RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook, come back with an illustrious 14-track album named after the most famous Korean folk song, ARIRANG. The album’s genres jump from hip-hop tinged dance tracks to pop ballads with soulful vocals. The first track ‘Body to Body’ samples the album’s namesake. The following tracks, ‘Hooligans’, ‘Aliens’, ‘Fya’ and ‘2.0’ fall into a very similar uncanny valley of brash boy band braggadocio. A single gong sounds during the track ‘No. 29’ as a sort of break leading into the more emotional and tender side of the album. The next track ‘Swim’ was their most radio-friendly hit off the album, moving between hip-hop and R&B elements. Their ability to blend Korean and English is impressive. The latter tracks ‘Merry Go Round’, ‘Normal’, ‘Like Animals’, ‘they don’t know ‘bout us’, ‘One More Night’, ‘Please’ and ‘Into The Sun’ show off a more grown and sophisticated side that one wouldn’t expect from from a boy band. Their talent and harmonies shine through the latter half. While the album has many songs that could be considered generic boy band pop, ARIRANG serves as a decent comeback album hearkening to their South Korean roots with production by top producers like Mike WiLL Made-It, JPEGMafia, Diplo of Major Lazer, Flume, Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, and Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic. 감사합니다, BTS. Well, done. 

7/10