Ashes to Light

On ATEEZ’s <i>Ashes to Light</i>, evolution is earned, but sometimes still fought against. The nine-track effort represents the second full-length Japanese album released by the K-pop octet since their 2018 debut under KQ Entertainment, and it’s an expansion of the group’s music further past swashbuckling swagger to sentimental sensuality. It brings together four previously released J-pop tracks (“NOT OKAY,” “Days,” “Birthday,” and “Forevermore”) and five new ones (“Ash,” “12 Midnight,” “Tippy Toes,” “FACE,” and “Crescendo”), giving the album a temporal scope broader than the group’s prolific output might suggest is possible.

The album brings in more of ATEEZ’s signature rap in “12 Midnight,” a song about fighting through anxieties in the middle of the night. “Tippy Toes” keeps things low-key before ATEEZ erupts into the J-rock-fueled frenzy of “FACE” and the unbridled sentiment of “Crescendo,” the latter asking fans (known as ATINY) to stay “together, forever” with the group. “Let's hide away, like the setting sun/So that we won't be found in this ever-changing world,” members Seonghwa, Hongjoong, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho suggest on the album-ending ballad “Forevermore.” The song is an emotional tribute to a time that must pass—though not just yet.