thecaitlynlee: Cat Reviews: EXO - THE WAR (The Power of Music) Repackaged + The Physical Album!

Aloha Friends! Buckle up because this post is going to be far too biased and fangirl-y, but if you're a returning reader, you already know what to expect... Because today I'm going to be reviewing... EXO's repackaged album, The Power of Music!!!! (As well as show you guys what the physical album looks like!) I know I'm suuuuuuuuper late, but I had a lot of this written a while ago, so I just thought I'd finish it before I have to review EXO's upcoming winter album lol.

I'm combining the review and physical album overview together because the repackaged album only has three new songs, and I since I already reviewed the other songs, I don't think it's necessary to separate the two posts out. The bulk of this post will be about the physical album because there's A LOT. Like A. LOT. But you'll see that further down.

An Overview and Album Artwork:

So like I already mentioned, the repack of THE WAR is called The Power of Music. It features the nine original songs from THE WAR and three new songs (four if you count the instrumental of one of the songs)! Before I even get into the review, I just want to mention, as always, you guys know I'm the biggest EXO-L, therefore this review will be super biased and probably incredibly unhelpful for those looking for a legitimate review, but to each his own. Moving on... The main song of this repack is Power and boy oh boy is it good. The music video is unlike anything EXO's ever done before and it's honestly one of my favorites. It has a "hero" theme, where the members are fighting what seems to be robots, who are trying to take over EXO Planet. They really bring their powers back for this repack and I'm living for it. Check out the music video on the sidebar! As for the album artwork, in typical EXO fashion, the digital album artwork is their hexagonal logo, this time, featuring NINE (YA NINE) flexed arms. My friend doesn't like it, but I think it goes really well with this comeback. I won't go into details about the physical album artwork just yet, you'll have to wait until I start talking about the album... Originally, I wasn't going to include reviews of the songs that are part of the previous version of this album, but my opinions on certain songs have since changed, so I'll be including my updated feelings about each song. But if you'd like to read my old reviews, CLICK HERE!

The Songs
1. 전야 (前夜) The Eve
I'm pretty sure I loved this song when the original version of this album came out, and I still love it so much. It's super sexy, but like not your typical sexy EXO, but like SEXY EXO. Does that make sense?? Anyways, this song still bangs, and those body rolls...

2. Power
Power is really the main song of this album and I LOVE IT. It's super happy and upbeat; it's the kind of song that makes you feel like you can do anything.

3. Sweet Lies
Sweet Lies is another new song from the repack and IT'S MY FAVORITE. It has that SEXY EXO vibe that 전야 (前夜) The Eve has and I looooooove it. Chanyeol's rap literally kills me. It's like bad boi EXO and I frickin love it so much you guys don't understand. Sweet Lies also fills that ballad void that missing from the first version of the album, although it isn't realllyyyyy a ballad, it's good enought for me.

4. Ko Ko Bop
Ko Ko Bop was the main track of the first version, and I can't remember what I wrote about it, but it's still great, not my favorite, but still a bop.

5. What U do?
I think this was my favorite song from the first version, and I still love What U do?. My feelings about this song haven't changed.

6. Forever
Honestly guys, I kinda didn't like Forever and it's not that don't like it, but like it isn't my fave. I goes hard like dang EXO okay, but I think you guys already know that I love ballads like For Life, or cute songs like Girl x Friend. I feel better about this song now, like it definitely grew on me and I like it more than I did before!!!

7. 부메랑 Boomerang
OH MY GOOODDDDD GUYYYYSSSS I LOVE BOOMERANG. It's one of those cute songs and I love it so much. I honestly can't even put into words what about it I love, but I just looooooove it. You'll have to listen to understand.

8. 다이아본드 Diamond
Like Forever, Diamond is one of those songs that I just feel ehhhhh about. It's not that I don't like it, it's just not my speed and I still feel the same way about it as I did when I first reviewed this album. It's not bad!!! It's just not my fave.

9. 너의 손짓 Touch It
I think this was another one of my favorite songs last time, and still is, ESPECIALLY AFTER SEEING THE SEXY CHOREO. God I love EXO's sexy time dances.

10. 소름 Chill
ANOTHER FAVE! I still can't get over Kyungsoo oppa's lil rap. It still kills me every time I hear it. Despite it's title, Chill is not a song that you can just chill out to, but it's still so good and I will continue to listen to Kyungsoo oppa's rap on repeat.

11. 기억을 걷는 밤 Walk On Memories
Walk On Memories is a song that I still have conflicting feelings with. I do really like it, like it's one of my favorite songs, but its almost that ballad that this album needed during the first release, ALMOST, but it isn't, which is disappointing. I still love it, don't get my wrong, there's just something about it that's missing.

12. 내가 미쳐 Going Crazy
My feelings about Going Crazy have not changed. I still don't like it all that much because like with Forever and Diamond, it's not up my alley. Sorry EXO oppas.

Picking Favorites:
My song ranking is definitely different than the first time I ranked the first version of this album, so here are my new faves!

1. Sweet Lies
2. 부메랑 Boomerang
3. 전야 (前夜) The Eve

4. What U do?

5. 소름 Chill

6. 너의 손짓 Touch It

7. 기억을 걷는 밤 Walk On Memories

8. Ko Ko Bop

9. Power

10. Forever

11. 내가 미쳐 Going Crazy

12. 다이아본드 Diamond

The Physical Album:

GUYS this album comes with SO MUCH. From photo pages to comic pages, it literally comes with so much stuff, I think this is one of the best physical albums I've ever purchased. There's literally so much stuff that my backdrop wasn't even big enough.

Every album comes with five large photo pages with the members paired up, ChanBaek, SuSoo, XuiChen, SeKai, and then a group photo.

It also comes with two versions of larger photocards, with photos of individual members, so there are eight per stack. I personally really like the version the black border (top) better than the colorful version (bottom). These photos are also the concept photos for this comeback.

It also comes with a page of the comic book that this album is sort of based off of. If you collect all the pages, you could make a full comic book, but I don't got the time or the money to do that lol.

The album comes with a photocard. I got Xiumin!!

My pre-order also came with a poster! It's the same group photo as the large photo card above.

Of course, it comes with the actual CD, but that's not the important part lol.

Final Thoughts:

I think you can probably already tell that overall, I really enjoyed the repackaged version of The War. The new songs are all really great, especially Sweet Lies and Boomerang!!! I'm so in love with the repack's superhero/comic book concept and I'm glad SM decided that it was time that EXO go back to their superhuman, EXO Planet roots. If you don't have either versions of the album yet, which would I recommend? Well, as beautiful as the concept was for the first version of this album, I honestly would recommend getting the repackaged version because it comes with A LOT OF stuff, and you get the same songs plus three more, but we all know we don't buy these albums for the actual music lol. Though the first version of this album is more my aesthetic... which I why I have both versions!!! Overall, I'm glad EXO did this really cool repack and I can't wait for their new winter album (which are always my favorites) on December 26th!!! (Which means I'll see you then for another review lol)

As always, thank you so much for reading!!! What did you think about The Power of Music?? What was your favorite song between the three new additions? Let me know in the comments or tweet me @thecaitlynlee! I can't wait to hear from you!

With Love,
Caitlyn (Park) <3