K-Rock Scene: Broken Valentine

  On May 14, post-grunge band Broken Valentine released their first studio album, Shade. After going through several member changes since their formation, while dominating a few band competitions and hustling hard in the pop-biased music scene, the guys of BV have been enjoying a sudden increase in Korean music fans domestically and those abroad who are starving for hard-hitting music. 
Sure Broken Valentine has been around since 2002, but it wasn’t until 2008 that the band’s five members were solidified. Drummer Koopa, bassist Sunghwan, vocalist Van and lead guitarists Ansu and Byun G made the final line up. Together they finished in the final 16 in last year’s band survival competition, KBS’s Top Band.
  “Down” was released in December last year but in promotion for Shade, and its accompanying MV was uploaded to their official YouTube channel on April 30. In this track, Broken Valentine makes it clear that they have no patience for those who are fake, and that they spare no words when calling people out on their bullcakes.

BROKEN VALENTINE – “DOWN” MV

SHADE TRACKLIST
01 “Royal Straight Flush”
02 “Shade”
03 “M.K. Dance (Radio Edit)”
04 “This Time”
05 “Noname”
06 “Answer Me”
07 “You Never Mind”
08 “Down”
09 “Dual-Log”
10 “Life”
11 “What U Need”
12 “Noname (Piano Version)”

  Shade is an entirely self-composed and written collection of past singles as well as new releases, that remain impressively consistent considering the songs were released over a span of 10 years. Broken Valentine stay true to their post-grunge sound throughout, even while alternating between agressive and straightforward tracks like “Down,” “M.K. Dance,” the 2007 hit “Answer Me” and more poetic and melodic tracks like “Noname” and “Life.”  And just in case you didn’t know, “Answer Me” won the band the Grand Prize and Best Composer Award (written by Byun G) at the 2009 Asian Beat Band Competition in Hong Kong.