Huckleberry Finn is one of the oldest Korean rock bands that I know of. They started in the late 1990s and released four albums over the years until 2011’s Black Tiger. I carelessly didn’t take the time to listen to the albums as closely as I should have until I heard Black Tiger.
Their fifth full-length is amazing. The 11 songs are expertly recorded and the music comes across speakers amazingly. Some people may not prefer the female fronted vocals, they contain a deeper and somewhat more guttural tone. But as you listen through Black Tiger, the versatility of the vocals is easily apparent.
My favorite song on the album is “Girl Stop.” It combines the tone of older Korean rock together with newer arrangement styles and presents a solid song that doesn’t even have a fast pace.
“도레미파” is another great song that uses synth additions in the song over the full band, but doesn’t overshadow or sound out of place. Huckleberry Finn have defined their sound and any addition is used to improve the song it’s a part of.
Going back into their older catalog and it’s easy to hear how Huckleberry Finn came to their current sound. It doesn’t even come across as that much different, but much more defined.
Ehhhhh, I’d have to disagree with you on this one. Being a songwriter myself and also being a huge Huckleberry Finn fan, I actually found a lot of the songs on this album to be too “wander-y” and repetitive. At times, I thought some of the arrangements for the songs just seemed like, “Well, we have a full time keyboardist now, let’s add some synth!”, and a lot of the songs sounded either exactly the same or a lot like their older music. By that I mean, it sounded exactly like their older music and nothing changed, which in this case I thought was a bad thing.
I was really hyped up for this album, and when I finally listened to it my hype diminished. Some of the final arrangements of songs I had heard live versions of on YouTube before they were even named really disappointed me. The early live versions of Brothers and Sound of Rain (I do not know if that is the actual name of the song, that’s just the translation I read.) sound very Vol.4-esque, and I loved the sound of Vol.4. To me, I think Vol.4 is Huckleberry Finn’s style defined, and Vol.5 is just kinda… there. I don’t really feel like there’s any meaning to the music anymore. The general sound just sounded like “we have fans and they want a new album.” kind of thing.
Personally, my favorite Huckleberry Finn albums are Vol.3 (Olympio Star) and Vol.4 (Illusion, My Disillusionment). I love Vol.3 because of it’s acoustic and quieter sound, and Vol.4 takes that, makes it harder, and really defines the sound Vol.3 had.
(nitpicking here, but the Girl Stop video also seems kind of… there. Huckleberry Finn has better videos, my personal favorites being Samak, Silver, and Brothers but Strangers. OoO)
My favorite album by the band is actually Deep Impact. I can agree that their sound didn’t really change, but compared to what’s been released recently, their sound is still distinct.
It’s been a while since they released an album so I’m happy for new music. My friend also shares your opinions about the music, but I while the album may not be the greatest, but I’m glad they’re making music.
I actually like Black Tiger a lot simply because the band seems to be simply having a lot more fun with their music here. I don’t feel like the incorporation of the keyboards and synths really felt contrived and while the core of their music hasn’t really changed (arguably since their first album), I didn’t feel like it was tired at all, but simply much less serious and much more fun. My favorite album is still their first and while Black Tiger is not at all as serious as 2-4, I like it on its own merits as an established band having fun with the music they’ve been making for over a decade.
I know I’m an old fogey, but for me, when I think of Huckleberry Finn, I always think of the band when Nahm Sang-ah was in it. I remember seeing them play at the 1-year anniversary at Master Plan, way back in the 1990s … it was a really great show.
Since then, I’ve come across HF a few times, here and there, and always liked their shows. I really need to listened to Black Tiger a few times, get a feel for the album.