Infinite: First Invasion 1st Mini Album Review

Out of all my kpop album purchases, this is the first time buying an album solely based on the tracks and not the photobook. Infinite's debut concept was a dorky, mismatching look. This concept reminds me a bit of older kpop eras, like Ss501 (A Song Calling For You) and SHINee (Hello).

The album cover for First Invasion is white and glossy, with a glittery red infinity sign as Infinite's first era's logo. The back cover reveals Infinite's dorky and preppy concept, with the members in solid Lacoste polos and slicked back hair. There is also the track list and authentication hologram. I like how Infinite's mini albums have always kept this same layout and design; it feels more consistent and "Infinite-style" this way. Once opened, the inside cover has single shots of the members in their polos. These photos also comprise of the official First Invasion poster.

As this is the first album, the quality and quantity of the photobook isn't as nice as even Infinite's second album, Evolution. First Invasion's photobook is detached from the album and is 26 pages long; it's more like a photobooklet. The pages are layered, staggering each letter of "Infinite" that make this photobook unique from Infinite's following photobooks.

Two pages are devoted to the members of Infinite, giving little information about each member. Though L is the visual, the overall look is sadly unflattering to me.  Another sad point is Sungyeol's name is written as "Sungryul," and I don't want people to misunderstand his name!

The last pages have group photos that further emphasize the dorky concept.  The top photo especially reminds me of Ss501's "A Song Calling For You" because of the mismatched articles of clothing and shorts with knee high socks.  These debut photos don't do justice just how gorgeous the members of Infinite are!

Now onto the tracks.  Sadly Sungyeol and Sungjong have very minimal parts (either single lines or backup/echo lines).  For the debut tracks, I suppose the focus was on the main vocals produced by Sunggyu and Woohyun.

1. The introduction, "∞," opens Infinite's career strongly with autotuned "Infinity" repeating throughout.
2. The debut song, "Come Back Again," definitely has a different sound than other Infinite songs. The chorus is so catchy and memorable, just as the Michael Jackson-inspired choreography. The music video is just as intriguing, with members riding in various random modes of transportation.
3. "She's Back" is the second main track of First Invasion.  This song portrays rather differing emotions from the main track, offering a fun and summery beat.  The song's catchy "She's Back" makes for the happy and bubbly atmosphere.  The lyrics are expressing the feelings of someone who is waiting for their special someone, and getting excited at the thought of her coming back.  This really reminds me of a dog waiting at home for their owner to come back at the end of the day.
4. "Wings" is almost like a pop ballad.  It begins with a strong "Baby just can't let you go" and transitions into an emotional ballad about a person who has gone through a very meaningful relationship and despite the ups and downs, wants to hold onto their special someone.
5. "Fixed Star" is a beautiful ballad that showcases the members' vocals.  It is very touching and balances the overall bubbliness of the album. 
6. The purpose of "Entrust" in this album is similar to that of "Inconvenient Truth" in the New Challenge album, purely in my opinion. Both of these songs strongly end the albums with an upbeat, positive tone. I absolutely can't get enough of this fun and carefree song.

Overall, as an Inspirit I wanted to collect Infinite's debut album. Its only weakness is that the quality of the photobook isn't up to par with later albums, but this isn't even a big deal especially because it's only the first album. Even from the beginning, Infinite's songs have been very high quality, powerful and uplifting, and for that, I'm so happy to have received Infinite's First Invasion album.