Infinite: Destiny 2nd Single Album Review

2013 has been a milestone of a year for Infinite.  Infinite H and Myungsoo had their own activities, then Infinite came back with Man in Love, then they announced a legit world tour, and now Destiny has come out!  This era has been very hyped up due to the roughly one million dollar budget for filming the Destiny music video at Universal Studios California, and then an additional photoshoot in Las Vegas.  After Infinite's fresh and romantic Man in Love era, they are back to their usual dark and edgy selves.  While Sweetune has composed majority of Infinite's past hits and main tracks, Infinite stepped in a new direction and had Rphabet compose Destiny.  It's been said that 'Destiny' is the most Infinite-like music.  Hearing this has disappointed me because I love all of Infinite's past main tracks, but listening to 'Destiny' or any of the other tracks on this single didn't click with me at first.  I hope this is not the end of Infinite and Sweetune's relationship!  I am glad that Infinite has performed all of their songs on this album, because watching performances has always made me eventually enjoy the songs.

I pre-ordered my Destiny album and unfolded poster from Kpoptown.com.  I was very satisfied with delivery this time, because my packages shipped a day after Destiny's release and both the album and poster tube arrived in 9 days!  As a pre-order, Kpoptown also gifted me with their own 5 double-sided photocards of stills from the Destiny music video in Universal Studios California.

This album has the same dimensions as Infinite's previous mini albums and single.  However, the front and back covers are much thicker and sturdier than Infinite's first single (whose covers were practically made of thin cardboard), creating an even higher quality physical album.

 

The album cover displays Infinite's name, current infinity symbol and album name, all in a metallic finish.  The cover has Infinite posing in their Destiny outfits on the deserted streets of Universal Studios.  The entire image is in grayscale, with a very sheer silver-gray metallic finish.  The back cover is a simple black, with the album name, tracklist and holographic seal of authentication.

This album comes with 1 of 7 gorgeous photocards.  I'm so happy with the photocards for Destiny; the quality, the photo itself, the size, everything about the cards are amazing.  I received Sung Yeol!  The back of the photocard also has character, showcasing Infinite's new era.  The photocard is almost as big as the album itself (you can compare Sung Yeol with the back of the album cover from the top image). 

Inside the album is the photobook on the left and CD on the right.  Interestingly enough, the photobook doesn't have any member profile; not even their names are mentioned.  The photobook merely has beautiful photos, along with lyrics and a 'thanks to' page.

This photobook has 46 pages of high quality photos.  The book is split into 2 photoshoots.  The first photoshoot (the top photo), which contains 16 pages, is of the main 'Destiny' and poster attire at Universal.  The second photoshoot (the bottom photo) fills the rest of the photobook's pages.  Infinite is wearing their alternative 'Destiny' outfits, which have a military feel to them with army print.  I believe they shot these photos in the Vegas desert, with a car and crashed planes in the background.  The layout of these photos is very professional.  Dongwoo's photos remind me of a Marc by Marc Jacobs perfume ad.  Both photoshoots portray the usual dark and serious Infinite.  Majority of these photos are individual shots, except for the first page with the tracklist.

I was upset by the weak binding toward the end of the photobook.  It appears that the book might just rip off because of how many pages there are in comparison to the strength of the binding.  I'm assuming this is the manufacturer's fault and not Kpoptown's shipping and handling.  I wonder if others also have this issue...

I'm a neat freak and value my posters very much, which is why this poster is framed.  My album came with one of two posters.  I received Version B, which is the design I had wanted!  Version A is simply the Destiny album cover, which is also intriguing, but I wanted the more unique image.  The dimensions of this poster is the same as the poster for L's Bravo Viewtiful, which is 53cm by 77cm, or 1.74' by 2.53'.  In this version, the boys are wearing more casual black and white outfits, while sternly posing on the steps of an apartment building at Universal.  I'm just disappointed at how the boys further up on the steps (Sung Jong, Sung Gyu, Hoya, etc.) become more out of focus.  I'd like to see Infinite in HD!

Here is the tracklist that's printed on the inside cover of the photobook, along with Sung Yeol's boots.  Because this album is a single, there is no introduction track, instead 4 very strong songs.  And here are my thoughts on these songs:

1. 'Destiny' is the powerful main track that falls closely to many of Infinite's previous main tracks.  The vocals are strong, maybe because main vocalists Sung Gyu and Woo Hyun have majority of the lines.  The translated lyrics reveal Infinite's usual desperation and relationship troubles.  They sing about how they have left a woman before but want to be involved again and will do anything to be back with her, "'cause you're my destiny."  I really like these lyrics because they are deep and meaningful and do reflect some relationships in reality.  The music video reminds me of Infinite's debut music video, 'Come Back Again,' with its random super powers.  The music video showcases its investment in Universal Studios by filming on its famous streets as well as the warehouse that Inception (the American movie) filmed.  While all of Infinite's previous main track dances always had a signature move, there was no one dance move that really stuck with me in 'Destiny.'
2. 'Inception' begins with what reminds me of tribal sounds or snake charmers.  This song sounds more mature than Infinite's previous songs.  The line distribution is more even, allowing all members to express their singing abilities more.  The translated lyrics reveal Infinite as very caring and protective of their woman, singing that she should take care of her feelings and eventually she'll be with her man (Infinite).  The performance for 'Inception' is amazing.  Infinite performs while dancing on chairs, which creates a much slower dance that's that common of Infinite.
3. 'I'm Going to You' is a beautiful slow track about a man who is reminiscing about the warm memories he shared with his woman and how he must see her as soon as possible because he misses her so much.  I absolutely love this song because the vocals are clear and beautiful and the chorus is so catchy without being an annoying hook song.  I love singing along to the chorus!
4. 'Mom' is a very thoughtful ballad dedicated to mothers.  The lyrics explain how one has grown up childish, always expecting more, but has finally grown up and is giving all of the love he has received from his mom.  As a slow song, it definitely displays the members' beautiful voices and singing abilities, despite the lopsided line distribution.

Overall, though Destiny is not favorite era of Infinite, after listening to the album on repeat I have started liking these songs.  There is a bit of falsetto in the first two tracks, which always makes me melt every time I hear it!  All of the songs add their own unique sound into this album, creating a variety of sounds that work well  and make the album more diverse.  Of course I also do love this concept.  While this concept is so similar to Infinite's past eras, they know what works well for them and stick with it.  Lastly, I commend Infinite and Woollim for investing so much into this album and being the first Kpop group to film at Universal Studios California.