Super Junior - Don't Don

After two years of waiting, 13-member boy band/entertainment group Super Junior's Vol. 2 is finally here. Originally planned for release sometime in 2006, the band was plagued with a variety of incidences that just kept on pushing the release further and further back while they performed live and released songs for dramas and SMTOWN albums. First, member Lee Donghae's father passed away and then Kim Heechul was injured in a car accident. Just when he got back and the group started preparing and recording, another car accident saw Cho Kyuhyun critically - and near-fatally - injured, along with three other members in varying degrees of severity.

Still, for all the waiting - and the hard times - both the group members and the group's fans have been through, it's now possible to look back at it all and say that yes, it was probably worth it.

The album opens with the heaviest riff you're ever likely to hear in a Super Junior song. An angry, powerful song, the title track Don't Don! is one of the best on the album, mixing rock with R&B rap and strong vocals, with the members of the group performing amazingly well in a style we've never heard them perform before. Kangin, known for being the group's "tough guy", sounds fantastic on this track, his own featured line sounding somehow calm and serene amongst so much anger. In fact, he sounds amazing throughout the album, having improved ten-fold since the release of Super Junior 05 (TWINS) in 2005 and definitely making himself known as one of the stronger singers in Super Junior.

After the rough anger of Don't Don!, the album moves into a sound that is more typically Super Junior - soft, bubblegum pop mixed in with fast-paced dance tunes and heart-wrenching ballads - and stays that way throughout. The track listing has been carefully chosen, however, so that listeners can enjoy a whole spectrum of different sounds at once, rather than having a slab of ballads followed by a slab of songs that make you want to get up and dance.

She's Gone, book-ended by über-pop dance tunes I Am and Missin' U is a perfect example of this. Possibly the single most heartfelt song on the entire album, She's Gone tells of a romance gone wrong and it is truly haunting. Ryeowook, Kyuhyun and Donghae in particular carry this song with their emotional voices but you can almost hear each and every member's heart breaking as he sings.

It is true, in fact, that the album itself is entirely vocally-driven, full of beautiful harmonies and adlibs - Ryeowook's gospel-like adlib in the choral-type ballad Thank You is positively goosebump-inducing - and compared to their first release, you can tell that the members have grown a lot in terms of talent and also that they are trusted with that talent more. As a result, the album sounds rich and musical, making the first sound like twelve boys singing karaoke in comparison - and this is coming from someone who quite enjoyed that album!

This is not to say, however, that Don't Don is without its less-than-stunning moments. No release can be perfect and this one is no exception; there are a few songs on this album that just don't seem to work - or perhaps would work better in another context. Marry U, the second single and title track of the repackaged album release, is quite possibly the worst offender, coming across as corny and just a little bit silly. The lyrics are beautiful and sincere but the style of music doesn't work with them at all and as a result the song sounds mismatched. Other songs, such as My Love and I Am, despite being good songs in their own right, feel a little dull in an album packed full of so many different, powerful songs.

It's also worth noting that the album would finish a lot more strongly without its bonus track. Thank You finishes the album off perfectly and the album feels like it's actually meant to end there, on a strong, uplifting note, with the words "I'm happy". Then, just as the album feels it should stop spinning, Song For You begins, a sweet little bubblegum pop ditty halfway between a love song and a song of worship. Although it does actually feel like a typical encore, it's out of place on the album, perhaps better saved for an actual concert encore instead.

Overall, Don't Don is a terrific album, which takes the listener on an emotional journey through the different styles and types of songs presented, something to both draw in new fans of Super Junior and reignite the love of the old fans. Let's just hope it's not so long until the next one!