Review: Rolling Quartz - Blaze

This song was released in December, and I initially even listed it as an honorable mention for December, but I did not fully appreciate this song back then. Thus, I removed it from December, and now on this blog, it is going to be considered a January 2021 single.

I am a big fan of the Korean rock girl group Dreamcatcher, though I have some issues with them being a rock group. First, they don't play or write their music, and their most recent single is too tame for my liking. I don't want to be that person claiming classical rock is the best, but Bangla, American, British, and Korean rock is dead basically, and J-Rock is holding out as the last rock front.

Enter Rolling Quartz. They are a Korean indie rock quartet, notably being all-female, something extremely rare in Korean rock. Debut single Blaze instantly gives grunge rock callbacks with its opening moments. The instrumental is heavy, yet anthemic, how rock should be.

The pre-chorus fades the heavy instrumental away to focus on main vocalist Jayoung's ability, and let us take a second to admire it. Recently, too many female vocalists in Asia are taking up the cloying cutesy style. Jayoung, on the other hand, has a powerful and aggressive voice, very rock-ish at that, but still quite melodic. The other members harmonize her at times, and I love harmonies, they are something I constantly miss in modern pop music. It works so much better than just putting random backing vocals.

The chorus is excellent. Clearly, there is no vocal processing (I think if you hear carefully, Jayoung's voice goes off-key for a brief second, this might have been done on purpose though). It is clear the girls are having fun, and they know what they are doing.

The second verse is just the first, just better. While clearly no Yoshiki (I mean, who is), member Yeongeun's drumming really holds the track together. Plus, the vocal harmonies really are evident here.

The following rock riff is great. Not the best in modern times, but clearly a great one. It fades for the pre-chorus, building back to the final chorus. My only wish here is that the final chorus is assisted by a massive, Miyavi's Heaven is a Place on Earth-Esque rock riff. That would push this song into perhaps one of the best modern rock songs. Still, Rolling Quartz has debuted with a great song, easily entering my playlist.

Rating: 9/10

Image Source: Besiktas