Review
"Virtual Angel" is exactly the debut we have been waiting for! Mesmerizing, elegant, graceful and yet catchy and entertaining, The song boasts a dreamlike Euro dance beat with an airy texture and bubbly synths. The tempo remains the same throughout the song with minimal build-up, but the overlong, exuberant chorus uplifts the song to goddess-like levels. The absence of the a rap section or a dance-break make the song feel more solid and gives the girls ample room to showcase their amazing vocal abilities.
Visually, the music video features a trippy and visually captivating aesthetic and a striking imagery of the ARTMS members as goddesses or higher-beings, the titular "virtual angels", who can only be found in the digital realm. Definitely a unique approach and it matches the song's ethereal mood perfectly.
Overall, "Virtual Angel" succeeds at opening ARTMS's unique world and charm to a wider audience as their official debut track. While not groundbreaking, and not even the best song on the album, that title goes to their 1st pre-release track "Birth", "Virtual Angel' is a highly enjoyable and remarkable debut song, hinting at promising things to come from this new girl group.
Release Info & Mini Bio
ARTMS (아르테미스) is a five-member girl group under MODHAUS consisting of members: JinSoul (진솔), HaSeul (하슬), Kim Lip (김립), HeeJin (희진) and Choerry (최리). The group is technically a sub-unit of the girl-group LOONA. I can't say ex-members of LOONA because officially LOONA hasn't disbanded yet. That also makes ODD EYE CIRCLE a sub-unit of both LOONA and ARTMS. Or it would make ARTMS a super-unit of ODD EYE CIRCLE with the addition of HaSeul and HeeJin and also a sub-unit of LOONA.
Although it has been emphasized that ARTMS isn't the group's name and rather it means Artemis Strategy project, it seems that MODHAUS is still going with that name. Their group's name derives from "Artemis", the ancient Greek goddess often associated with hunting the moon.
ARTMS made their official debut today on May 31, 2024 with their full-length album "<Dall>", an acronym for Devine All Love & Live, and the song "Virtual Angel" as the album's title track. The album will contain eleven tracks, four of which were already pre-released. "Birth", "Flower Rhythm", "Candy Crush" and "Air", were pre-released on March 29, April 11, 25 and May 10, respectively. The physical release will come out in five versions: two photobook CD versions: A & B version, and three QR card versions: A, B and Objekt Music Album version.
Track List
- "Url"
- "Virtual Angel"
- "Sparkle"
- "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (은하수를 여행하는 히치하이커를 위한 안내서)"
- "Flower Rhythm"
- "Candy Crush"
- "Air"
- "Unf/Air"
- "Distress (조난)"
- "Butterfly Effect"
- "Birth"