While NCT 127 debuted as the second subgroup of SM Entertainment’s larger NCT project in 2016, it wasn’t until 2017 that the group would get a breakthrough hit with “Cherry Bomb,” an off-kilter hip-hop banger with a hook that boasts, “I’m the biggest hit on this stage.” Seven years later, and NCT 127’s messaging has evolved from a broad-stroke swagger into something smoother. On the title track off WALK, the group’s sixth album, the raps positively saunter: “I’m creaking creaking/Walk as if your gait is broken/Don’t care ’bout a thang I walk as I feel.” The boom-bap drums and retro guitar riffs are sonically low-key, but the group keeps its signature edge as its members high-key warn: “Ay, get, get out my way…Ay, get, get off my lane.” The 11-track LP takes the momentum of a walk as its larger theme, simultaneously encouraging NCT 127’s fans to continue on with them, and making their own commitment to move forward. The choice, especially as it comes after leader TAEYONG became the first to enter mandatory military service, implies a future that is perhaps slower and steadier than what has come before. “All the lines I’ve been spitting out/When will it end?/Orange in Seoul at night/Float my name in the sky,” the group wonders in nostalgic, mooning opener “Intro: Wall to Wall.” The image of a burning urban sky is evoked again in “Orange Seoul,” a jazzy tribute to the city from which NCT 127 gets their longitudinal name. The group is similarly sentimental on “Time Capsule,” a melodic pop song that (along with “Can’t Help Myself,” “Suddenly,” and “Meaning of Love”) gives the group’s vocalists a chance to shine. Still, there’s room for some shameless speed. On electronic trap track “Gas,” members TAEIL, JOHNNY, TAEYONG, YUTA, DOYOUNG, JAEHYUN, JUNGWOO, MARK, and HAECHAN “hit the gas.” Whatever happens next, NCT 127 promises there will be more of the boy band’s unshakable self-assurance: “Welcome to my new age vivid Blu-ray/We gon’ take you higher.”