Babymetal – Babymetal

People adore them, people despise them and some people don’t want to know about them because they’re still as confusing as ever. Whatever your opinion though, the bottom line is that Babymetal have been the most talked about band for the past 18 months and have surpassed everything we thought possible from a group not called One Direction. From drawing 40,000 punters at Sonisphere to selling out Brixton Academy and cracking America at the first attempt, it’s been an unbelievable rise to fame for Su-metal, Moametal, Yuimetal and their Kami Band. Now, their self-titled debut album from February 2014 is getting its own UK release date on June 1st via the band’s EU label, which unless you’re still a fan of buying physical albums seems rather pointless. But hey, at least we might get the second album on time…

If you’ve somehow avoided the hurricane of comments and hysteria, then let me fill you in briefly: three girls with a combined age of less than 50 sing high pitched, bubblegum Japanese vocals whilst an incredibly talented quartet play some of the most brutal metal around in the background, thus creating ‘kawaii metal’ or ‘cute metal’. Throw in a few electronic elements on top and a storyline about the girls being picked to unite the world with heavy metal by a mystical being called ‘The Fox God’ and you have Babymetal. It’s utterly bonkers and the storyline is a massive gimmick, but it works. The album is just as ridiculous – there’s a plethora of different styles in play across the main thirteen tracks, from the out-and-out heaviness of bookends ‘Babymetal Death’ and ‘Ijime, Dame, Zettai’ through to the dubstep influences in ‘Rondo of Nightmare’ and the reggae infusions in ‘Song 4’ (no, really). Even more bizarrely is the sample of Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst’s ‘FLY!’ from ‘My Generation’ in ‘Onedari Daisakusen’. Elsewhere, the catchy hooks in ‘Megitsune’ and ‘Iine!’ will cause many to dance like lunatics and many more to wince in horror, whilst ‘Gimme Choco!!’ (already up to 27 million hits on YouTube) will polarise people’s brains with the biggest clash of vocal/music style of them all. If you can take everything into your stride it’s fantastic in both structure and musicianship. There are also two bonus tracks present: a live version of the aforementioned ‘Gimme Choco!!’ from the band’s show at Brixton last year and ‘Road of Resistance’, the band’s collaboration with Herman Li and Sam Totman that has the potential to be a HUGE power metal anthem in every sense of the word.

This is definitely not an album for everyone, and the keyboard warriors and elitists will continue to moan about Babymetal from now until the end of time itself. It’s not going to stop everyone else from embracing a record that’s still as brilliant and innovative as it was a year and a half ago.

Babymetal

Su-metal – vocals, dance
Moametal – scream, dance
Yuimetal – scream, dance

Kami Band

Takayoshi Omuhra – guitar
Leda – guitar
Boh – bass
Hideki Aoyama – drums

Track Listing

Babymetal Death
Megitsune
Gimme Choco!!
Iine!
Akatsuki
Doki Doki ☆ Morning
Onedari Daisakusen
Song 4
Uki Uki ★ Midnight
Catch Me If You Can
Rondo of Nightmare
Head Bangya!!
Ijime, Dame, Zettai
—–BONUS TRACKS—–
Road of Resistance
Gimme Choco!! (Live at Brixton Academy)

Links

http://www.babymetal.jp
http://www.facebook.com/BABYMETAL
http://www.twitter.com/BABYMETAL_JAPAN