Metallic-a-j-pop
Japan you’re weird. Seriously. This is weird. Not going to try and sugar coat, it’s just weird. For those of you who don’t know much about what Babymetal is and are asking “What’s so weird about it?” here is the short story.
Put together by a producer of a girl singing group – Babymetal is a mixture of speed metal (think Dragonforce) and J-pop or Idol Music as they call it in Japan. Three girls in Japanese school girl outfits front the band and even do dance routines. Again – it’s weird. Imagine Britney Spears fronting Bring Me The Horizon and you are getting closer to what this record is like.
With that being said the surprise here is…well…the music is pretty good. The “metal” parts are pretty heavy and could just as easily fit on any modern metal record out now. For example “Megitsune,” the second song on the record, is just as dark and heavy as any heavy record this year and “Gimme Chocolate” sounds like a hardcore band with keyboards.
Babymetal‘s more j-pop moments sound like they come straight from a video game more than a metal record. Songs like “Uki Uki GYA Midnight” change from brutal metal breakdowns to sing along dance breaks to full on dubstep beat drops. This kind of continuous metal/dance/sing along/dubstep formula continues throughout the album. “Line!” the fourth song on the self-titled release sounds like the background of a racing video game for the first half then it turns into a rap metal thing. It’s both awesome and terrifying.
When you think about where Babymetal is from it is not surprising that they are a HUGE phenomenon. They recently sold out budokhan – a venue that holds over ten thousand and have played enormous festivals throughout the world. Even Metallica made it a point to see them. They’re a sight to see and Babymetal is worth the spin if for nothing else than to hear what this weirdness sounds like.
Stay weird Japan. Stay weird.
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