BABYMETALBabymetal

In my musical journey, my recent appetite has taken me to the Far East, to the land of the rising sun, where a surprising scene is emerging, and leading it is a band called Babymetal.The surprising fusion of genres that couldn’t be further on the music spectrum, Babymetal is a mashup of Death metal, pop idol music, and catchy techno beats. Three teenage girls, backed by a tight killer metal band, deliver an experience that leaves you dumbfounded at first, a little scared and questioning everything you thought you knew about the industry.The brainchild of a whacky Japanese music producer, Babymetal is a collaboration of talents. The musicians are exceptional, perfectly executing a wide range of styles and techniques of the metal genres. Loaded with crushing riffs, death-growls, heavy beats, even some sweet shredding the debut’s repertoire never gets predictable. More than that, the girls who front the band effortlessly apply their vocals over the range of styles adding their unlimited energy to an otherwise tired genre. The production on this album is solid, and demands you turn it to eleven.The album is full of surprises, whenever there’s a break in the song you’re never quite sure which way Babymetal is going to take you; whether you’re going to be hit by a fireball of shred, cheesy pop or some clubber’s techpop beat, and it’s that unpredictability that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Just listen to the song ‘line!’ to experience this, only be careful if you’re in public: When driving to the crunchy riffs I often found myself winding my window down to torment the neighbourhood, only to wind it back up again seconds later embarrassed by the sudden U-turn to soft pop from my car. In the Iraq war of 2004, a mix of heavy metal and songs from children's TV shows were used to torture Iraqi POWs, I believe it would have sounded something like this. But still, there’s a lot to like about this album –cheesy parts included- and a lot to be discovered. It was a delight to find the speed shredders Herman Li and Sam Totman of Dragonforce fame lend their writing skills and burn their axes on an epic bonus track ‘Road to Resistance’.Although plain out rejected by some in the metal community, Babymetal is building a strong following and can no longer be ignored or passed off as a gimmick. The metalheads haven’t yet made its mind up about whether this style has a place in the west but personally, whether you like it or not, I think this is as exciting and fresh as metal has been in years.- James

Wow, i am somewhat late to the party with this band but after yet another Metal Hammer post i decided to give it a bash and it was well worth the cash. Each song is pretty bonkers in its own right, but thankfully it does not get tiring its with bizarre turns in several of the songs including a strange hiphop section into a balls out breakdown in 'Line!' to almost surf rock calmness in the song 'Song 4' (complete with a comedic 'boing!' noise before caving your face in again). There are plenty of more focused metal songs though, from the now painful catchyness of 'Gimmie Chocolate!' and a track co-wrote with Dragonforce at the end of the album ('Road of Resistance').My only real gripe are the overly 'cutesy' backing vocals. The main singer definitely has a good set of pipes on her and cuts through very well but the other singers sound overly digital to sound childish and it personally holds some of the tracks back a bit. Its not even a fault of the other two girls as on the track 'Onedari Daisakusen', they in fact handle the main vocals and it's one of my favorite tracks on the album (with a tasty early Linkin Park/ Limp Bizkit' kind of vibe). This could be a common staple in Japanese pop music but i haven't researched into it.Overall just go for it. Typically if your a fan of metal there's a little of everything on here to enjoy and if you hated the idea before you've even listened you're still going to hate it so save your cash. Hopefully for the next album i hope they can get a more consistent producer as this albums mixing is a little over the place (most noticed on Line! and Doki Doki Morning) and is really distracting on headphones.

The songs here established Babymetal as genuine players in the rock/metal world, rather than a gimmick act. This debut album must surely by now be approaching 'classic' status? Not a poor track on it - genuinely all killer tracks, no fillers! World class musicianship and vocals throughout with enough pop-hooks here to keep even the casual listeners happy! ('Gimme Chocolate' anyone?). Babymetal have gone on to really take the 'metal' world by storm and long may they reign! Quite simply, a stunning debut.

I have heard about the phenomenom known as Babymetal over the years but it wasn't until purchasing this album did I start appreciating their music. I haven't seen that much of their live performances but that doesn't matter as the music is really good! The heavy metal aspect of this band is as good as other bands out there right now and the cutesy Japanese vocals seem to work with the music and it does form a pleasing listening experience. It's definitely original and unique! If you're into heavy metal music, give this a try...you may be pleasantly surprised like I was!