We live in an age when exclusive content may as well just be pointed and laughed at; Metal Hammer is running a massive Babymetal feature in this month’s issue, complete with a track-by-track breakdown of the upcoming Metal Resistance album. For the smart people who pre-ordered, it’s already arrived in some cases; it hits newsstands tomorrow.
And of course Babymetal Newswire is already running with the track review.
You can read the whole thing here, or here it is in text:
ROAD OF RESISTANCE:
Released a year ago to proudly set the scene for BABYMETAL‘s evolution, this song shows the band’s synthesis of pop and metal at its finest. Kitsunes up!
KARATE:
Kicking off with a meaty modern metal riff and minor vocals, “Karate” packs one hell of a punch, before striking into an Idol-like chorus. Set necks to head bang.
AWADAMA FEVER:
Forget chocolate — it’s all about ‘chew-chew-chewing gum’ now. Out last November, it has a ferocious drum’n’bass background, in keeping with Kobametal‘s penchant for genre-bleeding.
YAVA!:
It opens like a demented video game and drifts into Eurovision territory, before massive nu metal riffs take it to a mystical-sounding bridge.
AMORE:
Beginning like a ballad, “Amore” swiftly descends into the realm of riffing, taking cues from friends and collaborators Dragonforce. Su-metal‘s vocals are huge.
META TARO:
BABYMETAL? Battlemetal, more like. It opens like a hymn, before male voices spell out the title in a Viking warrior chant, and they’re all off on a metaphorical longboat.
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN:
The influence of BMTH looms large. There are layers of electronics, a touch of Can You Feel My Heart, and then it all goes surprisingly Skrillex.
GJ!
The title’s unclear, but there’s a line that goes, ‘Monster, monster horror!’ Heaviness and melody blend into the ultimate BABYMETAL Frankenstein song.
SIS.ANGER:
It’s a death metal song! There’s a fearsome sample from The Book Of Revelation, before a frantic flurry of noise and some syncopated vocals.
NO RAIN, NO RAINBOW:
The clue’s in the title — it’s uncannily like X Japan‘s Endless Rain and GN’R‘s November Rain. From sweet strings and tinkling ivories pours a huge ballad.
TALES OF THE DESTINIES:
The nuttiest track yet. A load of mathcore comes crashing in, before mutating into galloping power metal, while Su-metal croons like Lady Gaga.
THE ONE:
Another song they’ve played live. It’s Disney’s Frozen x heavy metal – an earnest track designed to light up arenas. Anathema to some, rapturous to others, this is the Fox God‘s parting shot.
Wow. And I was worried that “Sis. Anger” was going to be a callback to that unfortunate “St. Anger” thing that Metallica did.
Some of these we know. “No Rain, No Rainbow” is an OG fan favorite, “Road of Resistance” has an official (limited) release, and there are the songs that we’ve encountered via fancam and TV broadcasts since this time last year, not to mention the lead single, “KARATE.” But I’m officially super excited now. They pretty much had me at “Monster, monster horror!” and won me at “mathcore.”
Which track are you most excited for?
You didn’t include the description for “Meta Taro”.
Scared me a minute! It’s there, it’s just formatted weirdly because of the bolding and too many styles layered on top of each other.
“BABYMETAL? Battlemetal, more like. It opens like a hymn, before male voices spell out the title in a Viking warrior chant, and they’re all off on a metaphorical longboat.”
Which sounds a) amazing and b) this album’s answer to “Babymetal DEATH”
Wow, yeah, that threw me off … my mistake. Apologies!
No worries. Confession: I totally had the same visual thing happen when I was checking what you said. Had to do it twice. 🙂
So… no black babymetal songs?
As luck would have it, we actually get another two! “Sis.Anger” and “GJ!” are apparently BBM, which is frankly pretty exciting because a) Black Babymetal is great and b) Sis.Anger is described as death metal and the part of me that refuses to grow up loves the possibility of “GJ!” being not dissimilar to something the Misfits might’ve played once, though that latter one is in dispute. (https://www.reddit.com/r/BABYMETAL/comments/48aajo/metal_resistance_each_preview_description/d0i1nmt)
It’s funny that somewhere along the line, there’s this nigh-omnipotent force propelling Babymetal forward (and probably greasing the wheels with the likes of Metal Hammer while they’re at it), and the damn Hammer editors probably still don’t realize that BBM is a thing unto itself.
Pingback: Babymetal’s ‘Awadama Fever’ Played on FM Osaka; Here’s a Snip | Homicidols