The ballots have been counted, the results certified, and your winners are announced below BUT before we get to that: I want to thank everyone who participated in this year’s Best of the Year activities. We had a 30% increase in voter participation over last year which I really appreciate. Ten years into this venture that is Homicidols, it only means anything because of you all, so “Thank you!” for supporting our collective mission of promoting underground and independent idols to the wider world.
Babymetal
For pages and posts that relate to Babymetal.
10 Years of Homicidols By the Numbers: Top Artists
Let’s try this one again:
You may have seen a half-baked version of this article post on Tuesday. I wish that I could say it was all an illusion but, no, it was just another one of my screw ups. I could have sworn that I had calendared it to publish on Thursday but, instead, it went up on Tuesday well before it was ready and I had to scrub it from existence.
It is one of the enduring mysteries of this site: while there are any number of qualities that contribute to our status of being the longest running English language chika idol blog on the planet, competence is certainly not among them.
10 Years of Homicidols: By the Numbers
Well, look at us. Almost ten years old. Only a handful of idol groups make it that long and, honestly, we’re just as surprised as you are. What started as a questionable idea (“let’s write about underground idols from half-way around the world who perform in and speak a language that we don’t even understand; how hard can it be?”) somehow mutated into a decade-long obsession that’s eaten up countless weekends, introduced us to innumerable friends from around the world, and exposed us to a legion of idols and oshis and losses that we’ll never emotionally recover from.
In that time, we’ve watched the scene evolve, implode, and reinvent itself more times than we can count and, somehow, our humble corner of the internet has managed to survive right along with it. So, as we hit the big one-oh, we thought we’d take a look back at our journey in cold, hard numbers.
Your Homicidols Best of 2024
And the winners are…
In our last official act before we close the books on Idol Year 2024 and bind the records over to the abandoned missile silo that serves as the Homicidols Historical Archive, I am proud to present your Best of the Year award winners!!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the nominations and voting. We fielded a very diverse crop of candidates and winners proving that the world of alternative, indie, and underground idol remains as vibrant, varied, and exciting as ever. This year’s multiple-award winners are almost evenly split between distinguished veterans (like MIGMA SHELTER and Broken By The Scream) and ambitious rookies (such as Phantom Siita and FINGER RUNS).
The Greatest Alt-Idol Drops and Breakdowns of All Time
It has been a a few weeks since we asked members of the Homicidols community to identify their favorite choruses, drops and hooks in the genre of alternative idol. We published the nominations for Best Alt-Idol Choruses a short while ago, and now it’s time for the breakdowns!
For the exercise, we defined the category of drop or breakdown pretty loosely, with the primary requirement being that the element marks a sudden change in the dynamics of the song. The submitted entries essentially fall into two different categories:
The first are examples of the hardcore breakdown, where a tune takes a ruthless drop into harsh vocal or screaming metal territory. In idol terms, these are brutal examples of where the gap is bridged, the kawaii slams into the kakkoii, and the sugar and spice gang up and punch you in face.
The second category are songs that are completely devoid of harsh vocals or metal elements, but accomplish startling breakdowns via sudden and distinct shifts in tempo, tone, and genre.
50 Greatest Alt-Idol MVs of All Time: #21 – 30
Welcome to the third installment of our countdown of the 50 best alt, indie, and underground idol MVs of all time as selected by the readers of Homicidols dot com. This week we are seeing some truly iconic classics including “I kill” and “MEGITSUNE” who were instrumental in establishing the genres of yami kawaii and kawaii metal respectively. We also see our most-nominated music video in, “Hallellujah.”
BABYMETAL’s Back. Tell a Friend.
Twelve months-and-a-day after sealing themselves away from the world, BABYMETAL have completed their restoration and announced their imminent return from hiatus.
Unfortunately, it looks like restoration didn’t include refurbishment of the Yuibot.
Reader’s Best: Luna’s Top Ten Favorite Idol Songs of All time
Welcome to the first in our series of Top Ten Favorite Idol Songs as identified by you, the readers of Homicidols. If you haven’t summitted your list yet, it’s not too late. Just complete this Google form and let us know your thoughts. We will be publishing a few each week until we run out.
First up we have Luna, also know as LunaGeek on Twitter and Discord where he is known for his enthusiasm for WWI experimental helmets and multiple YouTube channels. He’s an intriguing guy with a diversity of interests, so let’s see how that extends to his picks for favorite idol songs. Take it away Luna: Continue reading
Homicidols Best: Daemon’s Top Ten Favorite Idol Songs of All Time
Cal proposed this project some time ago. “Let’s all come up with our ten favorite idol songs,” he said. “It’ll be fun,” he said. It’s actually a pretty agonizing experience. Getting the list down to about 25 or 30 favorite songs isn’t too difficult, but whittling it down from there becomes extraordinarily painful. You can see that, in the end, I copped out and included an extra 10 songs that I couldn’t bear not to mention. I’m doing a terrible job at selling this, because the whole point of this intro is to try to talk you into going through the exercise yourself.
Please complete this Google Form to tell us your ten favorite idol songs, and why. Entries that are fit to print will be featured here on this very blog. The last thing we want is for Homicidols to exist as an echo chamber of Team’s crappy tastes and opinions (no matter how erudite and correct they may be), so please let us know what you think. Continue reading
Of Foxes and Fools: BABYMETAL News + An April Fools Day Round-Up
Another Fox Day aka April Fools Day has come and gone and we are none the wiser for the experience. As followers of idol units who regularly pull inexplicably unbelievable things on any given day of the week, April Fools Day is always a bit confounding. I mean:
- Are RAY really releasing a chiptune single? (no)
- Is Especia really reuniting after 4 years for an anniversary show? (yes, they are)
- Is this group for real?
(I honestly don’t know)
