Like Bill and Ted’s Wyld Stallyns, Babymetal were supposed to have saved us by now. They promised to unite the world through peace, love and kawaii metal. It’s over a decade since their debut album and our planet’s situation seems more precarious than ever.
Babymetal’s presence has done little to curb the malignant powers of the four horsemen of the crapocalypse: Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Ricky Gervais. What has the band’s divine creator, The Fox God, been playing at? Mauling the necks of domestic chickens and raiding the bins? Pull your toe out, Reynard.
Was it all just a ruse to market a slick fusion of J-Pop and heavy metal to global audiences by putting a slight spin on methods lifted straight from the Japanese idol playbook? Well, they wouldn’t be the first musicians to profit under the guise of a mooted utopia. Western stars have been pulling that trick since time immemorial. Give Peace A Chance. Heal The World. We Care A Lot.
Lower one’s expectations from its rescuing of the planet and Babymetal’s latest, Metal Forth, is a full-on hoot. Granted, listening to their music at home is not the same experience as witnessing the band perform live, with all the choreography, strobing, pyrotechnics, etc. Their producer, “Kobametal”, is well aware of this and thus jampacks these tracks with so many sounds and events that its hyperactivities pin the listener to the wall throughout, absolutely refusing to let them catch breath or ruminate any more deeply than “there’s a lot going on here”.
Polished and compressed to the maximum, the metallic elements do their primal job of instigating the headbanging and devil’s horns. Each successive pop chorus is catchier than Saint Peter’s fishing net. The electronic details add to the endorphin-triggering lushness. The quieter breakdowns last about twenty seconds at the most before everything and the kitchen sink is hurled back into the mix.
There’s an international and multi-generational list of guests who arrive at different junctures to keep things fresh and endorse the concept. Boston’s Poppy. Germany’s Electric Callboy. Russian expats Slaughter To Prevail. India’s Bloodywood. Canada’s Spiritbox. Neo-Marxism’s Tom Morello.
What’s more, Metal Forth is only ten songs and just over half an hour long so when you’ve finished your physical workout or temporary mental recess to it, you can return to more cerebral or pressing activities. Like figuring out a practical way to hold powerful clowns to account.
