Babymetal-Metal Resistance (2016)

Babymetal-Metal Resistance (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

Japan's Babymetal is one of those bizarre experiments that might sound awful on paper, as an idea has all the potent to become a total disaster, but when heard amazingly end up making some kind of sense, I must confess that at first I thought it was pretty kitsch to come out fine, but my fondness for Japanese quirky voices and heavy metal were enough to get me around to hear and try this Babymetal thing.

Metal Resistance is not exactly the type of title you would expect after watching this anime like trio of girls that front this metal project, I have some spare knowledge about the so called idol genre in Japan, a genre characterized by cute young girls with colorful attires singing with high pitched voices , I particularly enjoy listening to bands like AKB48, which I heard first while watching Wreck It Ralph with my kids, it's a fun song with amusing singing, so in a way I felt kind of ready to get into Babymetal.

Believe me, Metal Resistance is quite a multi-dimensional trip, full of J-Pop vocals, Korn/Skrillex/Slipknot type of effect heavy production, brutal guitar riffs and demolishing drum work, the instrumental part is performed by a true metal band known as Kami Band and the guitarists from British Power Metal band DragonForce, and this strange marriage between beauty and brutality ends up resulting quite engaging at moments, despite some riffing monotony, a problem that also haunts German titans Rammstein.

Musically speaking, first single, the awkwardly titled Karate is in the heavy nu metal/ groove metal Korn territory, ultra-dry and down tuned guitar, drum triggers and ornate drum and bass added elements, the trio of singers are vastly effective and melodic, giving a nice balance to the aggressive instrumentation and the flashy arrangements, again drum and bass brakes are present on Awadama Fever, just prior to the full on metal guitar attack incursion and cute vocals, kawaii, as Japanese people call them.

An eccentric cruise into ska metal appears on Yava!, epic metal on Amore and martial, Laibach like motifs on the massive Meta Taro, while on From Dusk Till Dawn and Gj! (featuring some metal rap inflections) the band recovers its focus and launches a new mighty offensive, followed by the thrashing metal madness show stealing Sis. Anger.

Metal Resistance is an exuberant exercise in modern sounding metal and state of the art production, at times it results exhaustive, and looks like more inclined to form rather than pure substance, it's a prefabricated musical concept that aims to amusement more than anything else, and it delivers it in a bombastic way, those looking for transcendental music, better search somewhere else.