Year: 2014
Country: Japan
Tracklist:
1. Babymetal Death
2. Magitsune
3. Gimme Chocolate!!
4. Line!
5. Akatsuki
6. Doki Doki ☆ Morning
7. Onedari Daisakusen
8. Song 4
9. Uki Uki ★ Midnight
10. Catch Me If You Can
11. Rondo Of Nightmare
12. Head Bangya!
13. Ijme Dame Zettai
The Japanese music has grown immensely in the last couple of decades, and expanded equally all over the globe. The number of Nippon bands and creations, keep increasing day by day, in every genre and style, from classic music to black metal. Of course, some styles and genres have grown more aggressively than others; the so called "jpop" and"jrock" -yes, everything with a jey- are some of the ones which have transcended to almost every other music style.
Babymetal represents very well that mix of "jey music". It's like a caricature of all the Japanese pop music, appeared over the last years; it's a clear and good picture of it. The very name,"Babymetal", screams what the style is made of, a mixture of metal and pop, but in a very particular way.
The "baby" part is composed by all the elements present in the jpop: clean childish vocals, melodic tunes and synths everywhere. The "metal" part, represents the harsh vocals, aggressive riffs and powerful guitars and drums. This idea isn't new at all, after all, it's just a derivation of the melodic death metal style, but it's the specific way -or jway- what’s new, refreshing and great.
Having that said, it's obvious, if you've listened to "jmusic" recently, what's to be found in this album... Anime like music, lyrics and vocals, lots of melodic guitar solos, extensive use of electronic music elements, heavy riffs and, of course, the own Japanese particular style.
This is the first album released by Babymetal, but before, since 2011 the band has been in the scene releasing singles -incorporated now in this disk- and performing live frequently. The launch of their first full length work is the logic step to follow.
The total play time is of 55:41 minutes, divided in thirteen songs of about 4:17 minutes each. So, there is a lot of content here; more than usual in a full release. That's always great (more bang for the buck), but it's better if it's well spaced and goes along with great quality. No song plays for more than 6 minutes and no less than 3, so no track results tedious or not a real contribution; none is an intro, interlude or coda, but the track order is well disposed, giving the feeling of beginning and end.
The disk starts with a powerful heavy track called Babymetal Death. It's, as the name suggests, a death metal song, played by the band, and as the name also suggests, it's not taken very seriously by the group itself. It's a parody to every death metal band that takes too seriously the harsh vocal style. The lyrics demonstrate it, and despite its stupidity, the song is awesome. In fact, almost every harsh vocal interventions, present in the album, are a joke, but a funny and good one; in "Ii Ne!", it's just hilarious.
The second song is very different, starting to show the anime-like-metal-fusion style in composition and lyrics. The lightness in the lyrics is maintained through almost all the disk till the end, with a few surprises -like in "Akumu no Rinbukyoku", though.
The disk starts with a powerful heavy track called Babymetal Death. It's, as the name suggests, a death metal song, played by the band, and as the name also suggests, it's not taken very seriously by the group itself. It's a parody to every death metal band that takes too seriously the harsh vocal style. The lyrics demonstrate it, and despite its stupidity, the song is awesome. In fact, almost every harsh vocal interventions, present in the album, are a joke, but a funny and good one; in "Ii Ne!", it's just hilarious.
The second song is very different, starting to show the anime-like-metal-fusion style in composition and lyrics. The lightness in the lyrics is maintained through almost all the disk till the end, with a few surprises -like in "Akumu no Rinbukyoku", though.
Technically, every song is outstanding in the play of every instrument, plus a nice mix of styles -even some punk-rock and reggae-,just lacking of great voices. The three girls get the work done but none of them is a chant prodigy, sadly. The vocals are pretty mediocre, specially the clean ones, but also they match the musical style, so there's no big deal about it -just a missed opportunity of a better work-.
Almost every song is good enough to be listened over and over again. Every one is complex but, impressively, easy to follow too. Some ones shine above the others, but not too much. "Catch Me If You Can" and "4 no Uta", may be the only let down, with a not very catchy melody and transitions no very appealing neither. Beyond that, there's no bad songs here, and that’s admirable. The reason for that, it's no other than talent and enough time invested to create this great pieces of art. It took more than three years to form this album, since the first single in 2011, and every minute has worth it.
The sound is pretty good, although it's not stellar.Still, it's one of the best in any jpop album recorded and produced in Japan.
Almost every song is good enough to be listened over and over again. Every one is complex but, impressively, easy to follow too. Some ones shine above the others, but not too much. "Catch Me If You Can" and "4 no Uta", may be the only let down, with a not very catchy melody and transitions no very appealing neither. Beyond that, there's no bad songs here, and that’s admirable. The reason for that, it's no other than talent and enough time invested to create this great pieces of art. It took more than three years to form this album, since the first single in 2011, and every minute has worth it.
The sound is pretty good, although it's not stellar.Still, it's one of the best in any jpop album recorded and produced in Japan.
Babymetal is an album that no one should miss. Obviously, the ones fond of metal, trancecore, and jmetal in general, will enjoy eagerly this work, but it transcends the metal genre itself, and anyone should be enough open minded to appreciate the special and attractive fusion present in every track of this disk.
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