When BABYMETAL first burst onto the scene in 2010, I thought they’d be a novelty act who’d depart as quickly as they arrived, I certainly didn’t think I’d be writing a review for their fifth album in the distant future. Pop culture is a graveyard full of young artists who couldn’t make make the leap from teen to adult stars (think Jimmy Osmond, Tiffany, Sonja, Britney Spears…the list goes on), so it’s a delight that this Tokyo trio have not only matured as a band, but positively thrived. It’s helped that the band have had new goals to strive for (such as being the first Japanese band to headline London’s O2 Arena) and their latest album, Metal Forth, shares some of that pioneering spirit. A record featuring a host of collaborations and guest appearances, Metal Forth finds the band marching towards a bright future.
The key ingredient to BABYMETAL’s longevity has undoubtedly been their desire to evolve; after the success of their 2014 eponymous debut album, it would have been easy (and understandable) if the band had settled into a formula. Yet, each of the band’s albums has had its own unique sound and Metal Forth is no exception. Long term fans needn’t worry, it’s still BABYMETAL and is instantly recognisable as such, yet it has a maturity that previous releases lacked (again, fans needn’t worry, it’s still fun). Having supported BABYMETAL on their recent tour, Poppy helps get the album off to an explosive start with ‘from me to you’. Full of raucous riffs and throat-shredding vocals, it’s an arresting opener and one that’s hard to ignore. The first of seven guest appearances/collaborations, it’s indicative of how the band have moved their sound forwards, and it’s hard to conceive that this cut would have slotted into their debut album. Likewise, the following ‘RATATATA’ (a union with Electric Callboy) perfectly encapsulates the dichotomy between the cuddly and cute, and the hard and heavy that characterises their core sound. It veers between the two in the most violent (but also the nicest) way. Russian hoodlums Slaughter To Prevail bring the aggro on ‘Song 3’ whilst Bloodywood arrive with a strong groove to ‘Kon! Kon!’. All these markedly different artists could have rendered Metal Forth an uneven affair, yet it’s all stitched together by the band’s unbridled enthusiasm and sparkling effervescence.
Although musical boundaries are toppling all around us, it still takes a certain amount of skill to fuse different styles, and perhaps only BABYMETAL could produce an album where the devilishly heavy ‘KxAxWxAxIxI’ sits next to the pop-infused ‘Sunset Kiss’ so effortlessly. It’s this push and pull between the lithe and the heavy that makes Metal Forth so intriguing and it’s never knowing in what guise the band will appear next, or how they’ll fuse these elements, that makes this album such an engrossing listen and will hold the listener’s undivided attention over the course of ten tumultuous tracks.
Metal Forth finds BABYMETAL taking metal into new realms and dimensions.
- Metal Forth is released via Capitol Records on 8th August 2025.
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Track List:
- from me to u (featuring Poppy)
- RATATATA (BABYMETAL x Electric Callboy)
- Song 3 (BABYMETAL x Slaughter To Prevail)
- Kon! Kon! (featuring Bloodywood)
- KxAxWxAxIxI
- Sunset Kiss (featuring Polyphia)
- My Queen (featuring Spiritbox)
- Algorism
- METALI!! (featuring Tom Morello)
- White Flame
