Babymetal ¡ª ¡°Metal Resistance¡± (Toy¡¯s Factory)

Ever since Western metalheads got word of the existence of metal-idol trio Babymetal, questions regarding the group¡¯s authenticity have come up. To anyone familiar with Japanese pop music, this isn¡¯t an issue; like all idols, the trio is a pop vehicle engineered to cater to a certain niche subculture.

The group is back with its second album, ¡°Metal Resistance.¡± It debuted at No. 39 on the Billboard album chart, coming just as attention in the West has reached critical mass thanks to an appearance on ¡°The Late Show with Stephen Colbert¡± in the United States. Once again the group brings its signature brand of metal J-pop, complete with the robes of Sunn O))), solos of DragonForce (guitarists Sam Totman and Herman Li even contribute licks on opener ¡°Road of Resistance¡°) and the riffs of Dimebag Darrell.

And frankly speaking, it¡¯s well done ¡ª as it¡¯s supposed to be. Spearheaded by producer Kobametal, ¡°Metal Resistance¡± keeps many songwriters from the first album, including Norizo of rock band Dugout, Yuyoyuppe of metalcore band My Eggplant Died Yesterday and The Mad Capsule Markets¡¯ Takeshi Ueda. The formula here is pretty much the same, only this time perfected to a T, with what feels like more nods to 1980s hair metal and symphonic metal, which are perhaps more suited for mixing with J-pop than metal¡¯s edgier subgenres.

Which brings up one interesting side-effect of Babymetal¡¯s idol music; various types of metal can exist on the same album. Thus the epic ¡®80s power ballad ¡°No Rain, No Rainbow¡± can sit comfortably next to the anthemic groove metal of ¡°Karate¡± and the drum ¡®n¡¯ bass of ¡°Awadama Fever.¡± The genre-hopping culminates with the technical prog-metal of ¡°Tales of Destinies¡± and the symphonic closer ¡°The One,¡± which features vocalist Su-Metal¡¯s first attempt at English lyrics, a clear result of the group¡¯s unexpected success overseas.

The amalgamation will surely drive devoted followers of metal crazy, more so due to just how slick it¡¯s all done. This is the crux of idol music; they know what you like, and they can convincingly make it exactly the way you like it.