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Post by Admin on Jun 21, 2020 19:22:11 GMT
EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt has defended BABYMETAL against the "gimmick" tag given to them by critics.
Established in 2010, BABYMETAL is the offshoot of the Japanese pop idol group SAKURA GAKUIN that performs a distinctly Japanese mix of schoolgirl J-pop and heavy metal.
BABYMETAL's members — Suzuka Nakamoto (a.k.a. Su-Metal, who handles vocals and dancing) and Moa Kikuchi (a.k.a. Moametal, who screams and dances) — admit that they had never listened to metal before joining the group. The girls wear gothy schoolgirl costumes, do choreographed dance routines and bang their heads violently.
Many heavy metal fans have been reluctant to embrace BABYMETAL — which also includes producer Kobametal and a backing band of corpse-painted virtuosos — with some Internet forums calling them "the definition of a gimmick", "awful" and "metal for hipsters."
Holt offered his views on BABYMETAL during a June 17 question-and-answer session on the Marshall Amplification Instagram. Asked for his opinion of the Japanese outfit, he said (see video below): "Why not? People wanna talk shit? They're out there. They have more energy than a lot of metal bands that don't like 'em. And if it turns a bunch of kids into metalheads, then all the better, right?"
A few years ago, Jeff Walker of British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS said that he was "starting to warm to the idea" of what BABYMETAL is doing. "It's actually fun, you know — like GHOST, to be honest," he said. "Some people get very reactionary about a band like GHOST or BABYMETAL. It puts a smile on people's faces. That's what music's about, isn't it?! Enjoying it and not being so serious." CARCASS guitarist Bill Steer added: "I mean, obviously, we don't cover this ourselves, but the fun, entertainment angle [in music], it is important."
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Post by Admin on Sept 3, 2020 19:23:13 GMT
BABYMETAL have announced the details of TWO live albums.
Both 'LEGEND - METAL GALAXY [DAY-1]' and 'LEGEND - METAL GALAXY [DAY-2]' will be released next week on September 09 via Cooking Vinyl.
The two shows took place back in January at Japan's Makuhari Messe.
Check out a trailer for the releases:
So, here's the artwork and tracklisting for 'Day 1':
01. FUTURE METAL
02. DA DA DANCE
03. Elevator Girl
04. Shanti Shanti Shanti
05. Oh! MAJINAI
06. YAVA!
07. Brand New Day
08. Gimme Chocolate!!
09. Megitsune
10. Night Night Burn!
11. THE ONE
12. Road of Resistance
And here it is for 'Day 2':
01. IN THE NAME OF
02. Distortion
03. PA PA YA!!
04. KARATE
05. Kagerou
06. BxMxC
07. Syncopation
08. Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!
09. Starlight
10. Shine
11. Arkadia
12. Ijime, Dame, Zettai
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Post by Admin on Nov 17, 2020 23:42:28 GMT
NHK revealed the lineup for the 71th Kōhaku Uta Gassen ("Red and White Song Contest"), Japan's most-watched music television program, on Monday. The yearly New Year's Eve contest pits two teams of female singers (the red team) and male singers (the white team) against each other. The lineup reveals that the Japanese heavy metal idol trio Babymetal will be participating in the program for the first time. Babymetal popularized the "kawaii metal" genre that also includes groups like Deadlift Lolita, Ladybaby, and Doll$Boxx. The group initially formed in 2010 as an offshoot of the Sakura Gakuin idol group. The trio of performers, Su-Metal, YuiMetal, and MoaMetal, appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to promote their album Metal Resistance. The album went on to rank on the U.S. Billboard's Top 200 at #39 in its first week, the first time a Japanese artist broke into the chart's Top 40 in 53 years. Online theme song singer LiSA, who debuted on the program last year, will also return for her second appearance. The news comes in the wake of LiSA's recent milestones: her new single "Homura" (the theme song for the Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train film) made her the first artist to top the ranking for three consecutive weeks in 12 years and 10 months, since the band SMAP achieved the feat with their "Dangan Fighter" single in January 2008. Her earlier single "Gurenge" (the theme song for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba television anime) became the third most downloaded song in the history of Oricon's digital single ranking chart in June earlier this year.  The full lineup for the 71th Kōhaku Uta Gassen includes: (Note: The number in parenthesis represents how many times the singer/group has appeared on the program, including this year.) RED TEAM Aimyon (2) Sayuri Ishikawa (43) Fuyumi Sakamoto (32) Sakurazaka46 (debut) JUJU (debut) Superfly (5) Yoshimi Tendo (25) Tokyo Jihen (debut) NiziU (debut) Nogizaka46 (6) Perfume (13) Hinatazaka46 (2) Foorin (2) Babymetal (debut) Seiko Matsuda (24) MISIA (5) Kaori Mizumori (18) milet (debut) LiSA (2) Little Glee Monster (4) WHITE TEAM Arashi (12) Hiroshi Itsuki (50) Eito (debut) Official HiGE DANdism (2) KANJANI∞ (9) Kis-My-Ft2 (2) King & Prince (3) Hiromi Gō (33) GENERATIONS (2) Junretsu (3) Masayuki Suzuki (3) SixTONES (debut) Snow Man (debut) Kiyoshi Hikawa (21) Masaharu Fukuyama (13) Hey! Say! JUMP (4) Gen Hoshino (6) Mr. Children (2) Hiroshi Miyama (6) Keisuke Yamauchi (6) YUZU (11) |
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Post by Admin on Jan 29, 2021 19:46:36 GMT
Legendary horror composer John Carpenter has revealed to Kerrang! that he’s a huge fan of BABYMETAL – not only hoping to be “endorsed” by the Japanese metallers one day, but also very much up for a collaboration with the band.
As John gears up to release new album Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in February – which you can read all about on Kerrang.com next week – the film and music mastermind tells Kerrang! that, while his non-soundtrack new record is more in keeping with the brilliant sounds he’s typically known for, he also loves music on the heavier end of the spectrum.
“I am a fan. I love Metallica,” he enthuses when asked if he enjoys metal. “But you know, my life will be complete if I get endorsed by the Japanese group BABYMETAL. I love them! They’re so fabulous.”
After K! then asks if perhaps a collaboration should happen between the two, John responds, “I would love it.”
Seriously, imagine how cool that would be?!
John previously told Decibel in 2017 that he was introduced to BABYMETAL’s music via his son. “Their shows are fabulous,” he said. “My son is obsessed with all things Japanese, so he showed me BABYMETAL and I couldn’t believe it. They’re awesome. What a great idea!”
Of course, BABYMETAL appeared on Bring Me The Horizon’s Post Human: Survival Horror EP in 2020, so fingers crossed they’d be interested in teaming up with other artists (including John) in the future, too…
Lost Themes III: Alive After Death – which features John’s son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies – is due out on February 5 via Sacred Bones.
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Post by Admin on Feb 15, 2021 4:59:10 GMT
 The other day it was brought to my attention that my friend Allie had never heard of the terrific band called Babymetal. This, inevitably, led to a heavy metal weird-off, where we spent an unnecessary amount of time trying to one-up each other with various cultures’ unexpected takes on metal. And it reminded me once again that face-melting metal is truly the universal language. So join me, friends, as we go on the closest thing we can get to a vacation at the moment and tour the world via shredding guitars. Given the inspiration it only makes sense to start in Japan with the mothers of kawaii metal, Babymetal themselves. This fusion of J-pop idols and genuinely good melodic metal gets made fun of a lot but it’s genuinely good music—and I will fight anyone who disagrees. I’ve said pretty much all there is to say about them in previous columns, but you should definitely listen to their 2019 album, Metal Galaxy. It’s a world tour of metal unto itself, and the pirate metal song featuring Sabaton frontman Joakim Brodén is worth the price of admission alone, which is free if you have Spotify but you know what I mean. |
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