See, I said I wanted to squeeze in one more album review before the year ended. I may not be able to do a whole lot of Album review until the Summer season because of school, but I'll try to squeeze as many as I can in, especially with my other blog that I'm doing.
But enough about me, you're here for the album review. Babymetal has gotten a bit of a negative reception amongst fans in the metal community, which is odd considering that they are not the first pop metal band, have anybody heard of Def Leppard? Van Halen? KISS? Of course, the quality of music is subjective, but I honestly don't hate Babymetal, the music is fun and upbeat, and a large contrast to the muddy and often depressing metal scene. I know that "Megitsune" is not on the same level as something like "Hypnotize", but I don't think it really wants to be. Although I will be honest, I had no idea what to think when I rented the album, I mean some of the tracks had cool names, but I did not think that ANY modern band would be able to make a full album of good songs. Honestly, I liked this, not as much as I like something like Toxicity, but I like it enough.
The album is only the second studio recording from the band, released on April 1st worldwide. It has twelve songs total, and it was a pretty big chart success, topping the US World Albums Chart, and reaching number 2 in Japan, and on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and the US Hard Rock Albums Chart. It only got to 39 on the Billboard 200, 74 on the Canadian albums, and it reached it's lowest on the Belgian Album Chart reaching only to 113. Consequence of Sound also ranked it as the 31st best album of 2016, and considering the only other full album I've heard this year was Wolfmother's Victorious, I cant really say that is too far a rank.
The album itself starts off beautifully with "Road of Resistance" which I may do an Ace Audio on for my other blog. The opening riff just kicks all kinds of ass and the vocal work is also really solid. It's kind of like the opening to an anime, not one like Death Note, but something like Bleach or One Piece. I think that a couple members from DragonForce, Herman Li and Sam Totman, did some guitar work on this track, and it really does sound like Power Metal. Really, the song is just amazing, and a great way to kick off the album. It also ranked 22 on the US Billboard Digital Songs Chart, so it did pretty well over in the States.
"KARATE" is the other single from the album, and it is not as good as the first. The opening sounds like Korn, and then it suddenly shifts into something that sounds like Godsmack. The song itself does not sound too bad, outside of a vocal bit at the beginning. There are quite a few good things about this song, but honestly there are some things that aren't so good. It was successful though, reaching number 17 on the Japan Hot 100, and Number 2 on the World Digital Songs Chart, so maybe it did something right.
The band does not hide it's pop... ness? Whatever, they aren't afraid to go more pop than metal, which shows in songs like "Amore" which is nothing special, and "YAVA!" which also sounds like an anime intro to some cheap anime about cybernetic knights, you know kind of like this. Although being honest, it does make me feel glad that it does not sound like this. On these same lines, "Meta Taro" is one of the album weak points, it has a catchy marching tune, and some decent vocal work, but honestly, it gets really repetitive and kind of annoying.
"From Duck Till Dawn" is also more pop than metal, but it actually sounds good. It is a much softer song, offering a nice change of pace for the album. There is a strange dubstep breakdown near the middle, but it is not very long. Then there are more meh songs like "Sis. Anger" Which reminded me of Metallica at the beginning, and "Tales of Destinies" which is just alright. The tenth track is good though, "No rain, No Rainbow" kind of reminds me of "The Sound of Silence" how it begins with one instrument and then adds more as it goes on. It's another really soft song, and it does sound like a song that would close off an episode of Sword Art Online, but it is still a nice song.
The album ends with an English version of "THE ONE" which I can only assume is for the British and American markets. The opening guitar on this one is also pretty damn good, but that is about all the praise I can really give this one. It sounds like a dub intro for Naruto, especially with corny lyrics like "This is Our Song/This is our Dream", but overall it is not too bad.
The album as a whole is mixed. On one hand, the instrumentals are awesome, and whoever does the drums deserves special praise, and the songs that were good, were really good. I can't say there was any song I really hated, and if I had to say anything bad about this album it would be that most songs are just meh. But honestly, the good stuff is just really good, I'm glad I heard this one, and if anybody is a fan of Pop Metal, I do recommend this one.
I give it a 7.5 out of 10. I'm the Entity of Darkness and follow me on my other blog if you want. Link is here: http://auditoryabominations.blogspot.ca/
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