BABYMETAL: The Other One (HEAVY METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

You know metal, you know (maybe) kawaii, but do you know kawaii-metal, or even kawaii-djent? Baby Metal, a pure product of "Japan Idol" (typical of Japanese pop culture), is made up of musicians you'd never hear of, the star of the show being the 3 young women of 25 (Su-Metal, Moametal, and the latest Momometal) who provide vocals and choreography. The band first came to prominence a decade ago, when the young Japanese women were still in their teens, but, despite all manner of sarcasm and criticism, they have not only survived, albeit with a slightly altered line-up, but have now released their fourth studio album.

For those familiar with animated manga, this will come as no surprise, as it's like being plunged into the opening credits of "Demon Slayer" or "One Piece". For the rest of us, the style is bound to come as a surprise, because while musically the Baby Metal concept largely holds water, it's the vocals of the three young Japanese girls that completely undermines the genre.

In kawaii-metal, the choreography is inseparable from the vocals and the music, and this is the very essence of Japan Idol. So it's music that's more suited to video than audio. Culturally far removed from what we're used to hearing on our continent, the juvenile Nipponese/English female vocals laid over big metal riffs can sometimes be off-putting, but the genre has the merit of being a breath of fresh air in the sometimes sanitized metal landscape. The musical base of guitar/bass/drums is too unfairly relegated to decor for the three singers, as the originality of the compositions and the technical level of the musicians deserve more attention.

It's said that too much is the enemy of good, but it's an adage that the Japanese disregard, as with the drums, which will delight aficionados of drum heroes but which could, on the other hand, bore minimalists. As for the guitar riffs, they're razor-sharp, effective and more likely to make you want to headbang than follow the choreography proposed by the three young backing singers.

You've been warned: it's very different from what you usually hear on the metal scene, but it's different, it makes you travel and, above all, it makes you smile. "The Other One" may not go down in history, but it's well worth a listen, if only for its originality. - Official website

BABYMETAL

THE OTHER ONE

AUTRE LABEL

HEAVY METAL