Metal Resistance

The Japanese group BABYMETAL are premised upon the unlikeliest of contrasts: Vocalists SU-METAL, YUIMETAL, and MOAMETAL harmonize sweetly while bludgeoning riffs crash and explode, and they apply that approach to a wide range of subgenres on their second album. The majestically bouncy “YAVA!” races along on a ska-inflected beat, the jittery “Gj!” nods to nu-metal, and “No Rain, No Rainbow” is a straight-up power ballad, complete with guitar solo. On “Awadama Fever,” which combines grinding guitars and hyperactive drums with a triumphant chorus, BABYMETAL further compress the distance between metal and pop.

No secret has ever been made of the story behind Babymetal, the Japanese novelty act who fuse the aggression of metal with the cutesiness of Japanese pop.

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The J-metal teenagers’ second album is a bewildering, but ultimately brilliant, concoction

It takes insane wherewithal to pull off what BABYMETAL, originally components of the SAKURA GAKUIN pop troupe, has. They're the equivalent of a charismatic sports team with an in-house screwball or two that attracts a large fandom, inevitably opening the door for haters. People were shocked — some a...

Jack Fermor-Worrell reviews the new album, Metal Resistance, from Babymetal, a band that is hugely divisive in the global metal scene.