Review by Xephyr for BABYMETAL - Metal Galaxy (2019)
Most Random Crossover Of 2019 Award
All things considered, I should be part of the target audience for BABYMETAL. I'm a guy who's into Metal and has been playing all kinds of rhythm games for years, starting with DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) and eventually getting into Stepmania and Osu! among others. After all those years of playing I've grown to tolerate and enjoy rhythm game music whether it's Eurobeat, warped Sound Voltex tracks, or hard-style electronic music. It's very hard for me not to draw any parallels between BABYMETAL'S music and the songs I enjoy playing in rhythm games, and not just because "Road of Resistance" was a popular Osu! map. When the second track of an album starts out with the infamous Seiryu's "Crystal Critical" sample that's been used a million times before, I feel like I know what kind of album I'll be dealing with. While there were a few surprisingly competent and catchy parts to this album, I got what I expected, which was a driving and hook-laden album with predictable and boring performances from the Metal portion of the act.
Boring guitar riffs and questionable harsh vocals aside, I'm surprised at how many decent songs there are on here. "Distortion" is a perfect example of their style done correctly with a standard metal riff and a pumping electronic melody bouncing off of each other, some pretty limp sounding double bass, and a catchy chorus to top it off. "Kagerou" is a straight up J-Rock song that I have little complaints about, and "Da Da Dance" and "Elevator Girl" are undeniably catchy, even if they are by-the-book pop songs when put under a microscope. Past that, Metal Galaxy attempts to throw in every piece of clichéd, overused international music they can into tracks like "Shanti Shanti Shanti", "Oh! Majinai", and "Night Night Burn!". "Oh! Majinai" is especially hilarious as Joakim from Sabaton pays a visit, securing the award for "Most Random Crossover Of 2019". Sadly, even Joakim couldn't save this track as he bellows out some strange sea shanty that just doesn't work at all. "In the Name Of" is notably weak as well, with some pretty laughable harsh vocals.
Considering a few years ago BABYMETAL were a complete joke that I had a good laugh at, Metal Galaxy really isn't that bad, sporting a few good and catchy songs with a decent and varied second half. The main vocalist who started this whole project is competent as well and is one of the main reasons the band has such draw on platforms like YouTube. As unique as they are, BABYMETAL will never be more than a pop group with a well thought out gimmick to me, and as infectious as their some of songs are I hesitate to call it well performed or written. To make sure I don't have to talk about BABYMETAL again for the foreseeable future, let's do a quick deep dive.
When BABYMETAL was formed in 2010, it was an offshoot of a female idol group created because a producer enjoyed metal music. After the lead singer was chosen, the producer tacked on two other girls to serve as backup performers and a full metal band. From there they performed at live shows until there was enough visibility and buzz to start releasing albums starting in 2014. This fact alone does a great job of putting BABYMETAL'S music into a better perspective as more of a live performance than meticulously created pieces of music. Groups like BABYMETAL want their music to directly service their live show, which Metal Galaxy probably does well. I can see this kind of stuff being very exciting to see live for fans of the band along with whatever performance and choreography they have planned for each song.
Japanese idol group or not, I still can't get into it. Maybe some of the songs off of here will make it into Osu!, in which case I'll be revisiting BABYMETAL for a few plays and retries.