Not that you needed anyone to tell you, but…
While, there are still pouting haters complaining about Babymetal and their false metal, but it’s honestly difficult to hear them over the music of Metal Resistance. To be fair, though, Metal Resistance isn’t a pure metal album — there are plenty of pop and electronic elements in many of the tracks, which will likely turn off anyone who listens exclusively to “trve kvlt metal.” But that’s never what this album set out to be; it set out to be a fun album and, guess what, that’s exactly what these 50 minutes of music are: Fun!
▼ And occasionally filled with wonderful over-the-top cheese!
“Road of Resistance” is a great start to the album, and the track doesn’t need much in the way of introduction. The DragonForce guitars give the song a fun, over-the-top feel. Following this, “Karate” keep up the pace with some solid guitar work that’ll have you punching the air while screaming along with the girls. It’s the kind of song you can imagine playing at the climax of an action movie, though the movie would definitely have to feature animated animal ninjas.
“Awadama Fever” is the most Babymetal track on the album — the mix of pop, electronic, and metal elements with squeaky clean production make it like a game of tag played by anime characters in your head. It’s placement in the track list is perfect — it’s a fun break after two straightforward metal songs. “Yava!” follows with somewhat ska-flavored guitar riff and electronic elements. The breakdown towards the middle also has a good heft to it that injects a nice shot of metal adrenaline.
“Amore” starts with Su-metal’s vocals square in the middle, letting her carry the song for a while. The song really lets her shine and it’s fair to say that a huge part of the strength of the track is the young woman’s singing. And then we have “Meta Taro,” a song that Su-metal has described as being like an anime song. My favorite part of this track is its rhythm — it make “Meta Taro” a playful edge.
“From Dusk Till Dawn” is a hard 180-turn from “Meta Taro.” It starts with a dark atmosphere and drums before building into a headbanging rocker. When the vocals finally come in, they’re drenched in effects, giving the song a haunted feeling that builds and builds like a torrential rain threatening to flood a river. “GJ!” follows with the kind of gang vocals that first made Babymetal so damn catchy while also pummeling the listener with some relentless riffs and drumming.
We then move on to “Sis. Anger”, which takes a page from countless death metal bands and starts with an ominous audio clip (from the book of Revelations), followed by the distinctly classic metal “No Rain, No Rainbow,” a mid-tempo ballad with solid guitar work and strings. Here, too, Su-metal turns in an especially noteworthy performance.
“Tales of the Destinies” features some quirky vocals and frenetic guitar work, which combine to give the song a chaotic feel. The stop-and-go rhythm and guitars are almost disorienting. Personally, I like it, but I can see it being a bit frustrating for some listeners.
And finally, we have “The One,” which was the single that I enjoyed the least. Nevertheless, it’s a solid track and a great to close the album, and depending on your tastes you might find more to love about it.
If you’ve spent some time with the album, be sure to share your impressions in the comments section! Personally, I have no doubts that this is going to be one of my favorite albums of 2016.
Featured image: Amazon Japan