BabyMetal - "Metal Resistance"

BabyMetal - Metal Resistance
2016, Amuse

1. Road of Resistance
2. Karate
3. Awadama Fever
4. Yava!
5. Amore
6. Meta Taro
7. From Dusk Til Dawn
8. GJ!
9. Sis. Anger
10. No Rain, No Rainbow
11. Tales of the Destinies
12. The One (English Version)

I was a big fan of BabyMetal's debut because it was just so catchy and weird. I was a little nervous about this one because the first seemed like lightning in a bottle. I wasn't sure they could capture the magic a second time. Metal Resistance finds the band jettisoning some of the oddball things of the past (dub-step, gangsta rap interludes, etc.) and focusing more on metal. This is both good and bad - bad because it's not quite "Kawaii" enough, but good because overall the songs are more mature and more...well...metal. It's not the cute bouncy girls singing cute songs anymore, they are really trying to grow as artists and as a band. That's pretty admirable considering everyone probably thinks of this group as a novelty. They've even folded in some progressive metal tendencies on songs like "Tales of the Destinies." "No Rain, No Rainbow" channels eighties power ballads and sounds like something you'd hear on an anime soundtrack. It's a good album though I'm not sure I like it as much as the first one. It will be interesting to see what they do in the future.

Useless Fact: "The One" as the title says, is sung in English, though the lyrics are definitely by someone whose first language is Japanese.