Metal Reviews

Metallica on ESPN Sportscenter commercial. Anyone else feel sorry for Kirk at the end?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoPYP-58SHU

Have we discussed Babymetal?

http://www.metalsucks.net/2014/07/18/tw ... al-decade/

I hate Babymetal. Never understood j-pop, and 'it offends metal bros!' is not a reason for it to exist.


Grr, I've been trolled by Metalsucks.

This sort of musical stir fry could only have been created in Japan. The article is obviously meant to piss off traditional metal fans, but I think the act is mildly entertaining. Could be worse, Zad. At least Vanilla Ice hasn't made another "metal" record.

Put 'J' in front of any initially Western cultural item and a large subset of the Western world will instantly become enamored.

It is embarrassing.

You're right, but I don't think it's solely because Westerners are that easily entertained. The Japanese produce amalgams like Babymetal because they don't have any of the preconceived notions or social biases that Western audiences have with certain musical genres. I can't speak for Europe but if somebody in the US would have started a band like this, they would have either been met with stunned silence of laughed off the stage. The fact that the group is from a foreign country seems to allow them to exist and thrive outside of the musical caste system that most Western bands live in. Sure the novelty aspect is a part of the appeal, but maybe we are constraining our own homegrown brand of creativity by taking ourselves a little too seriously. What do you think?

The Japanese thing I really don't get - was reading about J-pop idols in general, and it's terrifying - the social veneer that stops middle-aged men openly lusting after young, sexualised women is completely absent. And the girls in these bands are so controlled, not allowed to date, getting fined for certain behaviour. Downright cultish. Also I find the J-pop sound is just annoying...

Re Babymetal, I think putting children in sexy outfits then having them dance and sing to a melodeath-y backing isn't as 'fun' and 'different' as some people seem to think. Must be getting old or something.

They plain suck that's all I'll say about it!

The Japanese are a very sexually repressed people and much of their pop culture reflects that. I would be curious to know what demographic the powers that be were aiming for with this band. It's a mad combination of genres, like Disney era Miley Cyrus fronting In Flames, but do you think they are being marketed to an older, Japanese audience solely for the kink factor? Was a Western audience meant to digest it in the same way as the East? It would be interesting to compare the East vs West fan demographic for this band. I will have to read up more on Japanese cultural sensibilities to get a better understanding on this subject.

People who aren't familiar with metal beyond your Avenged Sevenfolds and Killswitch Engages would probably find this group a little more innovative than you or I. The fact that it's a cultural export will peak their interest even more. I get why some may find it appealing but it comes across to me as more of a novelty act than anything else.

i'm surprised people have thought about babymetal this much. more weird crap from japan

stealth creepiness in the RYM reviews:

This is the best description of them.



Ugh. I don't want to say ONLY PAEDOS LIKE BABYMETAL, but...

I never heard of the group until Zad mentioned them a few days ago. I'm more interested in the cultural dynamics that produced the band than the actual music. The underage creeper aspect is really unsettling though. For their sake, I hope there are no incidents.

My short answer is 'no'. This doesn't mean every metal band needs a guy to make 'deep' philosophical pronouncements like the guy in Liturgy or be intimately familiar with metaphysical Satanism like DsO but a professional level of seriousness is important.

And the paedo culture in Japan is a perfect illustration of J-obsessed people accepting other cultures without looking at the downsides as well as the upsides. Let me look around for some links to some information on this subject.

Yeah the stuff you mentioned about it is interesting. Japanese culture seems to pull stuff at random from Western culture, sometimes it's cool, mostly it's weird (Babymetal), and sometime's its offensive (using Nazi/SS imagery on clothes).

re: whether our 'seriousness' constrains creativity, I dunno. I'm fine with writing off wearing costumes and doing choreographed dance moves as the least metal things ever.

What I was trying to hit on was that bands in more conservative musical circles like metal shouldn't feel confined to an accepted genre pattern based solely on social expectations. Professionalism and work ethic are important in any trade, but if bands are unwilling to take chances musically because the audience won't allow for any change then any natural creativity is totally neutered. The Japanese music scene seems to be less constricted by musical demographics than the West which produces a group with such seemingly disparate elements as Babymetal. That was my main point.

To your second point, I can't completely condemn the machine that created this group without first knowing their true intentions. I know the paedo thing exists in Japanese culture but every depiction of a cute girl in a mini-skirt is not intended fodder for perverts. Some of it is just meant to be cutesy shit for young girls. Personal interpretation plays a major factor. Furthermore, all cultures have good and bad qualities. None are exempt. The Japanese have produced some incredibly innovative people like film directors Akira Kurosawa, Seijun Suzuki and the incomparable Hayao Miyazaki. Sometimes they get it right like with East meets West animes like Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop. Other times, we get stuff like Babymetal. I can't comment on the J-Pop obsessed people you're referring to because I know very little about the genre or it's adherents. As I said, more research will be needed. To paraphrase Dr. Zaius, I may not like what I find.

Ok, so your point is a subtle criticism of Western music culture as compared to Japanese music culture. Fine, but where are said practical benefits of a less conservative music culture? I see Babymetal, I see Boris, I see Sigh, I listened to your Chthonic...I'm not convinced that a less constricted music culture in Japan has produced any notable influence on the metal world at large. If it has in trance or R&B, great, but I'd be utterly ignorant of that.



Indeed you might not, I'm sure it would be interesting though. Also, I said upsides, and downsides, so the defense of Japanese culture, while charming, was not needed (I am a fan of Kurosawa myself).


Ah, now that is debatable.

(Chthonic are Taiwanese)

I like (some) Boris and Sigh and don't mind more avant-garde stuff like Boredoms that is clearly trying to be very experimental and different. It's the 'normal' J-pop and rock sounds that just don't appeal, personally. It is probably a bit hasty and damning to paint all Japanese culture as paedo-riffic as we have been, but that does seem to be very significant. Almost as cliched as their fear of atomic power and godzilla etc.

Metal is conservative, but bands that experiment and move forward are usually accepted eventually - look at the emergence of black metal, post-black, etc. Some despise them, but they're surely a minority. Is it truly conservative when there are experimental bands that constantly push the boundaries, as well as ones that do nothing but pay tribute to the past? But metal is still such a young genre anyway, am sure there's still much to come before it gets tired - and as we've seen, when it does it's quite capable of refreshing itself.

I would say it's more of an observation than a criticism. The Japanese welcome oddball experimentation whereas the Western audience prefers neatly categorized genres. (Bear in mind that I'm referring to the general public and not the underground metal community.) I'm not saying it's better or worse, but it's certainly interesting what they produce. I'd be curious what kind of reception a band like Gorguts would have there. I just like the fact that the Japanese audience is more willing to take chances on bands regardless of long held musical demographics.


Yeah. The conversation was starting to lean towards throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Hence, my (meager) defense of Japanese culture at large.

Who knew Bubba was such a huge metalhead?

I was listening to Stolen Babies this morning and thought hey idk if North American metal is really all that conservative. (although they're maybe part of the Mr.Bungle/Estradasphere/etc subculture that is pro-circusmetal experimentation?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GcZHxXTW90

Now that you mention it, I should have qualified my answer a little better. Certain sub-genres still remain fairly conservative, but metal as a whole has branched off so much in recent years that it's hard to keep track of everyone. I suppose I was thinking more of those specific sub-genres and just wrote the general term "metal," so shame on me. Country music would have been a more appropriate example.


Japanese hip hop is pretty cool stuff. Samurai Champloo turned me on to a rapper named Nujabes who mixes hip hop with R&B and smooth jazz. Great chill music. Give it a listen and judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xZY8VJHqU4