Apart from the terrible drum sound, I find absolutely nothing wrong with this album and band.

I enjoy some J-Pop in video games but in this it seems like they're singing the wrong songs. It just doesn't fit metal in my opinion but I can't blame them for trying something else.

I have to admit I've intentionally avoided Babymetal since their first album and the time I saw them at a festival in 2014 - just seemed like mediocre music with an annoying gimmick, and the fact that SSUS kept giving them such positive reviews for their later albums only solidified to me that they mustn't be very good (given that such treatment is only usually reserved by him for Sabaton and The SloT), but tbh this album's actually alright. The 'Gimme Chocolate' gimmick sound seems to be mostly gone (probably due to the singers that were kids at the time growing up), it sounds like there's only 1 singer for the most part here, and it's a half-decent mix of djenty songs, J-rock/J-pop sounds, Amaranthe-y cheese done fairly well on Metalizm, and a few other things - certainly heard much worse

This is not what I personally wanted from a Babymetal album, but I think it is nevertheless good music. There was more djent on the record than melodic death metal or J-pop. Based on the released singles I did not expect to like it, but I did.

They're trying to change what set them apart from everything else and I'm not happy with it. I understand a lot of people don't like this band, but their uniqueness is what was charming about them. It's still going to be a metal band fronted by a small Japanese girl, but if they continue this route they're going to lose that one in a million sound.

I found this album boring, but I still liked it. It has some really good riffs in it and a nice feel, but again, it feels like they're losing their charm and it got boring a lot faster than their previous albums.

Feel like they’re getting a bit more serious. Not much, but a bit. On a side note, I listened to this while driving and at one point I thought the vocals were a car horn, which has never happened to me.

I know almost everybody hate them, but I like what they did here, specially considering I'm a big anime and djenty sound lover. Some ideas are well executed, with some interesting riffs.

For example, the "Mirror mirror" intro it's like it was made by Periphery or any other talented prog-metal band.

It’s not often a band reverse sells out and is worse off. If I wanted watered down girl power melopopdeath I’d go listen to Arch Enemy.

Bring back the Idol Metal we all know and love.

Written by A Real Mönkey on 04.04.2023 at 23:37

It’s not often a band reverse sells out and is worse off. If I wanted watered down girl power melopopdeath I’d go listen to Arch Enemy.

Bring back the Idol Metal we all know and love.

Pretty much exactly how I felt with this. It might not have been good before, but it was unique and that was fun by itself.

I wouldn't call it a bad album by any means, but there's way too much electronic pop elements for my taste. There's some tracks I find ok,, "Monochrome" probably stands out the most, but there's simply too many tracks I can't get into.

Far better than anything I've ever heard from them before (which is admittedly not much). I've steered clear for the most part when I found out the "best" song they have is Gimme Chocolate (which is terrible if you are wondering.)

Okay after prefacing with that bit of information, I actually really liked a few tracks on this album. Metal Kingdom, Mirror Mirror, Monochrome and THE LEGEND were all very enjoyable admittedly. We get some solid Prog Metal on Mirror Mirror. Some epic/melodic style on the opening track Metal Kingdom. Monochrome's primary guitar riff and chorus felt really good against my eardrums.

If you hate this band, or have managed to avoid them (and you can tolerate japanese lyrics) then I recommend at least give these tracks a spin. Might actually find something you like. 7.75/10.