Maps of Music

Metal Galaxy (2019)

Where the lyrics of Metal Galaxy take you, and where it was really made.

It is the first Babymetal album without founding member Yuimetal, and it still debuted at number thirteen on the US Billboard 200, the highest-charting Japanese-language album in that chart's history.

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Album story

Overview

• Metal Galaxy is the third studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Babymetal
• First released in Japan on October 8, 2019, with an international release on October 11, 2019
• Released through BMD Fox Records in Japan, under earMusic in Europe, and under Babymetal Records elsewhere
• Concept album about an odyssey to the Metal Galaxy, with musical elements from various parts of the world
• Produced by the band's manager Kobametal
• First Babymetal album with guest performances from other artists
• First release without founding member Yuimetal
• Due to Yuimetal's poor health, the band performed as a trio with one backup dancer alongside Su-metal and Moametal

Background

• Yuimetal left the band in October 2018 due to a medical issue
• The third album was announced on April 1, 2019, three years after the worldwide release of Metal Resistance
• The album was released in several regional editions, including 16-track 2-disc editions in Japan and 14-track single-disc editions internationally
• A world tour in support of the album began in September 2019, with support from Avatar and The Hu in the United States
• Bring Me the Horizon supported the tour in Japan

Recording

• Songwriting began when Kobametal gathered songwriters to discuss the kind of music the band wanted to explore
• Musical styles discussed included Cuban rhythms, South American tribal music, and Scandinavian metal
• Kobametal wanted to shape Babymetal around the cultural diversity found in music around the world
• Night Night Burn was said to have started six years earlier, at the same time as the production of Megitsune

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Artist

Formation

• Babymetal is a Japanese kawaii metal band formed in Tokyo in 2010, fusing heavy metal with idol culture and elaborate choreography.
• It began as the heavy music club sub-unit of the idol group Sakura Gakuin; producer Kobametal, of talent agency Amuse Inc., conceived the project.
• The band became independent in 2013 after Suzuka Nakamoto graduated from Sakura Gakuin.

Members

• Suzuka Nakamoto (Su-metal): lead vocals and dancing, the main vocalist.
• Moa Kikuchi (Moametal): backing vocals and dancing.
• Momoko Okazaki (Momometal): backing vocals and dancing; officially joined as the third member in April 2023.
• Yui Mizuno (Yuimetal) was a member from 2010 until her departure announced in October 2018 due to health issues.
• Session musicians known as the Kami Band perform the instrumentation live.

Career

• Early on, the band made its debut appearance at a Sakura Gakuin concert in 2010 and released a first single in 2011.
• The major-label debut came in January 2013 with "Ijime, Dame, Zettai".
• The self-titled debut album (2014) reached the Billboard 200, and the band played the Budokan in 2014 and Tokyo Dome in 2016.
• Metal Resistance (2016) was the highest-charting Japanese album in the UK Official Charts history, and the first Japanese album in over 50 years to chart in the US Billboard Top 40.
• Metal Galaxy (2019) made the band the first Asian act to top the Billboard Rock Albums chart.
• Metal Forth (2025) became the first all-Japanese band release to reach the Billboard 200 top 10.

Reception

At release

• Metal Galaxy received generally positive reviews from music critics
• Critics mostly praised the instrumentation and the diversity of the music
• NME's Andrew Trendell called the album a wild ride that is infectiously accessible through its sheer energy
• Classic Rock described the album as wonderfully schizophrenic and shamelessly populist
• Kerrang! noted that everything fizzes, bursts and explodes with neon delight
• The Guardian's Dean Van Nguyen considered the record an opus of the kawaii metal genre
• Alternative Press's Jason Pettigrew called the album striking in its abject weirdness
• Pitchfork's Grayson Haver Currin called the record an exultant, near-absolute mess
• Consequence of Sound's Michael Pementel called it the band's heaviest and most exhilarating work to date

Reappraisal

• Metacritic gave the album an average score of 69 out of 100, based on ten reviews
• AllMusic's James Christopher Monger said the album tweaks the recipe just enough to feel fresh

Records

• Debuted at number three on the Oricon Weekly Chart for the week of October 21, 2019, with 73,096 physical copies
• Debuted at number nineteen on the UK Albums Chart, Babymetal's second Top 20 album there
• Debuted at number thirteen on the US Billboard 200, the highest-charting Japanese-language album in that chart's history, with 28,000 copies in its first week
• Became the first Asian band to debut atop the US Top Rock Albums chart
• Sold 96,735 copies in Japan as of December 2019

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Night Night Burn was said to have started six years earlier, at the same time as the production of Megitsune
• Sabaton frontman Joakim Brodén provided gruff growls on the track Oh! Majinai
• Tak Matsumoto of B'z plays guitar on Da Da Dance
• Three support dancers took turns filling Yuimetal's role in the original trio formation
• The album version of Distortion features Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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