Somewhere between the worn temples of old-world metal and the rave-lit coliseums of tomorrow, Babymetal have spent 15 years building a world that feels both impossible and oddly inevitable. Metal Forth, their fifth and latest campaign, plays out like a high-velocity, high-stakes experiment in what heavy music could become if it let go of outmoded notions about authenticity and genre loyalty, smashing pop and metal together not as a gimmick, but as an operating principle. And while not every moment lands with equal weight, the cumulative force is unmistakable.
It would be easy to sneer at the sheer number of guest spots on Metal Forth, but every collaborator is swept into their orbit, not the other way around. The three tracks credited solely to the band (Algorism, KxAxWxAxlxl, White Flame – 白炎 –) are not only strong, they’re recalibration points that remind you this is still very much their vision.
