When I first got into heavy music in my teenage years, I was particular about my tastes. Like any other young Midwestern metalhead, I was trying to find something heavier, darker, more extreme, more obscure, and that led me down rabbit holes foreign and domestic. For the longest time, I had an aversion to electronics in metal music, leading dumbass 14-year-old me to pass up on grabbing KMFDM CDs at my hometown's fall festival and flea market.
Years later, BABYMETAL came along and changed my perception completely. On paper, it was weird as all hell: an idol group but heavy metal? That seemed like the kind of thing that might last for an album or two before petering out, becoming a bar trivia answer and a nostalgic flashpoint some years down the road. I didn't get it, nor did I care for it, but after seeing Rob Zombie, one of my early metal heroes, back them up and decry their haters, I thought, "maybe he's right, maybe I need to get my head out of my ass."
Ultimately it was "KARATE!" that made me a fan and, along with checking out New Japan Pro-Wrestling, that made me want to try to learn Japanese, but what is it about these girls and their backing band that keeps fans rabid?
Put simply: they bring people together, as all great music should do.
Take their most recent album and major label debut METAL FORTH. Their guests include Poppy, Spiritbox, Bloodywood, Polyphia, a who's who of modern metal (and Slaughter to Prevail, I guess). Fans of those bands will tell their friends about this J-metal group, and they'll tell their friends, and so on. They are a gateway drug into the wild world of global metal, but they also have their own style. Grand stage shows, high-concept music videos, and a signature style that make them immediately recognizable.
While I've argued previously that bands like Sleep Token are important to getting new blood into the scene - and for the record, I still very much feel that way - BABYMETAL also fall into this category, and in many ways, they laid the groundwork for what Vessel and his crew are doing now. Younger me would not have guessed that this group would be one of the biggest and buzziest acts in live entertainment, but younger me didn't know shit.
Therefore, this Agendy is very clearly BABYMETAL's. Amy Lee was busy as all hell with her own team-ups like "End Of You," "Hand That Feeds," and "Fight Like A Girl." She was absolutely in the running, but it has to go to these three queens from the East.
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