BABYMETAL’s Maya: What if you Crossed Final Fantasy X with Slayer?

Let’s say you are a band asked to unite all of humanity with music and metal musician gods were sent from the heavens to help you on your quest. Who are you? Well, you’re BABYMETAL with their backing band, the Kami Band. Yes, this Japanese metal band has its own lore where they are backed by the gods of metal to help them on their quest to unite the world. You have to love a band with its own lore.

BABYMETAL is a Japanese metal band (otherwise known as kawaii metal or kawaiicore) consisting mainly of Suzuka Nakamoto “Su-metal” and Moa Kikuchi “Moametal.” A new member, Momoko Okazaki “Momometal,” joined the band after this track’s release. BABYMETAL’s backing band, the Kami Band,” consists of Japanese metal musicians from other bands who move in and out of the band with BOH (bass), Takayoshi Ohmura (guitar), Leda Cygnus (guitar) and Aoyama Hideki (drums) being the most recent line – up as of 2019. Kami is roughly translated into “gods,” so this backing band is literally referred to as the gods of metal.

The Kami Band are solid and provide some hard hitting drums with some of the most ripping and crunchy guitars in the business. You get vibes of old school thrash with hints of death metal. Now, hearing these two comparisons may lead you to thinking its a 90s / 2000s metal throwback; however, samples and some J-Pop synth freshens up the sound. Glittery JRPG cutscene style syth may seem out of place on a thrash / death metal track…but it works really well. I guess that combination is the special sauce that makes kawaii metal so irresistible.

Lyrically, I have no idea what is going on. Su – Metal sings about magical powers and a fan article on this record, The Other One, broke down the record’s lore and where this track fits. Apparently, this record is a concept album where Su – Metal and Moametal travel through different universes to save the ones they love. So, this metal record is a multiverse love story. The shimmering J-Pop against such well executed metal riffs is a match made in heaven. Su-Metal’s and Moametal’s vocals are the antithesis of death metal and gives the genre a refreshing alternative to hearing men’s vocal cords blow out.

BABYMETAL is like watching a polar bear cub eat a seal…it’s really cute, but under the surface there is a lot of blood and violence. I found myself really getting into it and admiring the skill behind the Kami Band. BABYMETAL is a sound all metal fans have to check out and embrace metal’s cuter side.

Listen to Maya