BABYMETAL - THE OTHER ONE | ALBUM REVIEW

Our review of Babymetal's The Other One! What will our opinions be? Only the Fox God knows!

[@Grington300]

#Notacult 🦊🤫😁 Good review. Have you seen live performances of all the songs? If not, the PIA Arena concerts from 1st and 2nd April 2023 was where they played all 10 songs (5 of them for the first time). For The Fox God channel has them all I think. That was also where Momometal was revealed as the new third member at the end of the first night (Black Night) and she finally got her mic for the second night (Clear Night). On Black Night Su and Moa opened with 'The Legend' as these concerts were very lore heavy and they were ending BABYMETAL and the Metal Resistance era - I think 'The Legend' is pretty much about them, they haven't played it live since as far as I'm aware. Clear Night was the start of the "new" BABYMETAL with "3 reborn metal spirits" and they opened the night with 'Metal Kingdom' and all three ladies rising up onto the stage seated in their own thrones (you want a film or theatre for that song - they delivered). The first encore on Clear Night was 'BABYMETAL DEATH' the first time they'd played it since 2017 when Yui was first taken ill - and Momometal got to introduce herself "Momometal desu" for the very first time - the crowd went wild.

[@WellBeRightWithYou]

Thank you! I haven’t seen all of the live performances but definitely want to check them out. I recently watched the new movie “Legend 43” which was really great and made me want to track down the rest. #notacult -Sean

[@Ryujin170]

It's a pristine album, production and art direction wise. Some said it's commercial sounding and they now sound like anyone else, but It's actually the opposite of a commercial sound for them, and doesn't sound like any other band on earth. Releasing a non-kawaii album was quite a risk for them, but it paid off. It feels like a curated art gallery of 10 very different paintings that somehow belong together. It's in my top 5 albums of all time. Monochrome is the crowning jewel though IMO. It's a 9.5/10 album for me.

[@WellBeRightWithYou]

I also felt like it was a much-needed risk, if only because now I feel like they have even more breathing-room creatively. I love what you said about the album being a curated art gallery and I totally agree! Thanks for checking out our review!

[@autohmae]

Thanks for this review, at least that wasn't to long or to short 🙂 I think the song length of Babymetal songs probably follows industry trends a bit. 1st two albums 3 songs over 5 minutes, 3rd album 2 songs over 5 minutes and this album 1 song over 5 minutes. And while amazing live (where repetition often works) and trying to set the stage of the album, the first song did repeat a bit. And that's from someone who prefers the longer songs. Something like Ijime, Dame, Zettai is an example of having enough variety in the song that it doesn't feel like it repeats. Ironically, officially this isn't meant as a 4th album: -- it’s not really a “4th album” for BABYMETAL. If you think of what we’ve been doing up until the 10th anniversary as “Season 1”, then as a transitional album, THE OTHER ONE is more like the prologue to “Season 2”. When creating this album, the theme was that it was a different story from the BABYMETAL we’ve seen over the past 10 years. -- I think this means the more serious tone of this album isn't meant to show any direction of where Babymetal is going, just to show: we can do this too if we want to. Other than showing more maturity. And after that album they've already released Metali, a high energy song, much more like the songs Babymetal is most known for. Showing they've not stopped doing that. What is interesting, this song includes traditional elements and was released roughly 10 years after Megitsune, almost like a tribute to the song they've performed live the most. I assume this is actually the first song for a new album, it also include Momoko/Momometal prominent in the song, with the Kabuki after the middle of the song and something extra live. Showing her 'fangs'. 🙂 (sadly seems like not yet real live live, but she just joined, let's give her time) The other real Babymetal song is the 50/50 collab with Electric Callboy, not sure if that would be a song for the next album. Don't think that says anything about the direction they are going. Other than maybe it will include a bunch of features like Metal Galaxy already did. They've been doing a LOT of collabs, so much so some fans are complaining a bit. But wouldn't be surprised if they drop a new album in 2025 and the O2 Arena show in the UK is the big album release party show abroad. Like they've with the 2nd album at Wembley Arena and the 3rd album at The Forum near LA. Anyway, in summary, solid review and I'm surprised by the high praise (not that I think it doesn't deserve high praise, but as you are musicians you probably have a broad taste and understanding of music and I would assume there are albums out there which have a lot to nerd out over).

[@WellBeRightWithYou]

Thanks for the support and kind words! That’s a really interesting point about how this album might serve more as a prologue to “Season 2.” I’m really excited for their next album and I hope they release one in 2025, especially considering that the next one will (hopefully) include more Momometal. I think I saw that they’re going to have an announcement of a new era in 2025 so I’m assuming we might hear more on Fox Day(?). I really enjoyed their collaboration with Electric Callboy but their newest collab with Bloodywood isn’t quite my favorite. I tend to really enjoy their collaborations but part of me hopes that their next album doesn’t have too many only because sometimes the collabs are a bit weirder live since the other bands aren’t there with them on stage. Thanks again! - Sean