"What heavy music could become if it let go of outmoded notions of authenticity and genre loyalty." Babymetal's new album Metal Forth reaffirms their status as one of metal's most unique and exciting bands

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.

That said, the collaborative tracks do form the bulk of the record and speak volumes to the band’s cultural reach. From Me To U, featuring Poppy, is a savage opener where slashing industrial riffage gives way to soaring vocals and a whiplash blend of rage and beauty. Ratatata, with Electric Callboy, explodes with dancefloor abandon and Su-metal’s impassioned delivery.

Slaughter To Prevail bring in guttural breakdowns and deathcore firepower on Song 3, offset by Babymetal’s high-velocity melodic switchbacks and a soaring chorus that will detonate arenas worldwide.

The Bloodywood collab, Kon! Kon!, is one of the most striking with its jump-cut nu metal grooves, militant chants, a vicious rap section, and a bridge that collapses into a Kami Band siege of death riffs. On My Queen, Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante meets Su-metal head-on, mixing her signature banshee wails with pulverising djent undercurrents and catchy-as-hell melodic hooks.

Sunset Kiss, with Polyphia, is a bright and playful moment that feels more like a palette cleanser than a mission statement. It doesn’t hit with the same urgency, but it reinforces the band’s range. Metal!!!, with Tom Morello, is pure stadium bombast, all traditional metal riffing, shout-along choruses, and a spoken-word passage that detonates into an absolute monster of a chorus.

Su-metal’s vocal evolution is a through-line. She moves effortlessly from crystalline melodies to full-throated power, anchoring a sound that’s otherwise in constant motion. Moametal and Momometal now feel integral, funnelling chaotic energy like sparks around a livewire. Underneath it all, the Kami Band remain Babymetal’s not-so-secret weapon.

Without them, this whole thing might collapse into cosplay chaos. But with their chug-heavy riffing, galloping double-kick patterns, neoclassical solos and unrelenting syncopation, the musicianship grounds the spectacle in a metal vocabulary as real and dangerous as anything in the genre.

If Metal Forth does overreach, it’s in the sheer density of collaborations – an overload that sometimes blurs the album’s internal arc. But that same excess is what fuels its ambition: transformation through overload. Babymetal aren’t asking metal to follow them. They’re asking whether metal has the courage to evolve. And while the answer remains unclear, Metal Forth makes the question impossible to ignore.

Metal Forth is out August 8. Order a limited edition alt cover of our recent Babymetal issue via the official Metal Hammer store