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The Japanese do pop culture a little differently. For the uninitiated, Babymetal are a group of first-rate Japanese metallers fronted by three teen-pop starlets. It is as bonkers a fusion as it sounds. And now they have an album – an uncompromising cabaret of crack-addled mice vocals, industrial elements and ferocious speed metal.

Gothic Lolita on speed, DragonForce with Barbies, Pokémon with napalm… Babymetal embodies all this, and yet it’s no joke either – the mighty machine gun antics at work are surprisingly convincing, from atmospheric J-metal on Babymetal Death, to dance-meets-thrash in line! and the fast, furious yet strangely adorable Gimme Chocolate.

Get past the craziness, if you can, and you’ll find much to admire. The unapologetically manufactured Babymetal circus is an inherently visual beast, so on record you do feel you’re missing something. For optimal immersion, catch them live, or hit YouTube.

Polly is deputy editor at Classic Rock magazine, where she writes and commissions regular pieces and longer reads (including new band coverage), and has interviewed rock's biggest and newest names. She also contributes to Louder, Prog and Metal Hammer and talks about songs on the 20 Minute Club podcast. Elsewhere she's had work published in The Musician, delicious. magazine and others, and written biographies for various album campaigns. In a previous life as a women's magazine junior she interviewed Tracey Emin and Lily James – and wangled Rival Sons into the arts pages. In her spare time she writes fiction and cooks.