Fifteen years ago, BABYMETAL debuted with a potentially perplexing combination of J-pop ideology and metal aesthetic. Choreography and hooks met crushing metal riffage and growls, embodied in a trio of young women in gothic tutus. Traditionalists may have seen it as gimmicky at best, heretical at worst — but over the last decade and a half, Su-metal, Moametal, and Momometal have solidified themselves as true originals intent on expanding the very definition of heavy music.
In 2025, they continued to push the genre forward with one of the year’s best metal albums, METAL FORTH, a collaboration-rich effort featuring the likes of Indian nu-metal band Bloodywood, Canadian breakouts Spiritbox, and YouTube crossover success Poppy. Supported by a large tour that included a special in-the-round one-off show at Los Angeles’ new Intuit Dome, the record became the first from an all-Japanese group to crack the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, landing at No. 9. Their kawaii metal vision is now being seen — and appreciated — by more fans than ever.
“There were so many times where people said, ‘This isn’t really metal,’” Su-metal reflects from LA’s Gold-Diggers a few days after their Intuit Dome gig. “But we kept on persisting, continuing forward, and along the way we got so lucky to meet so many friends.”
On METAL FORTH, those friends became collaborators. Moametal emphasizes that working with “legends” like Tom Morello came about organically from connecting with fellow artists who related to what BABYMETAL represent. “Everybody was pushing the boundaries of what metal can be in their own way, and so we started talking to them at different festivals,” she says. “For us, it felt like they recognized our hard work and they understood our message, and in a lot of ways it validated the acceptance we were feeling from them, which was very exciting.”
Beyond mutual respect, each collaborator brought their own understanding of BABYMETAL’s broader significance in the realm of heavy music. The trio latched onto these varied perspectives as opportunities for growth. “What surprised us as we collaborated with so many different artists was that each partner had their own view of what BABYMETAL is,” Su-metal says, “and in that way they expanded our view of what BABYMETAL can be.”
Hence the raga nu-metal of the Bloodywood-assisted “Kon! Kon!”, or the brutally batshit “Song 3” with Slaughter to Prevail. For Momometal, perhaps the most personally transformative guest was Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante. As the purveyor of guttural death growls on BABYMETAL’s tracks, Momometal found herself inspired by LaPlante’s approach to extreme vocals. “Her death growl is so emotional and powerful — when I heard it, I felt some sort of relief,” she recalls. “Seeing her changed the way I feel about screaming. Now I feel confident and it’s just so much fun to do the death growl.”
Pressed to describe where she pulls her own growl from, Momometal laughs: “There’s some momentum to it, I don’t know, really deep inside. It’s like there’s this energy building up deep inside that just has to be let out as a death metal scream.”
Outside of the studio, extensive touring has continued to push the group forward. Momometal describes their 2024 North and South American trek as a defining crucible. “That tour was a little bit longer than usual,” she says, “and that process really challenged us both physically and mentally. But by overcoming that together, we felt like it brought us a lot more confidence as a team.”
As the trio describes it, performing in front of their fans is really when BABYMETAL’s music takes on its final form. Su-metal says the experience of performing “The One” (a track from their Metal Resistance sophomore effort that happens to lend its name to their fandom) at their Los Angeles 360-degree show “felt like a dream.” “Once the song gets released and we start performing it live, that’s when it becomes a BABYMETAL song for us,” she continues. “Because you see the response from the fans and you learn about the song and how people respond to it.”
She explains it through a disarmingly charming metaphor: “I like to think of it as a small village, BABYMETAL Town, with a bakery, or a flower shop. The song is like its own shop and we’re building out that shop each time we perform it.” It’s not just The One who make that town feel like home: “For me, the moment that motivates me is when we’re on tour together and I see [Momometal and Moametal] eating food so deliciously, so satisfying, and their smiles, seeing how beautiful it is — that’s the moment I think, ‘This is why I’m doing it.’”
BABYMETAL has, from the onset, been about evolution: evolving the concept of what a metal band could be, evolving their songs via audience feedback, and evolving the base concept once again as they collaborate with other voices in the scene. After fifteen years of challenging categorizations, BABYMETAL aren’t interested in proving they belong in the metal world. They’re too busy expanding it. “We’re all of the mind to spread and expand metal to a wider audience, so we’re really happy that we were able to do this album together with [so many collaborators],” sums up Moametal. “If everyone shared that mindset, metal can become even more universal.”
Watch our full interview with BABYMETAL, conducted by Nicole Alvarez at Gold-Diggers, above or via YouTube. BABYMETAL’s next scheduled US date will be opening for My Chemical Romance’s “The Black Parade Tour” stop in San Diego in August; get tickets here. For tickets to their upcoming shows in Japan, Australia, and Europe, head here.
Content shared from consequence.net.