MHOD Jukebox: Babymetal - Metal Forth

We present our review of Babymetal - Metal Forth and more! Babymetal’s Metal Forth, released August 8th, 2025, on Capitol Records. It’s officially their fourth canonical album — they set The Other One aside as a concept project — and it’s the first full record to feature Momometal as a permanent member alongside Su-metal and Moametal. The title is a play on words: “Metal Forth” as in moving forward, and “Metal Forth” as in pushing beyond the genre itself. And that’s exactly what they try to do. This record is built almost entirely on collaborations. Only three of the ten tracks are just Babymetal. Everywhere else you’ve got guests: Poppy, Spiritbox, Polyphia, Electric Callboy, Slaughter to Prevail, Bloodywood, even Tom Morello dropping in with that unmistakable guitar attack. Clocking in at just over 35 minutes, it’s lean, polished, and loud. You get flashes of nu-metal, deathcore, alt-metal, even EDM crossover, all stitched together by Babymetal’s trademark pop-metal energy. It’s maximalist by design — a chaos of styles colliding with choreography and gloss. Critics were split but mostly positive. Clash called it “unrelentingly maximalist” and gave it a 7 out of 10. Blabbermouth went higher with an 8, praising it as their snappiest record to date. Kerrang! and Dork both landed at 4 out of 5, while NME and Sputnikmusic were less impressed, arguing that some collabs drowned out the band’s core identity. Louder Sound described it as “a high-stakes experiment in what heavy music could become if it stopped worrying about authenticity and genre loyalty.” And that’s the big takeaway: Metal Forth isn’t about purity, it’s about possibility. Babymetal has always been divisive, but here they lean into that division as a statement. The album says metal can be pop, it can be global, it can be hybridized beyond recognition — and still be metal. Love it or hate it, Metal Forth proves that Babymetal aren’t just survivors of their own gimmick. They’ve turned into disruptors, forcing the genre to ask what comes next. Disclaimer: The following may contain offensive language, adult humor, and/or content that some viewers may find offensive – The views and opinions expressed by any one speaker does not explicitly or necessarily reflect or represent those of Mark Radulich or W2M Network. Mark Radulich and his wacky podcast on all the things: https://linktr.ee/markkind76 also https://www.teepublic.com/user/radulich-in-broadcasting-network FB Messenger: Mark Radulich LCSW Tiktok: @markradulich twitter: @MarkRadulich Instagram: markkind76 RIBN Album Playlist: https://suno.com/playlist/91d704c9-d1ea-45a0-9ffe-5069497bad59 Disclaimer: The following may contain offensive language, adult humor, and/or content that some viewers may find offensive – The views and opinions expressed by any one speaker does not explicitly or necessarily reflect or represent those of Mark Radulich or W2M Network. Mark Radulich and his wacky podcast on all the things: https://linktr.ee/markkind76 also https://www.teepublic.com/user/radulich-in-broadcasting-network FB Messenger: Mark Radulich LCSW Tiktok: @markradulich twitter: @MarkRadulich Instagram: markkind76 RIBN Album Playlist: https://suno.com/playlist/91d704c9-d1ea-45a0-9ffe-5069497bad59