After a few days of countdowns, BABYMETAL has made a large drop for FOX DAY 2025! Many new announcements, let’s go one by one.
The news most fans will want to hear is that BABYMETAL has announced their 4th album! (THE OTHER ONE wasn’t considered a “main” album for BABYMETAL, but as a “concept album”) It will release worldwide on June 13th and comes with 8 new albums, on top of the 2023 and 2024 releases, METALI!! and RATATATA. It will also include the song with Poppy, which was teased months ago, and will release this Friday, April 4th.
Now talking about the LEGEND map, they announced a few more tours, all the way up to January of next year. This includes a special arena show in the US in November 2025 and one for Japan in January 2026. It also announces that the already-announced O2 show in the UK on May 30th will be a “SPECIAL ARENA SHOW”, probably a closing of the current THE OTHER ONE arc.
A big news that is also that BABYMETAL has established a company in the United States called “BABYMETAL WORLD LLC” as their base of operations and signed a global label partnership agreement with Capitol Records.
They also updated all of their social media and website with the new album colors, and also showing pictures of the new outfits.
Lastly, THE ONE 2025 has opened, which you can find information for here.
Below is everything announced (so far).
Table of Contents
LEGEND MAP for the next year
I marked the new announcements in bold:
2025
- April 4th: New Song “from me to u (feat.Poppy)”
- May 13th ~ 30th: UK-EUROPE ARENA TOUR
- May 30th: SPECIAL ARENA SHOW IN UK “THE 02” (show was already announced)
- June 13th: 4th Album “METAL FORTH”
- June 13th ~ July 23rd NORTH AMERICA TOUR
- August: JAPAN FESTIVAL TOUR
- September ~ October: ASIA TOUR
- November SPECIAL ARENA SHOW IN US
2026
- January: SPECIAL ARENA SHOW IN JAPAN
Description
Today, April 1st, 2025, “THE FOX GOD” announced BABYMETAL’s “LEGEND MAP,” which shows their planned activities for their 15th anniversary year.
In addition to their upcoming concert at The O2 Arena in London, set to be the largest overseas show in BABYMETAL’s history with a capacity of over 20,000, they have added arena shows in the U.S. and Japan, as well as an Asia tour to go with their EU & UK tour and U.S. tour. The momentum behind the world tour shows no signs of slowing down.More details will be announced on the official website as they become available.
They are announcing that the May 30th show in the UK will be a “SPECIAL ARENA SHOW”, probably a closing of the current THE OTHER ONE arc. After that comes the album release, before the already-announced US tour. Then they will have a “festival tour” in Japan in August (they already announced to be a part of Summer Sonic Osaka and Tokyo), an Asia Tour in September & October (so far they announced participating in Summer Sonic Bangkok, but in August), finally ending the year in November with a “Special Arena show in the US”. Additionally, they announced a “Special Arena Show in Japan” in January 2026. Dates and locations for these new tours and shows are yet to be announced.
Interesting tidbits:
- This means they will do 3 “tours” in the US in less than a year!
- Likewise, they would not perform a solo show in Japan in 2025.
4th Album – “METAL FORTH”
So far, we have the artwork, release date and tracklist. They have also opened pre-orders on the US, UK and Australian stores (links below), but only for physical editions.
They have not yet mentioned digital or streaming releases, but those will no doubt come. What is most interesting is that nothing for Japan has been announced yet. Though most likely Japan will get a few different versions, including an exclusive “THE ONE” version which, if they follow previous albums, should include additional and/or alternate versions of the new songs.
Details regarding the album release, such as pre-order and purchase benefits for the Japanese version, will be announced in the future.
Title: METAL FORTH
Release Date: Friday, June 13th, 2025
Preorders: metalforth.com/
Track List
- from me to u (feat. Poppy)
- RATATATA (BABYMETAL x Electric Callboy)
- Song 3 (BABYMETAL x Slaughter to Prevail)
- Kon! Kon! (feat. Bloodywood)
- KxAxWxAxIxI
- Sunset Kiss (feat. Polyphia)
- My Queen (feat. Spiritbox)
- Algorism
- METALI!! (feat. Tom Morello)
- White Flame -白炎-
Versions
So far, there are 3 versions of the album announced: CD, standard LP, and platinum LP (only available in US store).
- METAL FORTH Spotify Fans First Exclusive Platinum Vinyl – 33 USD (US Store)
- METAL FORTH Standard Vinyl – 33 USD (US Store – UK Store – Australian Store)
- METAL FORTH Standard CD – 14 USD (US Store – UK Store – Australian Store)
Introduction
“Beyond HEAVY METAL”: Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, BABYMETAL presents a new style of heavy metal album created in collaboration with a new generation of friends encountered across the globe. A powerful statement of who the band is today, this album pushes toward what lies “beyond HEAVY METAL” and aims to change the course of history.
Song Descriptions
BABYMETAL’s website features a large description of the album, where they mention each songs’ style.
In addition to live-show favorites like “METALI!! (feat. Tom Morello)” and “RATATATA (BABYMETAL x Electric Callboy)”, the new album features 10 standout tracks: “from me to u (feat. Poppy),” a track featuring Poppy, whose performance at this year’s Grammy Awards is still fresh in our minds, and composed by Jordan Fish, formerly of Bring Me the Horizon; “My Queen (feat. Spiritbox),” a collaboration with Canadian metalcore band Spiritbox, widely regarded as a leading band in the next generation of metal; “Song 3 (BABYMETAL x Slaughter to Prevail)”, a brutal counting song with Slaughter to Prevail, a Russian death metal band rapidly gaining popularity at festivals as they pursue a Guinness World Record for the largest wall of death; “Kon! Kon! (feat. Bloodywood),” a creature metal song with Indian “Bollywood metal” band Bloodywood, who have been the talk of the town at FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL and festivals around the world, blending roots in Japanese and Indian tribal music; “Sunset Kiss (feat. Polyphia),” a city-pop metal track and second collaboration with Polyphia, who also gave a standout performance at “FOX_FEST” last year; “KxAxWxAxIxI,” a wild rap metal song composed by DAIDAI from Paledusk who also worked on Lil Uzi Vert’s song “The End (feat. BABYMETAL)” that was included on his No. 1 US Billboard album; “Algorism,” a nostalgic metal track reminiscent of a classic song; and “White Flame,” the climactic conclusion to the band’s melodic speed metal series.
Packed with collaborations from artists leading the next generation of the metal scene, this album sets the stage for BABYMETAL’s dynamic world tour. The latest evolution of metal, as presented by BABYMETAL today, is set to go “beyond metal” and rewrite music history.
Some interesting tidbits:
- This album has 10 tracks, making this their shortest album in terms of amount of songs. The previous one was METAL RESISTANCE at 12 (not counting the 4 extra songs/different versions). We’ll have to see with the song length’s (since METAL RESISTANCE had 4 songs less than METAL GALAXY, but was only 4 minutes shorter).
- It’s also the album with the most collaborations at 7, the previous being METAL GALAXY with 5. The first 2 albums had no collaborations (in naming, at least).
Single – from me to u (feat. Poppy)
This song will release as a single this Friday, April 4th. As mentioned above, it had been teased a few months ago in the trailer for the upcoming European Arena Tour, which will have Poppy & Bambie Thug as special guests.
Update: they released a teaser the following day:
New Outfit
“BABYMETAL WORLD LLC” & Capitol Records Deal
A big news that is also that BABYMETAL has established a company in the United States called “BABYMETAL WORLD LLC” as their base of operations and signed a global label partnership agreement with Capitol Records.
KOBAMETAL has always been labeled as “Producer & Manager”, but now has the title of “Producer & Manager of BABYMETAL CEO, BABYMETAL WORLD, LLC”.
It will be interesting to note how this affects their touring and album/song releases. They have been pretty Japan-centric for album releases, even recently, but had already toured far more outside of Japan for the past 10 years almost. We can already see it a bit with the fact that this new album has pre-orders up on the US, UK and Australian BABYMETAL stores, but nothing so far in Japan, as mentioned above.
Here is the announcement with some quotes from KOBAMETAL and CEO of Capitol Records, Tom March:
Acclaimed metal band BABYMETAL has signed to Capitol Records, the first Japanese artist to sign a frontline deal with the label. The group will release new album METAL FORTH, globally via Capitol Records on June 13.
“BABYMETAL’s groundbreaking sound and compelling artistic vision have not only cultivated a worldwide following, but have also demonstrably shifted global music culture. We at Capitol Records are privileged to join them in this next chapter as we continue to amplify their international reach and influence with the upcoming release of Metal Forth.” – Tom March, Chairman & CEO, Capitol Records
“This year, BABYMETAL celebrates its 15th anniversary and embarks on an exciting new chapter. With Capitol Records as our global partner, the sound of BABYMETAL will resonate across the world as we take on bolder, more dynamic endeavors than ever before. Stay tuned for what’s to come.” – Key “KOBAMETAL” Kobayashi, Producer & Manager of BABYMETAL CEO, BABYMETAL WORLD, LLC
As BABYMETAL celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, the band has mapped out a world tour that will include numerous firsts. In May, they’ll embark on their first-ever headline arena tour in the UK and Europe, playing 12 shows across eight countries and concluding at The O2 Arena in London. BABYMETAL is the first Japanese group to headline a show at this iconic venue. The band will kick off its biggest North American tour yet on June 13. The 24-date run will include a June 24 show at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Check http://BABYMETAL.com for more information. Arena shows in Japan and a tour of Asia will follow.
The announcement also came with a video:
Update: a fan (PikaPriest) has done some digging and found a bit more about the company (for those curious):
So I did a little public record digging, and this LLC was established in 2015 in Delaware specifically to support the 2015 World Tour. In fact it was named WT2015 until a few months ago.
This was a dormant LLC they had created 10 years ago, revived/renamed and reassigned to an agency in California (probably Capitol Records related) for this purpose.
Additionally the name change filing was executed by Hiroko Stanhope, an employee of Amuse, and more specifically Amuse Group USA.
There is additional information on the filing naming her, Koba, and Takahiro Ono (Amuse’s Rights Manager and Managing Director) as the principal owners/managers of this LLC.
Additionally this office is also the headquarters of Amuse Group USA, Inc
THE ONE 2025 Opens & BMD FOX APPAREL Closes
THE ONE 2025 has opened now. You can find information on how to be a member here.
On another note, the BMD FOX APPAREL website, BABYMETAL’s website for their clothing and merch line, is no longer working and has been acquired by another company. Up till early this year it was showcasing their golfing merch. In the past they also sold camping items with COLEMAN, and the first line was clothes in collaboration with Ground Y (pictures of SU-METAL and MOAMETAL wearing it).
Sources:
- LEGEND MAP: BABYMETAL website – Dedicated website – Twitter – Facebook – Instagram – YouTube
- Album: BABYMETAL website – Twitter – Facebook – Instagram – Facebook – YouTube
- Capitol Records deal: BABYMETAL website – Twitter – Facebook – Instagram
- THE ONE: BABYMETAL website – Twitter – Facebook – Instagram
0 Comments