The thing with BM is that they are a new phenomenon. Yes yes, I know their formation in 2010 has always served as a good comeback to people complaining that they were just a gimmick, a flash in the pan that would fade as quickly as they rose. But let's be brutally honest. One thing we know for sure is that almost every act, be it pop, indie, metal or whatever, runs out of creative juice. Some acts manage to reinvent themselves, a mark of undiluted quality and talent that not many possess. Another thing we know, something much more scary to consider in this context, is that it's hard to be successful, but even harder to follow up success. The plethora of one hit wonders testifies to that, but there are also plenty of one album wonders. Following up an amazing, game changing album has driven some to near insanity.
I became a fan only in the summer of 2014, when their album was already out. For me albums are what counts though, so that they had a string of successful singles before that didn't ease my mind. There is of course a clear evolution apparent in their songs, but that can be interpreted in different ways as well. Sure they have shown signs of evolution, but I wouldn't have expected their sound to not mature at least a bit from the quirky, not yet very committed to the whole metal thing and, lets be honest, gimmicky Doki Doki Morning. But in doing so BM songwriters have raised the bar for themselves time and time again. How easy it would have been to drift of and get stuck in the swamp of trying to top Megitsune (for instance) over and over again?
Now, that doesn't have to happen if you have people in charge who know what they're doing, But in the music industry that includes far from everyone if the stories are to be believed. On top of that is this simple truth: BM couldn't rely on being a one trick pony. The first album was such a shock to the system. That partly explains why it was so well received. I think I made my case sufficiently before that there's more to it than novelty, but that was a big part of it. No follow up album was ever going to match that. So for it to succeed it needed to do one of two things: BM needed to reinvent themselves and produce something just as fresh and shocking, or they needed to up their game and present something that was just miles above what they did before in terms of quality. It was very clear early on that they weren't going to do the first, and for good reason I think. BM may have a core of loyal fans, but they aren't well established enough to suddenly switch gears. So the best we could hope for is that the myriad of songwriters at BM's disposal would come up with some honest to God great music. And that's what they did.
My reaction to KARATE is somewhat hard to describe. It was excitement, fulfilment, followed by my usual intensive listening sessions, trying to unravel all the creative thoughts that went into the songs, and finally relieve. That last one was a surprise, but it allowed me to realise and put into words all my doubts and worries about the next album, which I didn't even know I had. I'm sure there are plenty of people around more adapt at explaining why KARATE is good. Suffice to say it is. That doesn't automatically mean the rest of the album will be cut of the same cloth, but it reassures me people over there know what they're doing, and the creative juice is far from running out. They will keep on fighting as we will keep on listening and cheering. Osu!
Music listened to while writing:
Albums:
- The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
- The Who - Tommy
- Sia - Sweet Potato
- BABYMETAL - KARATE
