Pop music and extreme heavy metal share a terse and often secretive relationship—Lady Gaga is an out-of-the-closet metalhead, and every so often you’ll hear someone like Yngwie Malmsteen cover ABBA. But the two genres have never collided with so much saccharine sweetness as with Japan’s Babymetal. Emphasis on saccharine: They even play a song called “Gimme Chocolate.” The three female idols who front the outfit sing and dance like typical Japanese pop icons while their masked backing band play ripping technical-death-metal licks. It’s absurd, over the top, and tons of fun. You don’t need a patch jacket to bang your head during songs like “Megitsune.” by Joseph Schafer