BABYMETAL To Release Second Album In April

Japanese teenage girl pop metal band BABYMETAL will release its second album on April 1, 2016 via earMUSIC. A world tour in support of the record will follow the CD's arrival.

BABYMETAL's 2016 world tour will include an appearance at London, England's SEE Wembley Arena on April 2. The trek will conclude at the 55,000-capacity Tokyo Dome on a yet-to-be-announced date BABYMETAL has branded "Doomsday."

BABYMETAL played a show on December 12 at the Yokohama Arena, where they performed two new tracks.

BABYMETAL's Su-Metal says: "I will be putting my everything into the production of our upcoming album because I believe that many of you are waiting for it. We are looking forward to meeting our fans abroad again next year at Wembley Arena right after the release of our second album, so you can expect to hear our new songs for the very first time live there.

"Performing at Tokyo Dome next year still feels like a dream, but I am going to work towards building up my confidence to stand on that stage and I hope to continue growing through our upcoming world tour."

BABYMETAL's Moametal adds: "Despite the revelation tonight, I still can't imagine that that day would come, when we would perform at Tokyo Dome. On top on that, our new album will be released on Fox Day, so I promise you that we will come up with an album that will betray your expectations — in a good way, of course."

BABYMETAL mastermind Kobametal says: "I continue to believe that the songs of BABYMETAL continue to push them forward to discover new possibilities.

"Since the release of BABYMETAL's debut album in 2014, we have been racing across the globe non-stop on our world tour. Through the last tour I have come across people from all over the world and have had the chance to feel that miraculous moment when everyone came together via BABYMETAL."

BABYMETAL signed with RAL/Sony Music Entertainment for the U.S. release of the band's 2014 critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. The CD features two bonus tracks and was made available digitally on May 12 and physically on June 16.

Established in 2010, BABYMETAL is the offshoot of the Japanese pop idol group SAKURA GAKUIN that performs a distinctly Japanese mix of schoolgirl J-pop and heavy metal.

BABYMETAL's members — Suzuka Nakamoto (a.k.a. Su-Metal, who handles vocals and dancing),Yui Mizuno (a.k.a. Yuimetal) and Moa Kikuchi (a.k.a. Moametal),the latter of whom both scream and dance — admit that they had never listened to metal before joining the group. The girls wear gothy schoolgirl costumes, do choreographed dance routines and bang their heads violently.

Many heavy metal fans have been reluctant to embrace BABYMETAL — which also includes producer Kobametal and a backing band of corpse-painted virtuosos — with some Internet forums calling them "the definition of a gimmick", "awful" and "metal for hipsters."