There exists a conspiracy amongst MetalSucks readers that we post about Babymetal for the clicks. While it was true that in the band’s early days they were click gold, that is no longer the case (people seem to have gotten over the novelty), and it was never the motivator of our relentless coverage of Japan’s greatest metal export in decades: we are genuinely huge fans! Their debut was my #1 album of 2014 for a reason, no troll.

Before we go any further, nothing in this post is an April Fools’ Day joke.

So: Blabbermouth reports that Babymetal will release a new album in 2019, and that they have a few performances scheduled in Japan this summer. You may recall that Yuimetal left the band last year to launch a solo career after missing some live dates in late 2017 and initially pushing the line that she was still a member of the band (just taking a break), meaning Babymetal’s upcoming effort will be their first as a two-piece (not counting the backing band — which should absolutely be counted). It’ll be interesting to see how that changed dynamic affects the band’s sound, but my guess is not much, if at all; the live show may look a bit different, but the Kami band will still be writing the music. I think the bigger question is this: will the album recover from the sophomore slump The Resistance brought in 2016? The debut was so, so good, but the former fell a bit short for me.

Something to look forward to as 2019 inches towards summer.