Japanese pop-metal band BABYMETAL has announced a limited-edition NFT trading cards pack drop via WAX blockchain — available for 72 hours starting May 6 at 11:00 a.m. EST at babymetal.cards. The release, limited to 1000 packs, each containing ten trading cards (each card is 1 of 1000), represents all ten episodes of the “Metal Resistance” — the ten chapters of the band that have unfolded since their inception a decade ago. All of those chapters are explored in the band’s recent best-of album, “10 Babymetal Years” — the first ultimate collection of highlights taken from the band’s three studio albums “Babymetal” (2014), “Metal Resistance” (2016) and “Metal Galaxy” (2019), creating a unique and seamless tie in with the trading cards. “10 Babymetal Years” was released digitally in North America on April 23, with CD and vinyl available for pre-order now and releasing in late July.
Each pack of cards will be $100 and will come with an exclusive limited-edition gold-colored vinyl of the “10 Babymetal Years” LP, available only with these packs. The transactions will be made via credit card or PayPal, but fans will need to create and connect a WAX wallet to complete purchase.
The Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX), known as the King of NFTs, is the world’s leading entertainment NFT network. Cofounded in 2017 by William E. Quigley and Jonathan Yantis, WAX delivers the safest and most convenient way to create, buy, sell, and trade virtual items and physical products (NFTs and vIRLsTM) to anyone, anywhere in the world. WAX has facilitated the trade of more than 100 million digital items of collections including Blockchain Heroes, Topps GPK, Deadmau5 and Capcom’s Street Fighter.
BABYMETAL played 10 shows at Tokyo’s famed Nippon Budokan venue earlier this year as part of the group’s tenth-anniversary celebration. The shows, which marked the final chapter of the “Metal Resistance” era, kicked off with two dates in January (19 and 20) and four concerts in February (16, 17, 19 and 20).
A book about the first ten years of BABYMETAL, “Bessatsu Kadokawa Souryoku Tokushuu”, was released in Japan in October. It contains a long interview with Su-metal and Moametal as well as never-before-heard stories from band producer Kobametal from BABYMETAL‘s decade-long history, photos taken from live shows, a discussion between Demon Kakka and Kobametal, and much more.
BABYMETAL‘s third studio album, “Metal Galaxy”, was released in October 2019 via earMUSIC/Edel. The follow-up to 2016’s “Metal Resistance” is based on the concept of “The Odyssey Of Metal Galaxy”.
“Metal Galaxy” hit No. 19 in the U.K. official album chart, No. 1 No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Rock Albums chart, becoming the first Asian act to land at No. 1, and No. 18 on the German chart.
In the U.S., “Metal Galaxy” earned 28,000 equivalent album units (of which 27,000 were in album sales) in its first week of release. The album also topped the Hard Rock Albums chart.
“Metal Galaxy” entered the all-format Billboard 200 chart at No. 13. The group’s previous disc, 2016’s “Metal Resistance”, peaked at No. 39.
“Metal Galaxy” contains 14 songs, including four singles that were released prior to the LP’s arrival: “Pa Pa Ya!!”, “Starlight”, “Distortion” and “Elevator Girl”. The album expresses light and darkness, emotions like duality and ambivalence, and “new metal” created by various chemical reactions as other entities evolved and expanded in this album.
The album includes five songs that feature guest appearances from worldwide musicians who were perfect to the character of each song. Vocalist Joakim Brodén from SABATON is featured on “Oh! Majinai”. Guitarist Tim Henson and Scott LePage from POLYPHIA are featured on “Brand New Day”. Vocalist Alissa White-Gluz from ARCH ENEMY is featured on “Distortion”. Rapper F.Hero is featured in “Pa Pa Ya!!”
In 2018, BABYMETAL announced the departure of Yuimetal, who was formerly one of the members of the Japanese group’s core trio. She exited the band, explaining in a statement that she would go on to pursue a solo career as Mizuno Yu.
