Japanese band 'Babymetal' introduces J-pop to thrash metal

Teenage girl band Babymetal from Japan recently created a new music phenomenon when they paired rah-rah skirts and ribbons with metallic riffs to produce unlikely worldwide online hit.

The three girl member band's music owes more to the uncomfortable marriage between the J-pop perennials of Lolita fantasy than to the bare-bones metal sound of, like, Slipknot, the Guardian reported.

Steve McClure, the executive director of the online music site McClure Music said that the girl band has some clever marketing and slick production values behind them and they are a good example of a spin on the 'kawaii' template.

McClure while drawing an unfavorable comparison between the band and rival outfit Kyary Pamyu Pamyu said that he sees them more as a novelty act, and by definition that means they were probably going to be a one-off.

He said that Babymetal were not really being marketed as a Japanese act and since the band came out of leftfield, so he was skeptical about this being the start of something bigger for J-pop.

The band's eponymous debut album is currently ranked on No 3 on iTunes' US rock chart and has made the online top 10 in six other countries, including the UK and the video for their new single, 'Gimme Chocolate', has received more than 3.7m views on YouTube.