Video Premiere: BABYMETAL's 'Karate'

The official music video for "Karate", a brand new song from the Japanese teenage girl pop metal band BABYMETAL, can be seen below (courtesy of the official BABYMETALYouTube channel). The track is taken from the group's second album, "Metal Resistance", which will be released on April 1 via RAL/Sony Music Entertainment in the U.S. and earMUSIC in Europe.

Named after the ancient Japanese martial art, "Karate" is themed on fighting on in the face of adversity and difficult situations, pushing on through hard times and never giving up no matter how hard it might seem. The accompanying video encapsulates this perfectly, with Su-Metal, Yuimetal and Moametal facing off against some mysterious masked and robed foes, who show them that the only people who could ever stop them are the girls themselves.

"Karate" was first heard at last year's Yokohama Arena shows and sees the girls singing "Seiya, soiya," accompanied by a karate-style choreography.

Pre-orders of "Metal Resistance", with "Karate" as an instant grat track, are available on iTunes.

"Metal Resistance" features songs that have already been performed live, as well as many never-been-heard-before new songs.

Following their previous album, "Metal Resistance" features both songs performed as solo songs, and as a group. "Amore -Aoboshi-" and "No Rain, No Rainbow" is performed by Suzuka Nakamoto (a.k.a. Su-Metal),and "GJ!" and "Sis. Anger" are performed by Yui Mizuno (a.k.a. Yuimetal) and Moa Kikuchi (a.k.a. Moametal).

The U.K. version of "Metal Resistance" also sees the girls' first full-English song "The One", which had also been performed for the first time last year at Yokohama Arena.

BABYMETAL will kick off the 2016 world tour with a headline show at the world-famous Wembley Arena, U.K. on Saturday, April 2, making history by becoming the first Japanese artist to headline the legendary venue.

The track listing for each "Metal Resistance" format is as follows:

CD and limited box set including CD + exclusive T-shirt:

01. Road Of Resistance
02. Karate
03. Awadama Fever
04. YAVA!
05. Amore
06. Meta Taro
07. From Dusk Till Dawn
08. GJ!
09. Sis. Anger
10. No Rain, No Rainbow
11. Tales Of The Destinies
12. The One (English version)

2LP:

Side 1

01. Road Of Resistance
02. Karate
03. Awadama Fever

Side 2

01. Yava!
02. Amore
03. Meta Taro

Side 3

01. From Dusk Till Dawn
02. GJ!
03. Sis. Anger

Side 4

01. No Rain, No Rainbow
02. Tales Of The Destinies
03. The One (English version)

Of the new album, BABYMETAL mastermind Kobametal stated: "As prophesied by the Fox God, a new album will be released on April 1st, 2016, also known as the Fox Day.

"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.

"Our new song 'The One' contains lyrics that speak of uniting the world, or a crowd favorite at concerts, 'Road Of Resistance', that never fails to bring our fans together. Every BABYMETAL song makes up this extraordinary story.

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

"All I can say right now is for all of you to wait patiently for the coming of the Fox Day."

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 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."