Animetal

ANIMETAL (アニメタル) is a Japanese heavy metal band who specialise in metal covers of the theme songs of classic and modern Japanese anime and tv series hailing from Tokyo, Japan. The band was formed in 1996 and is still active. They are comprised of several luminaries of the Japanese metal scene, most notably vocalist 坂本英三, who has been involved off and on with Anthem (one of the first heavy metal bands to achieve name recognition outside of Japan in the 1980's alongside Loudness)as well as participating in various other projects including the pop-rock group 練馬マッチョマン, JAM Project, and a successful solo career where he also plays lead guitar as well as singing. Their music can be classified as high-energy melodic speed metal with a very high level of musical virtuosity, especially on the guitarists'(initially SHE-JA for the first four albums, then Syu from Animetal Marathon V to the present) and bassist's (band constant 倉田雅貴 MASAKI)part. MASAKI in particular from ANIMETAL MARATHON IV on onward shows an intensely active and aggressive approach to his instrument with fluid soloing, manic slapping and popping, energetic fills, and crashing chords for punctuation. The albums are structured as nearly seamless barrages of short songs woven into well-structured medleys that sound as though the band simply enters the studio and lays down virtually the entire album from start to finish in one go, with occasional overdubs and breaks in the action here and there. The lyrics are almost entirely in Japanese with occasional lines of "Engrish", which may partly account for why they are virtually unknown outside of Japan, aside from the fact they admittedly are playing to a very small niche market. For a short time, they incorporated Pink Lady vocalist MIE into the band, hence the name change to "Animetal Lady", and recorded two albums with her distinctive and melodic vocals that are much more commercially accessible (almost what one would call pop-metal) than the rest of the ANIMETAL discography. line-up Vocal 坂本英三 (→ANTHEM→練馬マッチョマン→英光塾) Guitars Syu (→CROSS-LARGE(Dr)→VALKYR→Galneryus→AUSHVITZ) Bass 倉田雅貴 MASAKI (→JACKS'N'JOKER→SHY BLUE→CANTA) past members Guitar 篠塚泰文 Bass 岡村陽 Drums デビル宮本 Bass TAKE-SHIT (→COCOBAT) Drums 梅沢康博 (→REACTION→JACKS'N'JOKER→NAMM→HOT ROD CRUE→ASIAN BLACK) Drums 樋口宗孝 (→LAZY→LOUDNNES→SLY→LOUDNESS) Guitar 屍忌蛇 (→レゾンデートル→テンペスト→VATHOKIJA→Gargoyle→Volcano→THE NONDAKURERZ) Drums KATSUJI (→Gargoyle→METALFORK→VOLCANO→ザクロマニヨンズ)