was a Japanese heavy metal band who specialized in metal covers of theme songs from classic and modern Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

and

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live-action films or television programs that make heavy use of practical special effects. Credited to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, ''tokusatsu'' mainly refers to science fiction film, science fiction, War fi ...

television series. They were composed of several luminaries of the Japanese metal scene, most notably vocalist Eizo Sakamoto, who has been involved off and on with

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

as well as participating in various other projects including the pop rock group Nerima, the

JAM Project JAM Project ("JAM" standing for "Japan Animationsong Makers") are a Japanese Music in Japanese animation, anison band founded on July 19, 2000, by anison singer Ichirou Mizuki. The band is composed of many vocal artists well known in the anime mu ...

, and a successful solo career where he also plays lead guitar as well as vocals. As of 2006, the band is currently on indefinite hiatus. Sakamoto has since begun a similar project called Eizo Japan, but in 2013 he announced that he and She-Ja were reforming Animetal as .

Style

Their music can be classified as

speed metal Speed metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It is desc ...

and

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within a symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in co ...

with a very high level of musical virtuosity, especially on the guitarists' (initially She-Ja for the first four albums, then

Syu is a Japanese musician, best known as the leader and guitarist of the power metal band Galneryus. He also performs guitar and lead vocals in Spinalcord (formerly known as Aushvitz) and was formerly a member of Animetal. Under his own name, Syu ha ...

from ''Animetal Marathon V'' to the present) and bassist Masaki's parts. Masaki, in particular from ''Animetal Marathon IV'' onward, has shown 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. Part of the band's nostalgic factor is their incorporation of popular rock-metal instrumentals into some of the songs. For instance, their version of " Choujuu Sentai Liveman" is played to the tune of

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

's " Breaking the Law". The lyrics are almost entirely in Japanese with occasional lines of "

Engrish ''Engrish'' is a slang term for the inaccurate, poorly translated, nonsensical or ungrammatical use of the English language by native speakers of other languages. The word itself relates to Japanese speakers learning r and l, Japanese speaker ...

", which may partly account for why they are virtually unknown outside Japan, except that they admittedly are playing to a very small niche market. For a short time, they incorporated Pink Lady member 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 than the rest of the Animetal discography. While they're known more for their covers, the band has a few original songs, including the ballad from the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' film.

Animetal USA

In 2011, was formed as a tribute to Sakamoto's band, performing English-language metal covers of popular anime and tokusatsu themes. The band consisted of lead vocalist

Michael Vescera Michael Vescera (born June 13, 1962) is an American heavy metal singer for various bands and projects like Loudness ('' Soldier of Fortune'', '' On the Prowl'', ''Live at the Budokan''), Obsession (''Marshall Law'', ''Scarred for Life'', ''M ...

, guitarist Chris Impellitteri, bassist

Rudy Sarzo Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavieille Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont (born November 18, 1950) is a Cuban-American musician. He remains best known as the bassist for Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake, and has also played with several well k ...

, and drummer Scott Travis. They released their self-titled debut album on October 12. A year later, Travis left the band to focus on touring with

; he was replaced by Jon Dette before the band released their second album '' Animetal USA W'' on June 6.

Animetal the Second

A project titled , centered around anonymous female vocalist Queen.M, was started in 2015 to continue the Animetal tradition. Its self-titled debut album was released on March 25 by

Gr8! Records , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

and features musicians such as Akira Takasaki and Masayoshi Yamashita of

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as the "attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The relat ...

Warren DeMartini Warren Justin DeMartini (born April 10, 1963) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist for glam metal band Ratt, which achieved international stardom in the 1980s. Early life DeMartini was born on April 10, 1963, in Chicago, ...

, and George Lynch. It was followed up in April 2016 with '' Blizzard of Animetal the Second'', which features Scotti Hill,

Paul Gilbert Paul Brandon Gilbert (born November 6, 1966) is an American hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big (American band), Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X (band), Racer X, with whom he ...

, Richie Kotzen, Luke Takamura, and

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

. Animetal the Second made an appearance at Ozzfest Japan 2015.

Personnel

Final lineup

* Eizo Sakamoto –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(1996–2006) *

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(2003–2006) *Masaki –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

(1997–2006)

Former members

*Katsuji –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1997–2006) * Mie – lead vocals in Animetal Lady (1997–1998, 2002) *Kouichi Seiyama – keyboards (1997–1998, 2002) *She-Ja – guitar (1997–2002) *Yasuhiro Umezawa – drums (1997–1998)

Guest members

*Yasufumi Shinozuka – guitar on "Animetal" (1996) *Yō Okamura – bass on "Animetal" (1996) *Devil Miyamoto – drum programming on "Animetal" (1996) *Take-Shit – bass on "This is Animetal" (1997) *

Munetaka Higuchi (December 24, 1958 – November 30, 2008) was a Japanese musician and record producer. He is best known as the original drummer of the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Loudness (band), Loudness, but first rose to prominence as a member of La ...

– drums on "Animetal Summer" and "Sentimetal" (1997) *Rei Atsumi – keyboards on "Animetal Lady Kenzan!" (1997) and ''Animetal Lady Marathon'' (1998) * Hiroyuki Namba – keyboards on "Towa no Mirai" (1997) *Shinki – drums on ''Animetal Lady Marathon'' and "Yuuki no Akashi" (1998) *Nov – vocals on "Ai o Torimodose!!" (2001) *Mitsuo Takeuchi – vocals on "Galactic Gale Baxinger" (2001) *

Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

on one track on ''Animetal Lady Marathon II'' (2002)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:120 bottom:120 top:0 right:0 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1996 till:12/31/2006 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1996 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1996 Colors = id:v value:red legend:Vocals id:vl value:pink legend:Vocals_(Animetal_Lady) id:g value:green legend:Guitar id:b value:blue legend:Bass id:k value:purple legend:Keyboards id:d value:orange legend:Drums id:alb value:black legend:Studio_Albums id:lady value:magenta legend:Animetal_Lady_Albums id:oth value:gray(0.6) legend:Other_Albums id:bar value:gray(0.9) LineData = layer:back at:03/23/1997 color:alb at:02/21/1998 color:alb at:02/21/1998 color:lady at:04/07/1998 color:oth at:05/21/1998 color:oth at:10/21/1998 color:alb at:10/01/1999 color:oth at:09/12/2001 color:alb at:04/11/2002 color:lady at:06/25/2003 color:alb at:09/22/2004 color:alb at:10/21/2005 color:alb at:08/08/2006 color:alb BackgroundColors = bars:bar PlotData = width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,–4) bar:Eizo Sakamoto from:start till:end color:v bar:Mie from:09/01/1997 till:02/21/1998 color:vl bar:Mie from:01/01/2002 till:04/11/2002 color:vl bar:She-Ja from:01/01/1997 till:04/11/2002 color:g bar:Syu from:01/01/2003 till:end color:g bar:Masaki from:01/01/1997 till:end color:b bar:Yasuhiro Umezawa from:01/01/1997 till:06/30/1998 color:d bar:Katsuji from:01/01/1997 till:06/30/2006 color:d bar:Kouichi Seiyama from:09/01/1997 till:02/21/1998 color:k bar:Kouichi Seiyama from:01/01/2002 till:04/11/2002 color:k

Discography

* '' Animetal Marathon'' (1997) * '' Animetal Marathon II'' (1998) * '' Animetal Lady Marathon'' (1998) * '' Animetal Marathon III'' (1998) * '' Animetal Marathon IV'' (2001) * '' Animetal Lady Marathon II'' (2002) * '' Animetal Marathon V'' (2003) * '' Animetal Marathon VI'' (2004) * '' Animetal Marathon VII'' (2005) * '' Decade of Bravehearts'' (2006)

References

External links

* * (Animetal Lady) * (Animetal the Second) * * {{Authority control Anime musical groups Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Japanese heavy metal musical groups Japanese power metal musical groups