Animetal

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Animetal (アニメタル, Animetaru^?) is a Japanese novelty heavy metal band who specialize in metal covers of the theme songs of classic and modern Japanese anime and tokusatsu television series.

They are comprised of several luminaries of the Japanese metal scene, most notably vocalist Eizo Sakamoto, 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 1980s alongside Loudness)as well as participating in various other projects including the pop-rock group Nerima, the JAM Project, and a successful solo career where he also plays lead guitar as well as vocals.

Their music can be classified as high-energy melodic speed metal with a very high level of musical virtuosity, especially on the guitarists'(initially Shi-Ja for the first four albums, then Syu from Animetal Marathon V to the present) and bassist's (band constant Masaki) part. Masaki in particular from Animetal Marathon IV on 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.

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.

While they're known more for their covers, the band has a few original songs including the ballad Towa no Mirai from the Rurouni Kenshin soundtrack.

[edit] Discography

Animetal Marathon I (アニメタル・マラソン, Animetaru Marason^?)
Animetal Marathon II: Tokusatsu Collection (アニメタル・マラソンII ～特撮編～, Animetaru Marason Tsū ~Tokusatsu Hen~^?)
Best of Animetal (アニメタルのベスト, Animetaru no Besuto^?)
Animetal Marathon III: Tsuburaya Productions Collection (アニメタル・マラソンIII ～円谷プロ編～, Animetaru Marason Surī ~Tsuburaya Puro Hen~^?)
Animetal Lady Marathon (アニメタル・レディー・マラソン, Animetaru Redī Marason^?)
Complete First Live
Complete Last Live
Animetal Lady Marathon II (アニメタル・レディー・マラソンII, Animetaru Redī Marason Tsū^?)
Animetal Marathon IV (アニメタル・マラソンIV, Animetaru Marason Fō^?)
Animetal Marathon V (アニメタル・マラソンV, Animetaru Marason Faibu^?)
Animetal Marathon VI (アニメタル・マラソンVI, Animetaru Marason Shikkusu^?)
Animetal Marathon VII: Fight! Metal Hero (アニメタル・マラソンVII ～戦え!メタル・ヒーロー～, Animetaru Marason Sebun ~Tatakae! Metaru Hīrō^?)
The Animetal: Rebirth Heroes
Decade of Bravehearts