Animetal

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Japanese heavy metal band

title: "Animetal" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["anime-musical-groups", "musical-groups-established-in-1996", "musical-groups-disestablished-in-2006", "japanese-heavy-metal-musical-groups", "japanese-power-metal-musical-groups"] description: "Japanese heavy metal band" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animetal" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Japanese heavy metal band ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Animetal
アニメタル
origin	Japan
genre
years_active	1996–2006
label	Sony Music Japan
Cutting Edge
VAP
associated_acts
website	Official website at Sony Music Japan
past_members	Eizo Sakamoto
Masaki
Syu
She-Ja
Mie
::

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

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 Aisenshi.

Style

Their music can be classified as speed metal and power 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 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's "Breaking the Law".

The lyrics are almost entirely in Japanese with occasional lines of "Engrish", 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 "Eternal Future" from the Rurouni Kenshin film.

Animetal USA

Main article: 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, guitarist Chris Impellitteri, bassist Rudy Sarzo, 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 Judas Priest; he was replaced by Jon Dette before the band released their second album Animetal USA W on June 6.

Animetal the Second

| name = Animetal the Second 二代目アニメタル | image = | caption = | origin = Japan | genre = | years_active = 2015–present | label = Gr8! Records | associated_acts = | website = Official website at Sony Music Japan | current_members = Queen.M | past_members = 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 and features musicians such as Akira Takasaki and Masayoshi Yamashita of Loudness, Warren DeMartini, and George Lynch. It was followed up in April 2016 with Blizzard of Animetal the Second, which features Scotti Hill, Paul Gilbert, Richie Kotzen, Luke Takamura, and Saki. Animetal the Second made an appearance at Ozzfest Japan 2015.

Personnel

Final lineup

Eizo Sakamoto – vocals (1996–2006)
Syu – guitar (2003–2006)
Masaki – bass (1997–2006)

Former members

Katsuji – drums (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 – 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 – lead guitar on one track on Animetal Lady Marathon II (2002)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:120 bottom:100 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: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 bar:Katsuji from:01/01/1997 till:06/30/2006 color:d

Discography

Main article: Animetal discography

References

"Animetal Official Site".
"Eizo Japan Official Site".
(January 18, 2013). "【ピックアップ！】哀旋士…声明文！ - Web Rock Magazine BEEAST". Beeast69.com.
(September 5, 2011). "USメタル界精鋭が新バンド「アニメタルUSA」結成".
(April 3, 2012). "アニメタルUSA、セカンドアルバム『アニメタルUSA W』は6月6日発売".
(February 4, 2020). "二代目アニメタル、歌うのは謎の女性Queen.M". [[Natalie (website).
(February 14, 2020). "二代目アニメタルとLOUDNESS高崎＆山下「アクエリオン」カバー". [[Natalie (website).
(April 4, 2016). "ANIMETAL THE SECOND、新アルバムに二井原実作詞のオリジナル曲". [[Natalie (website).
(February 4, 2016). "OZZFEST JAPAN 2015のANIMETAL THE SECOND". [[Marshall Amplification]].

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