Animetal USA perform at Anime Expo in Los Angeles + Debut album now released in USA

The power metal quartet that have re-imagined anime opening and ending songs in their own style (complete with English lyrics) we’ve been keeping a close eye on over the past 6 months known as Animetal USA have taken a huge leap forward in developing their international presence with a performance at the world renowned Anime Expo convention in Los Angles this past weekend.

The Quartet performed a thirteen song set combining songs from their debut album “Animetal USA” and their recently released in Japan follow up “Animetal USA W”. Though just to confuse you slightly the set list mainly featured songs included on the North American Special Edition version of “Animetal USA”. The difference between this special edition version and the original Japanese version being that the track listing has been altered by replacing a some songs with ones featured on the ‘Animetal USA W’ album including the song ‘Give Lee Give Lee Rock Lee’.

If you are interested in ordering the North American Special Edition version of the album, you can do so HERE.

The list of songs they played at Anime Expo were:

Animetal USA announce release date & track listing of second album

The power metal quartet who cover anime theme songs with English language lyrics, Animetal USA, have revealed lots of details regarding the follow up to their self-titled debut album.

First of all the release date in Japan for this follow-up album is June 6th. There has been talk in recent months of releasing the album worldwide. The band also revealed in February they are set to play the annual Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles this coming June, though still unconfirmed at the time by the organisers, so it may still be a possibility. (Refer to our previous story that be read HERE.)

The title of the second album will be “Animetal USA W” and will feature 11 tracks including their collaboration with Hironobu Kageyama of JAM Project that is being used in the new Naruto spin-off program “Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals”. This same song will also serve as the first single from the album. (Refer to our previous article for details of this collaboration HERE.)

“Animetal USA W” will also feature the themes from live-action television programs including Kamen Rider (aka “Masked Rider” in English).

The track listing is as follows

Animetal USA to provide theme for new Naruto spinoff anime

The cover art for the single.

Animetal USA is a four piece metal band we’ve been keeping a close on eye in recent months and they have had some big news to come out in the last 24 hours as they will be involved in the opening theme of a new series featuring Naruto Shippuden fan favourite Rock Lee.

The new program in question is an anime adaptation of a spinoff manga to the Naruto franchise ‘Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden’ by Kenji Taira that debuted late last year in Japan. (The literal translation of the title being “Rock Lee’s Springtime of Youth Full Power Ninja Training”.) The series focuses on Rock Lee as the main character and is described by many as a “gag comedy manga”. The anime is set to premiere in Japan on April 3rd in the same timeslot that Bleach had been occupying on Japanese TV until the recent announcement that the series would be concluding in late March.

Animetal USA & Hironobu Kageyama

Animetal USA will be collaborating with Hironobu Kageyama – known for his involvement in the anime voice artist supergroup JAM Project and has also featured in music from Saint Seiya & Dragonball Z – to provide the opening theme for this new series. The single entitled “Give Lee Give Lee Rock Lee” will be released on April 25th in Japan and will be the first single released by Animetal USA since their debut album last year. It is currently unknown if this song will be included on their forthcoming album set for release in May. This is likely to be the first recording involving new drummer Jon Dette – see our previous article on Animetal USA HERE for information on that lineup change – and would also be the first original song they have recorded. Their debut album “Animetal USA” featured English language metal covers of anime themes including the openings to Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dragonball and Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.

We will keep you up to date with any further developments on this.

An update on Animetal USA

As referenced in a previous article, a quartet of heavy metal veterans have ventured over to Japan to embark on a new musical project where they recreate anime themes into power metal (or as it’s sometimes referred to – speed metal) songs while at the same time translating all lyrics into English known as Animetal USA.

They were unveiled to the Japanese public back in October receiving critical acclaim for their eleven song debut record “Animetal USA” (that included the themes from Dragon Ball, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Saint Seiya & Gatchaman) that was released exclusively in Japan by Sony and were even the opening band at the annual Loud Park Festival in their first live performance together. Since then there hasn’t really been much word on what is next for the band – aside from confirmation that a second album is in the works and some press coverage to keep them in the limelight. One of their recent appearances includes a performance of “Uchuusenkan Yamato” the opening theme to the series Space Battleship Yamato (also known as Stars Blazers in many territories) that can be viewed by clicking HERE. (It even has the complete lyrics as English subtitles too!)

But what is next for the band?

Animetal USA taking suggestions for second album!

A group we introduced you to a few months ago ‘Animetal USA’ who perform power metal style covers of anime themes have announced they are preparing to record their follow up to their debut self titled album but with a twist. They are taking suggestions from fans worldwide for song they should include on the album. You can submit as many suggestions as you want but the only criteria being it must be an anime opening or ending theme song.

The deadline to submit suggestions is December 21st. There are also signed posters up for grabs and the possibility of having your name credited on the next album if your suggestion is included in the final product.

Do take into account that their debut CD featured the following songs:

1. Space Battleship Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato)
2. Gatachaman no Uta (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman)
3. Mazinger Medley (Mazinger)
4. Makafushigi Advanture (Dragon Ball)
5. Zankokuna Tenshi no Thesis (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
6. Ai o Tormidose (Fist Of The North Star)
7. Ganbare Dokaben (Dokaben | “Mr. Baseball” in English)
8. Pegasus Fatasy (Saint Seiya)
9. Ike! Tiger Mask (Tiger Mask)
10. Kinnikuman GO FIGHT! (Kinnikuman | “Ultimate Muscle” in English)
11. Yuke Yuke Hyuuma (Kyojin no Hoshi | “Star of Giants” in English)

You can purchase their debut album from CD-Japan HERE.

If you want to make suggestions of themes that you feel could work really well with a power metal makeover CLICK HERE and you’ll be taken to the submission page where all terms and conditions are listed too.

Here are a few video clips demonstrating what they are like when performing live and a brief interview from Japanese television (that maintains the orignal English audio of the band members) hosted by ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman.

An Introduction To ‘Animetal USA’

When it comes to Anime one aspect of a series that cannot be ignored is that of the opening and closing title sequences. They utilise songs from readily established artists and relative unknowns. It could well be that having a song used in an anime series propels an artist to new heights from the wide exposure a series can bring.

But there was a group by the name of Animetal that went down a different route. The group used their power metal influences to create their own take on various anime songs. (Power metal is best described as very fast metal that can be combined with a symphonic instrument such as a keyboard. A popular example of a power metal band is Dragonforce who emanate from the UK.) From the opening theme to Sailor Moon ‘Miracle Romance’ to the Dragon Ball Z song ‘Cha La Head Cha La’ they went on to record over ten studio albums between 1996 and 2006. Some of these albums included Mie from the popular group Pink Lady. In fact these albums featuring Mie were released under the name of Animetal Lady, pictured right, making a clear reference to the fact she was on the record. Despite the name change they are still included as part of the discography of Animetal.