Outrage is a Japanese thrash metal band, formed in Nagoya in 1982. They made their debut in 1987 with a lineup of Yosuke Abe on guitar, Yoshihiro Yasui on bass, Shinya Tange on drums and Naoki Hashimoto on vocals. Hashimoto left the band in 1999, but the group continued as a three piece and he returned in 2007. With a career spanning over four decades, Outrage are one of few Japanese metal bands to have never disbanded or paused activities.
Niche Syndrome is the fourth studio album by Japanese rock band One Ok Rock, released on June 9, 2010. It was released as a normal CD-only edition and a limited CD+DVD edition. This album includes the group's single "Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer", which was released earlier in 2010. This was the first album that did not feature original lead guitarist Alex Onizawa.
Coldrain are a Japanese rock band from Nagoya, Japan, who were formed in 2007. The band combines melodic singing with screams typical of the post-hardcore genre. Although the band is Japanese, all of their songs are written in English. Since its formation in 2007, the band retained the same lineup with no member changes. The lineup consists of lead vocalist Masato Hayakawa, guitarists Ryo Yokochi (Y.K.C.) and Kazuya Sugiyama (Sugi), bassist Ryo Shimizu (RxYxO) and drummer Katsuma Minatani. Hayakawa has a Japanese father and an American mother and speaks both Japanese and English fluently.
My First Story (マイ・ファースト・ストーリー、マイファス、MFS) is a Japanese rock band from Shibuya, Tokyo. Formed in 2011, the band currently consists of vocalist Hiroki Moriuchi, guitarist Teruki Nishizawa, bassist Nobuaki Katō, and drummer Shōhei Sasaki. Their debut album My First Story (2012) caught people's attention and put them in lineups of major music festivals. Their fourth studio album Antithese (2016) ranked 4th on Oricon chart, and directed their first Nippon Budokan live show, gathering 12,000.
SiM are a Japanese alternative metal band from the Kanagawa Prefecture formed in 2004. The band currently consists of MAH (vocals), SHOW-HATE (guitar), SIN (bass), and GODRi (drums). Their musical style mixes heavy metal, alternative, hip hop, ska, reggae, dub and punk with rebellious lyrics and songs with attitude.
Japanese metal is heavy metal music from Japan. The country's first metal bands formed in the mid-to-late 1970s. The number of acts increased significantly in the next decade, but only a few saw their material released internationally, including Europe and North America with their pre-established metal bases. Domestic metal saw its commercial peak in Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the top acts selling millions of records. Many metal bands from the visual kei scene toured and gained recognition in the West in the 2000s. The 2010s saw a boom of all-female metal bands form and gain mainstream attention.
Band-Maid is a Japanese rock band formed in 2013, consisting of singer Saiki Atsumi, guitarist/singer Miku Kobato, lead guitarist Kanami Tōno, bassist Misa, and drummer Akane Hirose. The band combines a rock sound with a maid image modeled on Japanese maid cafés. They are currently signed to Pony Canyon. Their most recent studio recording, the EP Unleash, was released in September 2022.
Suchmos is a Japanese rock group formed in 2013. Suchmos was inspired by African-American music such as rock, jazz, and hip-hop. The band's name, Suchmos, is adapted from a jazz musician Louis Armstrong’s nickname, “Satchmo”.
Japanese rock, sometimes abbreviated to J-rock, is rock music from Japan. Influenced by American and British rock of the 1960s, the first rock bands in Japan performed what is called group sounds, with lyrics almost exclusively in English. Folk rock band Happy End in the early 1970s are credited as the first to sing rock music in the Japanese language. Punk rock bands Boøwy and The Blue Hearts and hard rock/heavy metal groups X Japan and B'z led Japanese rock in the late 1980s and early 1990s by achieving major mainstream success.
Just Bring It is the fourth studio album and first full-length album by Japanese band Band-Maid, released on January 11, 2017 in Japan via Crown Stones and February 10, 2017 internationally by JPU Records. The record was preceded by the quintet's first world tour and the single "YOLO", released in November 2016. The album reached number 16 on the Japanese Oricon Albums Chart, selling 4,015 copies in its first week.
Mary's Blood was a Japanese all-female heavy metal band from Tokyo, formed in 2009 by four former members of Destrose. It consists of vocalist Eye, drummer Mari, guitarist Saki and bassist Rio since 2012. After releasing three EPs as an independent band, they signed to Nippon Columbia for their first album, Countdown to Evolution (2014). Mary's Blood then switched to Victor Entertainment for the release of Bloody Palace (2015) and Fate (2016). They signed to Tokuma Japan Communications in 2018 and released three further studio albums, including their highest-charting, Confessions (2019). Mary's Blood began an indefinite hiatus on April 9, 2022.
Lovebites is a Japanese heavy metal band, formed in 2016 by former Destrose members Miho and Haruna. Its lineup currently consists of Haruna on drums, Midori and Miyako on guitar, Asami on vocals, and Fami on bass. After signing to Victor Entertainment, the group released both their debut EP and their first album in 2017, The Lovebites EP and Awakening from Abyss, before performing their first overseas concerts at the end of the year. With another EP and album released in 2018, Battle Against Damnation and Clockwork Immortality, Lovebites quickly garnered international attention and won that year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award for Best New Band. Following the releases of Electric Pentagram (2020) and Glory, Glory, to the World (2021), bassist Miho left the band in August 2021. After a year-long hiatus, Lovebites recruited Fami on bass and released Judgement Day, their fourth album, in February 2023. It is their highest-charting record to date, reaching number 5 on both the Oricon and Billboard Japan charts.
Brand New Maid is the third studio album by Japanese all-female rock band Band-Maid. It was released on May 18, 2016, and was their first album to be released internationally. Music videos were made for "The Non-Fiction Days," "Before Yesterday," and "Alone." The album reached number 19 on the Japanese Oricon Albums Chart, selling 4,189 copies in its first week.
Rami is a Japanese heavy metal singer and lyricist. She first rose to prominence as vocalist and co-founder of the all-female power metal band Aldious from 2008 to 2012. After a hiatus, she resumed musical activities in 2015 as the vocalist of the group Raglaia, before starting a solo career in 2016.
Conqueror is the sixth studio album by the Japanese all-female rock band Band-Maid. It was released digitally on December 4, 2019, with physical formats released one week later. It debuted at number nine on the Oricon Albums Chart and debuted at number one on the Oricon weekly Rock Album ranking. The album was preceded by the singles "Glory" and "Bubble", both released in January 2019. The international version from JPU Records includes English lyric translations and Romaji lyric transliterations.
Unseen World is the seventh studio album by the Japanese all-female rock band Band-Maid. It was released digitally on January 13, 2021, with physical formats released one week later. It is the band's first album for Pony Canyon.
Jiluka is a Japanese visual kei metal band initially formed in May 2013 but restarted in February 2015. The group are an independent band on the label DPR Japan, consisting of members Ricko, Sena, the main songwriter of the songs, Boogie and Zyean. They have released 7 albums and 6 singles so far. It was ranked at the 12 position on the JRock News's top 15 visual kei and Japanese rock artists of 2019. Jiluka is described as "Modern metal visual kei".
Bridear is a Japanese power metal band from Fukuoka, formed in 2011. It currently consists of singer Kimi, guitarists Moe and Ayumi, bassist Haru, and drummer Natsumi. They are represented by Zest and release music under the Avex Trax label.
Luxury Disease is the tenth studio album by Japanese rock band One Ok Rock, released on September 9, 2022, through Fueled by Ramen, and produced by Rob Cavallo. The song "Vandalize" appears in the end credits from the 2022 game Sonic Frontiers.
Mai Yajima is a Japanese heavy metal singer. Since her debut in 2013, she has released 2 studio albums, 6 EPs and 5 singles.
