The line-up of the first edition of METAL MATSURI is complete. The organisation behind this festival in the United Kingdom, ORIONlive UK, announced the last band: BRIDEAR. The headliners of the festival are Mary’s Blood and Unlucky Morpheus.
It is time to shine a light on all the bands that will perform during the festival, because in total 10 metal acts will perform on 3 and 4 October 2019. And that is quite a lot! On 4 October the acts Mary’s Blood, Mardelas, Rie A.K.A. Suzaku, LIPSTICK and ZEROSHIKI will perform. On 5 October the acts Unlucky Morpheus, BRIDEAR, FATE GEAR, Blood Stain Child and AYA1000RR will perform.
Mary’s Blood
Mary’s Blood are an all-female power metal band from Tokyo, consisting of Eye, Saki, Rio and Mari, and active since 2009. A few of the members are from the heavy metal band Destrose, who went on indefinite hiatus in 2015. The group have had numerous releases since their debut EP in 2011. With a move to new Japanese label Tokuma, Mary’s Blood released their latest album Revenant in 2018 and their latest opus Confessions is set to release on 12 June, 2019. The band continue to tour extensively and have been labelled as one of the best female power metal groups around.
Unlucky Morpheus
Known to fans as Ankimo, the band Unlucky Morpheus are active as an independent metal act that self-publish their works, whose music is described as technical melodic speed metal. In the beginning, they produced albums that were connected with Touhou Project, in 2014, the band released their first original album, affected. The band celebrated their 10th-anniversary last year with a one-man tour and their latest release is the album CHANGE OF GENERATION, that was released in September. The band consists of vocalists Fuki and Kasumi, guitarists Shiren and Jinya, bassist Hiroyuki Ogawa, violinist Jill and drummer FUMIYA.
Rie a.k.a. Suzaku
Rie a.k.a. Suzaku is a Japanese solo heavy metal guitarist and composer and is known as the first Japanese woman who pursued a career as a solo metal guitarist. She debuted in 2010 and released her first album in 2012. Rie a.k.a. Suzaku came in contact with heavy metal through her mother and learned to play electric guitar by herself. Currently, the musician is contracted under Poppin Records. In 2017, she became part of the girl rock band RiViNi with vocalist Nicky, bassist Ami and drummer vivi (ex-GangLioN).
LIPSTICK
For the rock band, LIPSTICK, consisting of Sindy, Sally and Sakae, it is the first-ever international performance. Founded in 2012, the group is active in Tokyo. The band started a new genre with their music, called MASSIVE ROCK. You can expect a catchy melody combined with a heavy sound. In 2018, the band released their third album, titled FULL THROTTLE, followed by a live album later that year. Their latest release was in February with the single ZERO TIGER, their sixth single.
MARDELAS
The rock band MARDELAS has been active since 2014 and consists of singer Marina Hebiishi, guitarist Kikyo Oikawa, bassist Hisayuki Motoishi and drummer Hideaki Yumida. In 2015 they released their major album Mardelas I under the label KING RECORDS NEXUS. MARDELAS performed in 2017 at Connichi, which was their first full-time concert in Europe. Around 2500 people watched the show at this event.
Blood Stain Child
The heavy metal band Blood Stain Child has had several line-up changes since the start in 2000, currently, the band consists of vocalist Saika, guitarists Ryu and G.S.R, bassist Yakky and drummer Yasu. The band combines melodic death metal with electronic and trance. Their latest release is the album THE LEGEND in 2018.
FATE GEAR
The all-female steampunk power metal band already had a European tour planned for March, but will return in October for a show at METAL MATSURI. In 2015 FATE GEAR was formed by the former member of the band Destrose, Mina and vocalist Nico Shizuka. The band line-up that will be named as crew consists furthermore of composer and arranger Kurumi, Yuri on keyboards, bassist Erika, and drummer Haruka. FATE GEAR released 3 albums, the EP Headless Goddess was released on 9 January. Vocalist IBUKI (ex-Disqualia) will join the band for this show.
BRIDEAR
The name BRIDEAR is not unknown for fans of power metal music from Japan. The all-female metal band is active since 2011 and have toured Europe four times, the last time was in November 2018. The band released their mini-album HELIX in April last year. The last change of the band line-up was at the end of 2018, when guitarist Mitsuru decided to leave the band. Current members are vocalist KIMI, guitarists AYUMI and MISAKI, bassist HARU en drummer YURI.
ZEROSHIKI
ZEROSHIKI will be the opening act for 4 October. The band supported NECRONOMIDOL in the United States and will make their debut in the United Kingdom during METAL MATSURI. Active since 1998, under the name Hyakushiki (百式), the band changed their name in 2005 to their current name. The band consists of vocalist Dai, guitarist Shou en bassist Mugi.
AYA1000RR
AYA1000RR will be the opening act for 5 October. The singer-songwriter with a big passion for motorcycles will perform for the first time in the United Kingdom. She owns a custom guitar with a design of a motor and sings about her passion.
METAL MATSURI will take place on 4 and 5 October at O2 Academy Islington in London. The VIP Pre-Party will take place on Friday 3 October at The Underbelly Hoxton Square. Tickets can be bought through EventBrite.
Source: ORIONlive UK
