The Anthem

One of the first major Japanese heavy metal bands, Anthem emerged in the wake of scene leaders Loudness and Earthshaker in the early 1980s. The group quickly parlayed great success in their homeland into a slew of international releases, with highlights arriving via Tightrope (1986), Bound to Break (1987), and Gypsy Ways (1988). Lineup changes and the paradigm shift from hard rock to grunge forced the group to disband in 1992, but they re-formed eight years later and issued a string of albums like Heavy Metal Anthem (2000), Black Empire (2008), and Engraved (2017), which sold ...