Galneryus

Galneryus was formed in early 2001 by guitarist Syu formerly from Valkyr Animetal Aushvitz and Masaki Project along with vocalist YamaB frontman of AxBites Rekion River End and solo artist of Gunbridge. Both veterans of the Japanese metal scene they formed Galneryus with the intention to express both of their musical tastes/ideas and so they started looking for additional members to complete the band. They recruited A on keyboards who had previously played with Syu in Valkyr Shgo Himuro on bass and Toshihiro Tossan Yui formerly of Cemetery Honey Quest on drums. In October 2001 the band released a 2track demo titled United Flag. The demo was selfproduced and released independently. This EP started gaining the attention of both fans and independent record labels as well. After playing with other metal bands like Fairy Mirror Mephistopheles Galactica Phantom Mastermind and Concerto Moon Galneryus went back to the studio to record a second EP. Rebel Flag was released through the independent label Iron Shock in August 2002. The EP again used support musicians to fill the band slots with Shgo Himuro again on bass Toshihiro Yui again on drums and Yoshinori Kataoka on keyboards replacing A. In 2003 they were invited to play the Melodic Metal Festival in Japan which featured Swedish power metal band Dragonland as well as Australias Dungeon. As a result Dragonland invited Galneryus to play with them the next time they toured Japan. Galneryus was also invited to perform on two metal compilation cover albums with other bands such as Masaki Project Saber Tiger and Mephistopheles. Galneryus performed the song Black Diamond originally from Finnish power metal band Stratovarius on the compilation album Stand Proud III and performed the song Soldier of Fortune from Japanese heavy metal band Loudness on the compilation album Japanese Heavy Metal Tribute Tamashii II. For these songs the band used supporting musicians Toshihiro Yui on drums Yusuke on bass and Yuhki on keyboards. Both compilation albums were released simultaneously in December 2002 on the same day through Iron Shock and distributed through the record label VAP. VAP itself signed Galneryus and the band set to work on writing and recording their fulllength album The Flag of Punishment which featured all 5 EP songs rewritten and rerecorded and also cover art by famed Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano. At this time Galneryus ceased using temporary members and recruited permanently Tsui on bass Yuhki ..boards formerly of Ark Storm and Marge Litch and Junichi Satoh on drums. The album was finally released in October 2003. In March 2005 Galneryus released their second album Advance to the Fall. They released their third fulllength album Beyond the End of Despair... in July 2006. After the Live for Rebirth tour Tsui left Galneryus and YuTo Deluhi was recruited to fill in for bass. The band shortly after released One for All All for One in 2007. Recently Galneryus has debuted on iTunes Music Store making their material widely available in the United States. On October 10 2008 it was announced that vocalist YamaB and bassist YuTo were leaving the band at the end of the Back To The Flag tour. The decision was made while in the process or recording/releasing of their fifth full album Reincarnation. According to YamaBs note left to the fans on Galneryus official site he left due to the bands growth and change. In the note YamaB stated that due to the differences in the style of their music he was leaving. He and the rest of Galneryus and Mr. Hisatake are all OK with this and wish each other well as they go their separate ways. Since the band formed Galneryus adopted a dress style that bordered between Visual Kei and SciFi. However recently they have adopted a more modern dress with the release of their third fulllength album. Galneryus also writes all of their lyrics in English. However in more recent songs in particular Serenade Everlasting and The Night Craver there are Japanese lyrics. Syu mentioned in a recent interview that the band would be incorporating some Japanese lyrics into their new album One for All All for One. Their songs Alsatia and Cause Disarray are featured on the anime Mnemosyne as the opening and end theme respectively. Current Lineup Syu Lead/Rhythm Guitars/Backing Vocals Masatoshi Sho Ono Vocals Taka Bass Yuhki Keyboards/Backing Vocals Junichi Satoh Drums Source: http://www.vap.co.jp/galneryus/ http://www.myspace.com/galneryusworld