On July 7, Brian Rademacher of RockEyez conducted an interview with ANIMETAL USA and IMPELLITTERI guitarist Chris Impellitteri. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

ANIMETAL USA is the American counterpart to ANIMETAL, the Japanese heavy metal band which specialized in metal covers of popular Japanese anime/tokusatsu theme songs.

ANIMETAL USA made its U.S. live debut on June 29 at the Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center at the Main Events/Hall G.

The band released its self-titled debut album in the U.S. on June 26 via Century Media Records.

The track listing of "Animetal USA" is the same as that of the album that was issued in Japan, but also includes four bonus songs — "Touch", "JAM Project Medley", "Give Lee Give Lee Rock Lee" (Japanese single version) and "Give Lee Give Lee Rock Lee" (English version). "Give Lee Give Lee Rock Lee" should already be familiar to anime fans, as it is the opening song to the "Naruto" spin-off, "Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals".

ANIMETAL USA is:

* Mike Vescera (OBSESSION, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, LOUDNESS) - Vocals
* Rudy Sarzo (BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, OZZY OSBOURNE, QUIET RIOT, WHITESNAKE, DIO) – Bass
* Jon Dette (SLAYER, TESTAMENT) - Drums
* Chris Impellitteri (IMPELLITTERI) - Guitar

The drums on ANIMETAL USA's debut album were laid down by JUDAS PRIEST's Scott Travis. He has since been forced to leave the group due to his touring commitments with PRIEST.

Interview:



Performance: