Singers, guitarists and drummers have come and gone from ANTHEM. The bassist has not. Naoto Shibata is the band’s leader and the one person who has been in every lineup.
Hokkaido to Tokyo
Shibata was born on 10 May 1958 in Kitami, on the northern island of Hokkaido. ANTHEM formed in Tokyo in 1981 and made its major-label debut in 1985, in the same wave of Japanese heavy metal as LOUDNESS and EARTHSHAKER.
The 1987 album BOUND TO BREAK was produced by Chris Tsangarides, the British producer known for his work with Judas Priest. The band’s singers in that first era were Eizo Sakamoto, until 1987, and then Yukio Morikawa.
The Gap
ANTHEM broke up in 1992. At the end of 1994, Shibata joined LOUDNESS as its bassist, and stayed until 2000, when Akira Takasaki reunited that band’s original members.
Shibata’s response was to restart his own band. In 2000 he made HEAVY METAL ANTHEM, a set of ANTHEM songs sung by Graham Bonnet, formerly of Rainbow. ANTHEM formally re-formed in 2001, with Sakamoto back at the microphone.
Cancer
In December 2012 a routine health check found stomach cancer. He had surgery in January 2013. In May 2013 he was back on stage, at Ozzfest Japan.
The singers changed places again the following year. Morikawa returned in 2014 and has fronted the band since.
The Recent Years
NUCLEUS came out in 2019 on the German label Nuclear Blast, and CRIMSON & JET BLACK followed in 2023.
In 2025 the band marked forty years since its major debut. A four-CD set, BREATHING REAL 40 years of ANTHEM, was released on 5 September 2025: forty songs, chosen by Shibata, with his own commentary on each. On 27 September 2025, ANTHEM played an anniversary concert at Zepp DiverCity in Tokyo that ran for four hours in three parts. The lineup is Shibata, Morikawa, guitarist Akio Shimizu and drummer Isamu Tamaru.
Why It Matters
Japanese metal has plenty of bands named for their singers or guitarists in the public mind. ANTHEM is the bassist’s band, and has been for forty-five years.
Start with BOUND TO BREAK, then NUCLEUS.
