Shadow

Although Shadow falls neatly into the melodic, riff-driven death metal style centered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and typified by bands like Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, and Arch Enemy, they're actually from Osaka, Japan -- and fronted by a female vocalist who can growl and roar with the best of them. Shadow was formed in 1993 by bassist Yoshio "Cain" Kubo, who hooked up with the guitar team of Yuichi Sumimoto and Shinichiro Okada, both of whom were schooled in neo-classical metal as well as the standard death/black metal. Drummer Mitsuhiro Enomoto completed the initial lineup, which still lacked a vocalist; nonetheless, Shadow cut a demo in 1997 using a session singer, which found its way to Spikefarm Records in Finland. The label requested a second demo and signed Shadow based on the results; by now, the band had recruited female vocalist Tokiko Shimamoto, who defied genre norms by singing in a classic death metal style, rather than the ethereal, gothic-tinged melodicism that was becoming commonplace in the new millennium. The band spent late 2000 recording their official debut album, and also toured Japan as the opening act for both Dismember and Napalm Death. Their self-titled debut was released in 2001 by Spikefarm and soon licensed for international release by Century Media that summer. ~ Steve Huey