Japan has an unprecedented number of all-girl rock bands and this trend is especially obvious when we dig into the local metal scene, where, by now, all-female metal bands basically became more popular than nearly any of their all-male counterparts… both on a domestic and international level. Of course, it wasn’t always like that: back in the ’80s, during the golden age of Japanese heavy metal, it was as much a male-dominated scene as anywhere else, but even back then there was a very important exception: the band called Show-ya. They formed in 1981, became quite popular and even launched their own all-female rock festival, Naon no Yaon in ’87. But not many bands followed their footsteps until around 2007 / 2008, when Destrose and Aldious formed and the latter became very popular. This kickstarted the all-female metal trend, with more and more bands popping up ever since and by now it became a scene on its own right, with dozens of bands, a dedicated magazine (Metallion) and the most popular acts are filling huge venues. And these top acts include Lovebites, a band that formed in 2016 (by two ex-Destrose members) and became and international sensation just two years later when they scored the Best New Band prize at Metal Hammer‘s Golden God Awards.

All-female metal bands becoming the norm in Japan is especially interesting when we look at it from an international perspective: while there are many female-fronted metal bands around the world (just to name a few: Nightwish, Arch Enemy, Jinjer, Battle Beast or Halestorm, whose track Love Bites (So Do I) is where Lovebites got their name from), all-female bands are very rare. Of course, there is a few, like the classic Girlschool, the nu-metal act Kittie or the newly formed Blue Medusa, but there are few and far between. So, it is quite understandable why all these acts coming from Japan were both a surprise and a revelation of sorts for the Western audiences. But also, the success of bands like Lovebites was important to make people realize that when it comes to women and metal, the Babymetal sort of idol acts are not the only thing Japan has to offer.

And Lovebites managed to build upon its initial European success: they performed at Wacken Open Air just a few months after getting the Metal Hammer award (and a series of rave reviews along with that) and they’ve been touring the continent ever since. Their current tour was the first one to include Budapest in the schedule, so, as I never got around to travel to see them elsewhere, it was my chance to check them out live at last. They played at Analog Music Hall, a venue with approx. 450 capacity, which turned out to be the perfect size for them as with the show day sales it ended up being a sold out gig.

While this one was officially the release tour of their latest album, Outstanding Power, they ended up playing only four tracks off that one, with their 2018 breakthrough  Clockwork Immortality coming in second with three songs. And they included at least one track of each of their five full-lengths and also added Unchained from their 2024 Lovebites EP II, so, it was more of a best of sort of setlist… but, especially as it was my first time seeing them live, I have definitely no complaint about that!

The most popular genre amongst the all-female metal bands in Japan is definitely power metal and Lovebites also falls into this category: extra fast tempo, the typical galloping rhythm and over-the-top epicness, so all the features of the classic power metal sound that evolved from the traditional heavy metal of the NWOBHM bands. One of the Lovebites’ trademarks are their classy, full white costumes, which are in strong contrast with their heavy and ultra fast music and their insane skills and precision. The rhythm section consists of drummer Haruna and bassist Fami, who joined the band a couple of years ago after their original bassist, Miho left (btw, Miho recently formed a new band, Zilqy, along with Toki, formerly of Aldious, proving the scene works like a big family, where everyone knows everyone). They were in charge of providing the super fast backdrop to the two guitarists, the ever smiling Midori (who is also an award winning fitness competitor) and Miyako, who on the other hand, kept a poker face for the most part, while Asami layered her very feminine, yet very powerful vocals on top.

And even thought, it was their first time in Hungary, it was obvious that many people in the audience were already familiar with their music, singing along the lyrics (which are in English, which might be one of the reasons why they became this popular in Europe) or arrived in t-shirts from previous Lovebites EU tours. The sound quality in this venue isn’t always the best, but the band’s sound technician really did a great job, so this time there was nothing to interfere with the overall excellent performance. For me Stand and Deliver (Shoot ’em Down), one of their most recognizable songs was the absolute highlight of the concert, but I am pretty sure everyone left the venue completely satisfied as the band did an excellent job proving they absolutely deserve all the praise they received since their international breakthrough.