D-Metal Stars is an American heavy metal band spin-off of the successful

Animetal USA are a Japan-based American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed as a tribute to Eizo Sakamoto's band Animetal. They made their world debut at the 2011 Loud Park Festival, where they performed on stage with Momoiro Clover Z. The band's ori ...

project. The band covers heavy metal versions of popular Disney songs on

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its r ...

Members

Michael Vescera Michael Vescera is an American heavy metal singer for various bands and projects like Loudness (''Soldier of Fortune'', ''On the Prowl'', ''Live at the Budokan''), Obsession (''Marshall Law'', ''Scarred for Life'', ''Methods of Madness'', '' ...

( Obsession, ex-

Yngwie Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning ov ...

, ex-

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as, "That attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The rel ...

, etc..) - Vocals / Backing Vocals / Keyboards *

Rudy Sarzo Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavieille Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont (born November 18, 1950) is a Cuban American hard rock/ heavy metal bassist. He remains best known for his work with Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake, and has also played ...

(ex-

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

, ex-

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

, ex-

Quiet Riot Quiet Riot is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band founded in Los Angeles in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni. The original lineup featured Rhoads and Garni with lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow and drummer Drew F ...

, etc...) - Bass *John Bruno ( Obsession,

, and X Factor X) - Guitar / Backing Vocals *BJ Zampa (

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, ex-

, ex- Obsession, and ex-

Dokken Dokken is an American glam metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as " Alone Again", " In My Dreams", and " Burn ...

) - Drums

''Metal Disney''

The debut album ''Metal Disney'' was released in October 2016 on

in the Japanese market. It reached No. 3 on the Amazon Japan Hard Rock / Metal Best Sellers chart, and No. 2 on the Children's Chart. The album was then released for the U.S. Market on March 31, 2017 by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

landing on the Billboard, iTunes, and Amazon charts. In June 2017, ''Metal Disney'' became a #1 Best Seller on "Amazon Hard Rock & Metal Digital Music Best Sellers" chart. The album was engineered by Michael Vescera, with assistant engineering by Billy Burke. It was mixed and mastered by

Greg Reely Greg Reely is a Canadian record producer, engineer, and mixer who has worked with acts such as Sarah McLachlan, Front Line Assembly, Fear Factory, Machine Head, Coldplay, The Tea Party, Spirit of the West and others. Credits *BAG - ''BAG'', ''I ...

, who has previously worked with

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan Order of Canada, OC Order of British Columbia, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing ( ...

Fear Factory Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...

, Machine Head,

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

Devin Townsend Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also ...

, and Overkill. The song "I see the Light" from Disney's Tangled features special guests

Demon Kakka , previously known as , is a Japanese musician, songwriter, entertainer, journalist, sumo commentator, actor and voice actor. He first gained fame in the 1980s as vocalist of the heavy metal band Seikima-II, before starting a solo career in ...

on vocals for the second half and Jeff Watson playing guitar solos. Michael Nunno is featured on "Mickey Mouse March" with a keyboard solo, with additional backing vocals by Michael Vescera's brothers, Nat Vescera, and Gary Vescera, as well as John Bruno's wife, Gail Bruno.

Track listing

Chart positions

June 2017 * #1 "Amazon Hard Rock & Metal Digital Music Best Sellers" April 2017 * #2
"Billboard Kids Albums Chart"
* #1
"Billboard Spotify Viral 50"
- Under the Sea * #2
"Billboard Spotify Viral 50"
- Mickey Mouse March * #2
"Billboard Spotify Viral 50"
- It's a Small World * #9
"iTunes Chart"
* #5 "Amazon Hard Rock & Metal Digital Music Best Sellers" * #14 "Amazon Rock Digital Music Best Sellers" October 2016 (Japan Release) * #3 "Amazon Japan Hard Rock & Metal Best Sellers" * #2 "Amazon Japan Childrens Best Sellers"

Related projects

;Disney Super Guitar In 2018, Michael Vescera arranged, produced, and played keyboards on '' Disney Super Guitar'' (also known in Japan as ''Super Guitar Disney''), along with John Bruno on rhythm guitars, BJ Zampa on drums, and Chris Vescera on bass. This instrumental release features a guest lead guitarist on each song, being:

Zakk Wylde Zachary Phillip Wylde (born Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt; January 14, 1967) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and as the founder, lead guitarist, lead singer, songwriter and producer of the heavy meta ...

Paul Gilbert Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X, with whom he released several albums. In 1996, Gilbert launched a solo career, for which h ...

, George Lynch,

Richie Kotzen Richard Dale Kotzen Jr. (born February 3, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. As a solo artist, Kotzen has back catalogue of more than 20 album releases. He was a member of glam metal band Poison from 1991 to 1993, Mr. Big ...

Orianthi Orianthi Penny Panagaris (born 22 January 1985), known mononymously as Orianthi, is an Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter who rehearsed in 2009 with Michael Jackson in preparation for his '' This Is It'' concert series, and performed wi ...

Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal Ronald Jay Blumenthal (born September 25, 1969), better known by his stage name Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal or just simply as Bumblefoot, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. He adopted his nickname from the bacterial infection of the s ...

Mike Orlando Adrenaline Mob is an American heavy metal supergroup formed in early 2011 by singer Russell Allen, guitarist Mike Orlando and drummer Mike Portnoy. The band's current lineup consists of Allen, Orlando, and drummer Jordan Cannata. History The ...

Phil X Theofilos Xenidis (born March 10, 1966), better known as Phil X, is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Since 2013, he has played lead guitar with Bon Jovi and officially replaced former lead guitarist Richie Sambora in 2016. Career Early ...

, Jeff Watson, and

Tak Matsumoto is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also has a successful solo career where, in addition to winn ...

. ''Super Guitar Disney'' became a #1 Best Seller on the Amazon Japan Anime Chart and a #3 Best Seller on Amazon Japan Rock Chart. ;AniMaze X AniMaze X is the latest project from the members of D-Metal Stars. AniMaze X focuses on a wider variety of musical themes such as superheroes, popular cartoons, classic cover songs, Broadway musicals, movie soundtracks, and the D-Metal Stars "classics". At the end of 2020, AniMaze X released their debut Christmas album ''AniMazing Xmas'', which includes metal renditions of favorite Christmas songs, as well as two original metal Christmas songs. In early 2021, AniMaze X released a reimagined metal version of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

classic "

Strawberry Fields Forever "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Penny Lane". It represented a departur ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control American heavy metal musical groups Walt Disney Records artists