Anthem was founded in Tokyo during 1980 as a quartet, composed of singer Toshihito Maeda, guitarist Akifumi Koyanagi, bass player Naoto Shibata (also known as "Ski") and drummer Takamasa Ohuchi.
In December 1984, vocalist Toshihito Maeda also left and Anthem drafted Eizo Sakamoto for their debut eponymous album, issued in July 1985 by Nexus and licensed to Europe via Roadrunner Records.
Morikawa's voice made the band a great success at that time and he was similar in style, vocal range and ability to Graham Bonnet.
In the beginning of 90s, Anthem dealt with another departure: after the album No Smoke Without Fire was completed, this time without the band's staple producer / engineer Chris Tsangarides, Hiroya Fukuda (guitar) left and was replaced by Hideaki 'Shadow Walker' Nakama.
The lineup on Heavy Metal Anthem was: Graham Bonnet (vocals), Naoto Shibata (bass), Akio Shimizu (guitar) and Takamasa Oouchi (drums).
Later, Hirotsugu Homma (who had played together with Shibata in Loudness) replaced Takamasa Oouchi on drums and Eizo Sakamoto returned to the vocals.
The most recent output has seen Anthem push even further into the Power Metal-tinged style showcased on Domestic Booty and Eternal Warrior with 2008's Black Empire.
[2] After the recovery of Shibata the band played a couple of return shows in July 2013 with the Live Circus Tour following these again in September and October 2013.
The band announced that their greatest hits album, Nucleus, which will feature English-language versions of their songs, will be released on 29 March 2019 by Nuclear Blast Records.
On 17 December 2018, the band released "Black Empire", originally sung by Eizo Sakamoto and now by Yukio Morikawa, as the first single off the album.