Animetic+p

Animetic+p is the first CD of Animetic, the concept album of anime covers that had come out only as a download and stream in September 2022. It was announced on 7 June 2023 together with the band's appearance at Anime Expo in Los Angeles and its first US tour in four years, since 2019, and it adds the two songs the band had released the previous December on a digital single with the Norwegian metal singer PelleK, under the title Animetic+p. Asterhythm Music released it on 28 June 2023 as the regular edition, UXCL-299, at 3,000 yen including tax; CDJapan and Rakuten Books list the CD under the plain title Animetic. Tracks one to nine are the nine covers of Animetic in the same order. Track ten, 「一途 PelleK ver.」, covers the song King Gnu released in 2021 as the theme of the film Jujutsu Kaisen 0; the band arranged it and HAL-CA sings twin vocals with PelleK. It was the first ASTERISM recording with singing, and HAL-CA recalled that the schedule from arrangement to final recording had been very tight. Track eleven, "unravel PelleK ver.", is the band's finished version of "unravel" with PelleK's voice laid over it afterwards; whether to keep the lead guitar was settled by everyone together at the mixing stage. Both songs had first appeared on the digital single 「一途 / unravel」 on 9 December 2022. In July the band toured the United States, appearing at the opening ceremony of Anime Expo. Its one-man shows in Santa Ana (The Observatory, 9 July) and New York (S.O.B.'s, 11 July), planned as ticketed concerts, were made free to mark this release and to let people who first met the band at Anime Expo, as well as local students, come along. On 26 July the band announced the Animetic+p FREE LIVE TOUR for August: mini-concerts with signings at Shibuya MODI in Tokyo, LaLaport Tokyo Bay in Funabashi and Nagoya PARCO, the signings being for those who reserved the CD at the venue.