PLANET OF METAL

PLANET OF METAL is a collaboration EP by ASTERISM and the illustrator Acky Bright, billed as ASTERISM × Acky Bright and credited "Music by ASTERISM" and "Art by Acky Bright". The two sides met at Anime Expo in Los Angeles in July 2023, and the project grew out of that meeting; it was announced on 15 May 2024. Acky Bright drew new artwork from a story both sides devised, and the band wrote music from the images, a way of working Acky Bright described as a session in which the art and the music were made side by side. The story is set on a planet at the edge of the galaxy where a curse, said to come from a "Mecha Skull", drives the creatures wild; ASTERISM set out to end it, guided by a zombie they rescued along the way, Zom-chan. An opening track, "-OP- Planet Of Metal", is followed by six episodes, from "-EP1- THE DRAGON" through "THE NINJA", "THE SQUID", "THE ZOMBIE" and "THE ROBOT" to "-EP6- THE TITAN", each a monster standing in the band's path. The members said they composed each piece as if to defeat its enemy, and that the writing grew harder the closer they came to the final boss. SME Records released the seven tracks digitally on 22 May 2024. Three days later a Mecha Skull T-shirt and a sticker set went on sale in limited numbers online and at FOX_FEST, BABYMETAL's festival at Saitama Super Arena, where ASTERISM played. On 26 June the Collaboration MUSIC BOOK followed: the seven tracks on CD with a 28-page A4 book of artwork, a limited pressing (SECL-2980/2981) priced at 4,500 yen. In November the band took the music on the road as ASTERISM Live Tour 2024 -PLANET OF METAL-, playing The Echo in Los Angeles, eVOL in Fukuoka, Yogibo META VALLEY in Osaka and Daikanyama UNIT in Tokyo.