BRIDEAR
Biography and full discography of BRIDEAR, with a page for every album, on METAL BOOST.
Biography
Girls' Metal Out of Fukuoka:
More Than a Decade of BRIDEAR
Profile
| Formed | 2012, Fukuoka, Japan |
|---|---|
| Members | KIMI (Vocals) / AYUMI (Guitar) / MOE (Guitar) / HARU (Bass) |
| Former Members | NATSUMI (Drums, from 2019) and others |
| Origin | Fukuoka, Japan |
| Styles | Heavy Metal, Melodic Metal, Power Metal |
| Labels | IYT RECORDS (2023–) / avex trax (2019–2022) / WarRock, Radtone Music, BAKU-ON.ca, MOVEment Records (early years) |
1. A Band That Built Its Record Abroad First
BRIDEAR is a heavy metal band formed in Fukuoka in 2012 around KIMI (vocals) and HARU (bass). Its own site calls the group "world-standard J-METAL," pointing to successful EU and UK tours, strong notices from overseas media, and appearances at SUMMER SONIC and LOUD PARK at home.
What stands out in the chronology is the order of things: the overseas record came before the domestic major-label deal. Between 2013 and 2017 the band put out two singles, a mini album and a full album, and used that footing to start touring Europe. By 2019 it had made five trips abroad and played more than fifty shows, establishing a European audience. The Japanese major-label debut came after all of that. What follows traces the band from its formation to the four-piece playing now.
2. Formation and the Early Records (2012–2018)
The band formed in Fukuoka in 2012. A single, "Thread of the Light / Roulette," followed in March 2013, and the first mini album, Overturn The Doom, that December. A double A-side single, "Light In The Dark / No Salvation," came in October 2014.
The first full album, BARYTE, arrived on March 23, 2016, and it is where a lot of the long-serving material sits — "Marginal Lie," "Scream," "Rebirth," "Light in the Dark." The RISE EP followed in March 2017 and the album HELIX in April 2018, close to a record a year. The European touring never stopped through this period, and in August 2018 a video release, Live Tour 2018 Marcasite, documented it.
3. The Major Deal and the Big Stages (2019–2022)
In 2019 guitarist AYUMI and drummer NATSUMI joined, and on December 4 that year avex trax released Expose Your Emotions — BRIDEAR's major-label debut. The standing the band had earned abroad was now plugged into a domestic system.
Three albums came out of the avex years: Bloody Bride in April 2021 and AEGIS OF ATHENA in April 2022. Bloody Bride also appeared in Europe on Setsuzoku Records some three weeks after the Japanese edition, so by this point the same record was circulating on both sides in parallel. Guitarist MOE joined afterwards. The band played SUMMER SONIC 2022 and opened LOUD PARK in 2023.
4. London, Gothenburg, and Re-recording (2023–2025)
In 2023 came the live album AEGIS OF LONDON…LIVE!, taken from the band's London show, and with it a move to IYT RECORDS as its Japanese home. Its set reaches from early songs such as "Ignite" and "Light in the Dark" through the avex-era material, which makes it a fair summary of where BRIDEAR stood.
In June 2024 the band travelled to Gothenburg, Sweden, to make Born Again with producer Fredrik Nordström. One of its songs, "Still Burning," placed 42nd in Metal Hammer's readers' poll for the best song in the world of 2024. The following April 16, 2025, BRIDEAR released Reborn 2013-2016, on which the current members re-recorded six songs from 2013–2016 that had stayed in the live set.
5. The Line-up Now
As of August 2026 the official site lists four members: KIMI (vocals), AYUMI (guitar), MOE (guitar) and HARU (bass). NATSUMI, the drummer who joined in 2019, has been announced as having left, and the band is playing with a support drummer.
The same site also reports that, because of an unresolved issue between the band and a label, distribution of Born Again has been suspended since July 2025 and the music videos for "Still Burning," "Braver Words" and "CULT" have been removed from YouTube. Part of the catalogue is, for now, harder to reach than it should be.
6. Detailed Member Profiles
KIMI — Vocals
BRIDEAR's vocalist since the band formed in 2012. With HARU she is one of the two figures at its center, and she appears on every record from the first to the most recent.
AYUMI — Guitar
The guitarist who joined in 2019 — the same year the major-label debut Expose Your Emotions appeared. She has shaped the band's sound throughout the avex period and since.
MOE — Guitar
Joined on guitar after 2022's AEGIS OF ATHENA, completing the current twin-guitar line-up, and played on the 2025 re-recording Reborn 2013-2016.
HARU — Bass
The bassist who founded the band with KIMI in 2012, and the other constant at its center.
NATSUMI — Drums (from 2019)
The drummer who joined alongside AYUMI in 2019 and played on the three major-label albums and Born Again. Her departure has been announced on the official site.
7. Discography
| Year | Title | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Overturn The Doom | Mini album (December 18) |
| 2016 | BARYTE | First full album (March 23) |
| 2017 | RISE | EP (March 15) |
| 2018 | HELIX | Album (April 11) |
| 2019 | Expose Your Emotions | Major-label debut (December 4) |
| 2021 | Bloody Bride | Album (April 14) |
| 2022 | AEGIS OF ATHENA | Album (April 20) |
| 2023 | Aegis of London... Live! | Live album |
| 2024 | Born Again | Album (June 28) |
| 2025 | Reborn 2013-2016 | Re-recorded mini album (April 16) |
8. Summary
BRIDEAR is a Japanese heavy metal band formed in Fukuoka in 2012 that built its reputation in Europe before signing to a major at home. Since the 2019 debut it has played SUMMER SONIC and LOUD PARK, and in 2024 it made Born Again in Sweden with an outside producer — a record whose opening song reached a British magazine's readers' poll. Through line-up changes and an unresolved dispute with a label, the band delivered a re-recording of its early material in 2025 and continues as a four-piece.
Trivia
The spelling BRIDEAR was made by turning an existing phrase around. Neither KIMI nor HARU had been in an all-female band before, and they started from the idea that the name should make it obvious at a glance that this was one. BRIDE came up early, but on its own it did not feel right against the music they wanted to play. What settled it was the phrase DEAR BRIDE, which happened to catch their eye: reversed, it gave them BRIDEAR. KIMI's stated reasons for choosing it are that it reads as a women's band and that it simply looks good written down.
"Fake World," on Bloody Bride, is the one song on the record that BRIDEAR did not write. It came from you, formerly the guitarist of Janne Da Arc, and it happened because the two acts were with the same management at the time. KIMI and HARU had both listed Janne Da Arc among their favourite artists in their official profiles long before this; they grew up on the band. KIMI describes writing lyrics to the song and then recording it as real pressure, and admits to being unsettled by seeing her own name in the credits next to his.
The reason HARU plays bass at all involves the same person who wrote "Fake World." The first instrument she picked up was not a bass but a guitar, and she picked it up because of you. Playing it, she decided she was never going to play guitar like that, and switched to bass. More than a decade later she found herself recording one of his songs on the instrument she had switched to — and says she was shaking while she did it. He told her to play it however she liked; she chose to keep the phrases from his demo and work around them.
BRIDEAR started out without knowing that the scene they were about to be filed under existed. KIMI says that in the band's early Fukuoka days they were simply out of the loop: they knew of Aldious, but had no idea a whole "jou-metal" scene had already formed around such bands. Their reasoning was plainer than that — girls playing metal would look great, and in Fukuoka they would be the first. It was only once they began travelling to play elsewhere that they realised they had been swept into a movement already under way.
Expose Your Emotions, the album that became BRIDEAR's major-label debut, was written before anyone knew it would be one. KIMI recalls that while they were making the songs it had not been settled that avex would release it: they made what they wanted to make, then sat with the question of whether avex would sign off on it. It came out on avex trax on December 4, 2019.
"Mirror," the second song on Expose Your Emotions, came out of two different hands. AYUMI — who had joined only that January — wrote the music and brought it in without words, leaving the lyric to KIMI. What came back was built on Through the Looking-Glass. AYUMI describes it as a kind of song BRIDEAR had not done before, and says its groove gave the whole band trouble.
"A Glorious World," on Bloody Bride, is the first song NATSUMI ever wrote. She had no interest in composing when the band made the previous album; listening to what the others were bringing in changed that. She has never been taught theory or chords, and describes putting chords under a melody she had in her head purely by ear. Nor did it sail through — it is the survivor of several she submitted. The lyric came with a request attached: she asked KIMI to write something about being grateful to everyone.
There is a concrete reason the proportion of English lyrics jumps on Bloody Bride: the album was set for simultaneous release in the UK and Europe through SETSUZOKU RECORDS, and KIMI decided that if it was going out there, more of it should be in English. Doing it was another matter — she admits to breaking down at the engineer more than once during the sessions. She got something out of it too. Singing in Japanese, she had never had to think about how to hold a vowel or where the voice would resonate; in English she had to think about all of it, and that is when she realised how much she had been leaning on her own language.
News
BRIDEAR Launch A Crowdfunding Campaign Over Their Unresolved Overseas Label Contract Dispute
In a notice on their official site, the band say the contract dispute with an overseas label that they had previously told fans about has not been resolved on the terms they wanted, and that some of their recordings and music videos remain pulled from streaming services. The campaign runs on CAMPFIRE from 21:00 on August 25 until 23:59 on September 30.
BRIDEAR To Hold ‘MOE Birthday Party 2026’ In Kichijoji On October 11
The birthday event for guitarist Moe takes place at Kichijoji Bar SHUWA-WA in two sets on the day, the first at 14:50 doors and 15:00 start, the second at 17:50 and 18:00. Tickets are ¥11,000 including tax and come with a buffet meal and two hours of free drinks.
BRIDEAR To Play 'ASTERISM vs BRIDEAR' At Shinjuku ANTIKNOCK On November 8
ASTERISM, BRIDEAR and opening act Monochrome Cinderella share the bill. Doors 18:00, start 18:20; advance tickets are ¥4,500 and ¥5,000 on the door, both plus a ¥600 drink charge, and went on sale through LivePocket at 21:00 on August 20.
“Tokyo Calling 2026” Announces Final Wave Of 70 Acts
LUMiRISE, BRIDEAR and ASTERISM are among them; the festival runs across Shimokitazawa on September 22, Shinjuku on September 26 and Shibuya on September 27.
Current Members
Current lineup verified from the official artist source on 2026-08-10. Official profile
Albums
A mini album on which the current line-up re-records six songs from 2013-2016 that had stayed in the live set ever since.
Recorded in Gothenburg with producer Fredrik Nordström; its opener "Still Burning" placed 42nd in Metal Hammer's readers' poll for the best song of 2024.
A live album from the band's London show — and the record whose release moved their Japanese home to IYT RECORDS.
The third and last of the avex albums, carried into a SUMMER SONIC 2022 appearance; guitarist MOE joined after it.
The second avex album — twelve songs, followed three weeks later by a European edition on Setsuzoku Records.
The major-label debut on avex, made by a line-up that had just gained guitarist AYUMI and drummer NATSUMI.
Seven songs opening on an instrumental title track, made in the years when the band's reputation in Europe was hardening.
A four-track EP led by the advance single "IGNITE," cut during the band's touring years abroad.
The first full album, four years in — and the source of four of the six songs re-cut for 2025's Reborn 2013-2016.
The first mini album, out the year after the band formed; "Pray" and "Wing Of Hope" were still worth re-cutting twelve years later.