Formed with the goal of playing metal all over the world, METAL SAFARI managed to cover quite a bit of ground before three of its four members parted ways with the band in 2012.
METAL SAFARI was formed in March 2005 by Inamoto, Hiro-yuki and Yazu with the goal of playing metal all over the world. This line-up quickly recorded three consecutive demos, which were distributed for free at their shows. Hiro has confessed that the name METAL SAFARI was chosen mainly because the members thought it would be easy for listeners to remember.
Their friend Jun joined as the bassist in July 2005 and, with that, the band was complete. That August, Hiro was filmed for the DVD of Young Guitar's October 2005 issue. The band also shot a promotional video for Hell's Blast.
In September, METAL SAFARI played their debut show and finished the recording of their first demo album, The First 7 Songs. Their first full-length album, titled Return to my blood , was released on May 21, 2006. To promote it, they took part in the KRANK supported Awaken Asian Attack tour and played at Taiwan's biggest music festival, FORMOZ FEST. They also performed at a multi-genre festival in China called the Modern Sky Festival.
In 2007, they continued with their RETURN TO MY BLOOD tour in Japan and planned to visit other continents. This ambition was realized in December, when METAL SAFARI joined up with six other bands on the Metalfilia 2007 tour, which took them across Poland.
In 2010, METAL SAFARI released their second album, Prisoner. They also released a remixed, re-mastered edition of Return to my blood digitally, making it more accessible to overseas fans, and returned for another tour of Taiwan and China. Sadly, that year also saw Jun leave the band for personal reasons after their Tokyo live on August 20. The band then began auditioning new bassists, promising to do their best to live up to their fans’ expectations.
In September 2011, they recruited Tomo for the job. That November brought a tour of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya and, with a solid new line-up, they seemed ready to get back to work.
Unfortunately, on December 24, 2012, the band suffered a crushing blow. That day, the members posted messages on their official website announcing that Inamoto, Yazu and Tomo had all left the band. However, Hiro stated that he still has things he wishes to accomplish with METAL SAFARI, and that he plans to make a fresh start with new members. Inamoto and Tomo also mentioned that they intended to continue making music and asked the fans to support them in their future projects.
In 2013, after leaving METAL SAFARI, Inamoto and Tomo formed a new band called IN FOR THE KILL, which played its first show at an event called SURVIVE presents REBEL-NATION Vol.7 on June 2nd. Hiro, on the other hand, has been busy mixing and producing records for hardcore and metal bands like MergingMoon and NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST at his studio, STUDIO PRISONER.
