United (band)

United
Origin	Tokyo, Japan
Genres	Thrash metal,death metal, heavy metal (early years)
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Hold Up, Howling Bull, Metal Blade, Victor Entertainment, Spiritual Beast, 413 Tracks
Associated acts	X Japan, Doom
Website	Official website
Members	Yoshifumi "Hally" Yoshida Singo Otani Akira Masatoshi Yuasa
Past members	Oz Yasu Tsukahara Jouichi "Joe" Hirokawa Kouichi "Nao" Takeshi "Mantas" Nakazato Tetsuo "Tetsu" Takizawa Masaki "Marchan" Hara Iwao Furusawa Yoshiaki Furui Hirokazu Uchino Shinichi Inazu Yusuke Nakamura Nob Faisal "Kenshin" Al-Salem Akihiro Yokoyama

United is a thrash metal band from Japan formed in 1981. They took their name from the song of the same name, off of Judas Priest's British Steel.

Originally a Judas Priest and Black Sabbath cover band, they began to write their own material in 1983 when bassist Yokoyama joined. United have played numerous times in North America and have had a couple of their albums released there as well. They have played with Anthrax, Slayer, Testament and Machine Head on their Japanese tours, and in 2010 was Paul Di'Anno's live band for his. In 2009, the group recruited Kuwaiti frontman, Kenshin. They released their ninth album Tear of Illusions on April 20, 2011. At the end of 2012, the band announced that Kenshin had left the group. Masatoshi Yuasa, who was their frontman from 2000 to 2004, returned as the vocalist of United in April 2013. The band's longest serving member, bassist and manager Akihiro Yokoyama, died on May 13, 2014. A concert titled Yoko Fest The Final was held in his honor on September 12 2014 that featured nearly every member of United, past and present, and other diverse acts such as Head Phones President, Passpo, Garlic Boys, Flow, and Outrage.

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