Steampunk metal from Tokyo with Captain Mina at the helm
FATE GEAR formed in Tokyo in July 2015 around guitarist and composer „Captain“ Mina, who had previously played in Destrose — a band widely seen as one of the trailblazers of Japan’s all-female metal scene that helped pave the way for Babymetal and Lovebites. After a health-related break Mina founded FATE GEAR with vocalist Nico, and the debut album A Light in the Black followed just one month later.
The band’s concept is a steampunk airship voyage: Mina is the captain and the rest of the musicians are her crew. The songs tell cinematic stories of battles, shadow realms and sky kingdoms, musically built around driving power metal, symphonic arrangements and Mina’s signature melodic guitar work that betrays her love of classic game and anime soundtracks. Fans and Mina herself often describe the sound as „video-game-like melodic metal“.
After several lineup changes Mina has settled into a deliberately fluid approach, with guest vocalists and session players rotating in and out depending on the project — an approach that is fairly common in Japan’s indie metal scene. On the live front NANA has been the regular vocalist since the first European tour in 2019. FATE GEAR have released five studio albums and several EPs to date, ranging from A Light in the Black (2015) through OZ -Rebellion- (2017) and The Sky Prison (2021) to Kill the Shadow King (2024). Their track MEGABULLETS was featured in the Netflix anime series Kengan Ashura.
Internationally FATE GEAR have built their reputation in Europe in particular: the 2019 European tour was crowdfunded, and was followed by runs in 2020, 2023 (Germany including stops at Breminale festival and Anime Messe Babelsberg, plus the Netherlands and the UK) and the Live In Blood Tour 2024 with concerts in Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and a finale at Poland’s Magnificon festival. A new Japan tour is planned for 2026 with shows in Fukuoka, Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
