UVERworld

UVERworld first assembled with notable scale in 2002, its opening configuration containing seven musicians that included a dedicated saxophonist. After both the saxophonist and the original vocalist departed, the remaining members abandoned the name Sangoku Road in favor of UVERworld and adopted a standard rock-band format. Momentum built gradually, reaching a decisive point in 2005 when “D-TechnoLife” was selected for the anime Bleach, a series that had already introduced multiple J-rock acts to wider audiences. The exposure lifted the band’s debut single to strong sales of 100,000 units. Two follow-up singles registered on the Oricon charts without matching those figures, yet they cleared the path for the full-length release Timeless in 2006. The group returned to anime soundtracks with its fourth single, “Colors of the Heart,” placed in Blood+, an association that produced healthy sales. Additional singles arrived in “Shamrock,” featured in a television drama centered on dance, and “Kimi no Suki na Uta,” which entered the charts at number two after its tie-in with the variety program Koisuru Hanikami!. The same tracks appeared together on the second album Bugright in 2007. By then UVERworld had become a regular supplier of television credits, contributing songs to the anime series Toward the Terra and D.Gray-man as well as an anime-based drama. Those placements supported the early-2008 arrival of the third album Proglution. The fourth album, Awakeve, followed in February 2009.