Label: earMUSIC
Release date: 26.01.2018
Production: Loudness
Genre: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Here it is. The 27th studio album from the legendary Japanese hard rockers, or rather classic heavy metallers, Loudness, called »Rise To Glory«! Judging by the title alone, it promises a kind of renaissance, an awakening, a rejuvenation of the band. But let’s take it from the top. First, a few pointers for anyone who may not know the band all that well. Loudness are no joke. They count as one of the most important classic heavy metal bands Japan produced in the eighties. Let’s say that together with Anthem and Japan X, Loudness represented a kind of “holy trinity” of metal in Japan. Their lineup featured the undoubtedly best guitarist of his time and generation, the extraordinary guitar Hercules Akira Takasaki, who inspired guitarists like Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, solo) and Marty Friedman (solo, ex-Megadeth), among others.
The band reunited in its classic lineup in 2001, and since then barely a year goes by without Loudness putting out a studio album. So why are we only reviewing »Rise To Glory« now? Because the band has only now managed to make a real push into the European market and sign with earMUSIC Records to release this album on the soil of the old European continent as well. Even though the best days, or let’s say especially the heyday, of the band are long behind them, the new record is nothing to shrug off with indifference, let alone to slam. It keeps up the energy and the essence of the songwriting of the post-reunion era, which has been carried over from album to album since 2001, and at the same time it carries the band’s one-of-a-kind, instantly recognizable character, which was defined back in the golden age of the eighties.
»Rise to Glory« delivers a bundle of twelve new tracks that keep the quality high and the creative fire burning, along with the band’s recognizable character in their mature years. Loudness have certainly become more grounded with age, coaxing a noticeably larger dose of gloom out of their songs, and they don’t hold back on social criticism in the lyrics either (Why And For Whom?), something they didn’t shy away from in the eighties, either.
Loudness are a band that has tried plenty of things musically over a long career. On their nineties albums they leaned heavily on the then-popular grunge, and at that time their music even picked up touches of world music. After the reincarnation of the classic lineup, Loudness of course sound much closer to the eighties again, both in style and energy. Still, the songs on »Rise To Glory« show a fair amount of variety among themselves. After the mystical intro of 8118, the album shoots upward with two wrecking-ball tracks in a row, Soul On Fire and I’m Alive, and then Go For Broke, with one of the album’s most striking riffs, serves up a somewhat calmer composition where Takasaki really stretches out and once again stuns with his guitar wizardry. The album calms down through Unitl I See the Light and The Voice, then boils over again with Massive Tornado, with its “shred” riff and incredible sharpness, which with even more rhythmic acceleration could reach the edge of thrash metal. The excellent instrumental Kama Sutra flips the mood and shows the band’s experimental side, putting Akira Takasaki back in the spotlight, once again stunning with his guitar escapades and his shrewdly inventive weaving of assorted guitar ornaments and transitional details. In the second half, the more interesting tracks include the dark Why And For Whom and the closing Rain, which has a distinctly neoclassical bent, with even elements of Eastern melody creeping into the intro.
Minoru Niihara has surely lost some vocal breath and range over the years, but his voice is still the recognizable trademark of Loudness’s music on the new album. He holds on to the authority, dominance and required explosiveness even in the higher registers. His distinctively raspy vocal keeps all its character and uniqueness, the kind that tells you right away you’re on an album with the noblest incarnation of Loudness.
»Rise To Glory« is, then, an exceptionally fine, high-quality album from Loudness in the mature era of their career. It keeps the exemplary songwriting power and strong creative direction of guitarist and bandleader Akira Takasaki, backed by a bombastic, explosive rhythm section, with an uncommonly distinctive and penetratingly striking vocal adding the cherry on top throughout. That way Loudness keep their true fire and expressive appeal even in new times, even if they can no longer reach the brilliance of the classic eighties albums. Heart, dedication and focus are all here. And that keeps the band young and potent and “pleasantly crazy.”
The European edition reaches the listener with a bonus CD called “Samsara Flight,” a collection of 13 newly recorded classics from the band (it originally came out for the Japanese market last year for the band’s 35th anniversary). That’s a very welcome move for anyone who has a hard time getting hold of physical copies of the band’s older albums.
Loudness will play the Metaldays festival in Tolmin for the second time this year, so don’t let the chance to catch this cult Japanese metal act on stage slip through your fingers.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.5 / 10
Track list:
01. 8118 (instrumental)
02. Soul on Fire
03. I’m Still Alive
04. Go for Broke
05. Until I See the Light
06. The Voice
07. Massive Tornado
08. Kama Sutra (instrumental)
09. Rise to Glory
10. Why and For Whom
11. No Limits
12. Rain
13. Let’s All Rock
Lineup:
Minoru Niihara – vocals
Akira Takasaki – guitar, keyboards, synthesizers
Masayoshi Yamashita – bass
Masayuki Suzuki – drums
