LOUDNESS fans?

Any Loudness fans? Favorites?

I'm sitting here listening to their self titled CD from 1992 and it is one of their best. Those disappointed with the more commercial direction Loudness took in the late 80's should give this album a spin. My favorite is still "Thunder in the East".

I only own 3 of their releases, Thunder..., Hurricane Eyes (cdr) and Shadows of War. I enjoy them quite a bit and I'd say that Thunder in the East probably gets the most spins because of the song "Crazy Nights". That was my 1st exposure to them back in the day.

Thunder in the East will always be my favorite.

Loudness freak, here. I am only missing a couple (TRADE WITH ME!). And Thunder is also my fav.

If ya like Loudness - Check out Ded Chaplin, Sly, EZO, and Anthem. They all had Loudness members in thier respective bands (not to mention Obsession and all the Vescera-related projects).

Since we're on the subject, let me ask a question. My copy of Shadows of War is essentially the same as Lightning Strikes with a different cover, different track order and omits the song "Ashes in the Sky", replacing it with "Shadows of War". It was released on Wounded Bird Records and I bought it new at Tower's going out of business sale, so I wouldn't think it's a bootleg.

Anyone know why the slightly changed release?

Shadows of War was how it was originally released in Japan. Lightning Strikes was the US version.

I'm not sure why that would be. "Shadows of War" is a cool song.

SAXON1500 wrote:

Loudness freak, here. I am only missing a couple (TRADE WITH ME!). And Thunder is also my fav.

If ya like Loudness - Check out Ded Chaplin, Sly, EZO, and Anthem. They all had Loudness members in thier respective bands (not to mention Obsession and all the Vescera-related projects).

What do you think of their self-titled album (1992)?

havent listened to much Loudness,I really liked Soldier of Fortune with Vescera though

SAXON1500 wrote:

Shadows of War was how it was originally released in Japan. Lightning Strikes was the US version.

Cool. Thanks.

I have all LOUDNESS releases (incluiding eps and most of their 7"singles) till ON THE PROWL. I always loved them and also their more comercial days. An other fave band from Japan is ANTHEM for me. They never betrayed our movement and always released cool metal albums (not like LOUDNESS)

Hmm, interesting. I never knew that the song "Shadows Of War" was an exclusive track, I always assumed it was a different title for the song "Ashes In The Sky" (since they sing "Shadows of war..." in the chorus of that track)... I have LIGHTNING STRIKES on CD already but now I may have to seek out that Wounded Bird version of SHADOWS OF WAR...

Where was I? Oh yea. Big Loudness fan in the 80s, I have everything up until the S/T (1992). (except for the two albums with Vescera on vox... I didn't really like either one of 'em so I traded those CDs away some time ago.) "Thunder in the East" is still my sentimental favorite since it was the first time I ever heard the band. I've often been curious about digging into some of the 90s catalog but I've heard that a lot of those albums are really experimental and weird so therefore I'm leery of paying those massive import prices for any of those discs (if anyone's got any suggestions as to which of the later period albums are worth getting and which are skippable, I'd appreciate it...)

I do have the ROCKSHOCKS CD (re-recorded versions of classic stuff) that they released last year, which isn't bad but isn't great either, and have also heard the 2006 studio album BREAKING THE TABOO which was pretty awful, so I am really not sure where I should go from there... maybe I oughta just stick to the classics??

i guess i like them all pretty good, with Thunder being my particular fave.

Fat Freddy wrote:

if anyone's got any suggestions as to which of the later period albums are worth getting and which are skippable, I'd appreciate it...

I recommend the self-titled 1992 release, Heavy Metal Hippies and Ghetto Machine. All are very solid metal and have none of the experimental stuff marring the later releases Dragon and Engine. The funny thing about the last 2 is they do have some good songs on it,just too much of the weird stuff. The newer stuff after the reunion with Minoru is a mixed bag as well.I can't quite recommend them but they're not horrible either.

As for my faves (been a huge Loudness fan for a long time), Thunder in the East and Loudness (1992) !

007 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

if anyone's got any suggestions as to which of the later period albums are worth getting and which are skippable, I'd appreciate it...

I recommend the self-titled 1992 release, Heavy Metal Hippies and Ghetto Machine. All are very solid metal and have none of the experimental stuff marring the later releases Dragon and Engine.

Thanks for the tip, man. If I'm not mistaken, Wounded Bird Records has released "Heavy Metal Hippies" in the U.S. (I don't know about Ghetto Machine, though) so maybe I'll give that one a shot next time I come across it.

I like their '92 self titled quite a bit, as well as Heavy Metal Hippies. I don't have Ghetto Machine ye. I also like Spiritual Canoe.

Quote :

Hmm, interesting. I never knew that the song "Shadows Of War" was an exclusive track, I always assumed it was a different title for the song "Ashes In The Sky" (since they sing "Shadows of war..." in the chorus of that track)... I have LIGHTNING STRIKES on CD already but now I may have to seek out that Wounded Bird version of SHADOWS OF WAR...

I've never heard "Ashes in the Sky", so maybe "Shadows of War" is the same song with a different title. Can anyone confirm this?

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Quote :

Hmm, interesting. I never knew that the song "Shadows Of War" was an exclusive track, I always assumed it was a different title for the song "Ashes In The Sky" (since they sing "Shadows of war..." in the chorus of that track)... I have LIGHTNING STRIKES on CD already but now I may have to seek out that Wounded Bird version of SHADOWS OF WAR...

I've never heard "Ashes in the Sky", so maybe "Shadows of War" is the same song with a different title. Can anyone confirm this?

Yea, somebody help us out here...I really don't wanna buy the Wounded Bird disc and THEN find out it *is* the same song, that would kinda suck.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Disillusion, which is far and away their best release IMO.

pdf0427 wrote:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Disillusion, which is far and away their best release IMO.

Oh yea, definitely. DISILLUSION is a goody.

I even like their first three albums (THE BIRTHDAY EVE, DEVIL SOLDIER, and LAW OF DEVIL'S LAND) that were recorded mostly in Japanese, even though I obviously can't understand a word of any of them (other than the occasional odd "Engrish" phrases that pop up now and again.... that makes it hard to sing along, so I usually just make up some gibberish.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Since we're on the subject, let me ask a question. My copy of Shadows of War is essentially the same as Lightning Strikes with a different cover, different track order and omits the song "Ashes in the Sky", replacing it with "Shadows of War". It was released on Wounded Bird Records and I bought it new at Tower's going out of business sale, so I wouldn't think it's a bootleg.

Anyone know why the slightly changed release?

Actually listen to Shadows of War and Lightning Strikes back to back, its essentially the same tunes, which you're right on, but there are differences in tempo in the rhythms and some of the solos are differnt on a good portion of the tunes.

As for Loudness I like from Akira's first solo album to Hurricane Eyes, I hate the Mike Viscera era, On The Prowl being the worst album. The stuff with the EZO singer isn't too bad. The reunion stuff started out ok, but then got stupid after a while. My favorite is Disillusion.

Anthem rules, they've never changed style. I'm not too keen on the stuff with Graham Bonnet because its just him singing on older tunes, which i prefer the original singer Eizo on.

EZO was cool. The stuff when they were called Earthshaker was pretty cool.

Bow Wow(Now known as Vow Wow) was awesome. First Japanese band to try to make into the states, but never made it.

I remember Vov Wow. My brother had a self titled LP from them. Cool stuff, albeit a tad more melodic than Loudness.

Dude, "Shadows Of War" and "Ashes In The Sky" are the same song man.

ANYWAY! I LOOOOOOOOOOVE their 1992 self titled cd. I think it might be my favorite actually. I don't know why because their 80's stuff is some of my FAVORITE. The 92 release though is really heavy and I just think it's my favorite of theirs. Although I love their 80's stuff too!!!! I'm not much of a fan of their other 90's stuff...it's not as metal as they used to be...but it still isn't as bad as SOME people like to SAY it is. Maybe I just haven't listened to it enough. There's a LOOOOOOOT of crazy experimentation on their 90's stuff.

I am liking some of their newer stuff I just think that they need some better production on Niihara's voice. He DOES sound like he's screaming in a paper bag most of the time. I just think he needs more clarity and definition.

But yeah my favorite album of theirs is their 92 album I think. It just seems to me as them being as crazy and free to do whatever they want...just like their early stuff before the big label fame and all that happened.

It gets on my nerves though when I buy their cd's and there's no lyrics in them! I mean, I can somewhat understand them but the accent is usually so thick it's harder than usual to figure things out...although I watch Japanese movies a LOOOOOOT so...I don't seem to have a really bad time figuring out what they're saying in Japanese. I know what the language sounds like and I know how words should sound because I've heard it enough so I don't seem to have a problem most of the time.

MZA!!!!!!!!!!!

Jedilink wrote:

Dude, "Shadows Of War" and "Ashes In The Sky" are the same song man.

Thank you for clearing that up, sir!! It was really starting to bug me. (tips hat)

It's all good. Although for a while I thought they were two different songs though too until I heard "both songs" finding out it was the same song made me feel kind of cumb since they DO say both titles in the song after all. I think "Shadows of War" is a cooler title for the song anyway.