Tag: Japan
1 Loudness – Eve To Dawn (2012)
Heavy, powerful, dominate: all are good adjectives to describe Eve To Dawn, the latest record from Japan’s Loudness. This album is like a fresh kick to the groin in a world of stagnant metal. This is Iron Maiden meets Anthrax turned up to eleven! Even though they have been rocking the masses since 1981, Loudness proves that they still know how to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up while blowing out your eardrums in style.
If you haven’t followed Loudness in a while, Eve To Dawn is a good record to get you back into the band. If you’ve never listened to Loudness, Eve To Dawn is a great record to get you interested in the band (you may even seek out their back catalog after listening to this record). Innovation and style paint this disc in a musical landscape that is amazing to the ears of even the most seasoned heavy metal lover.
Songs like “Gonna Do It My Way” showcase how superb Eve To Dawn is. With smart lyrics, exceptional guitar solos, and gritty vocals from lead singer Minoru Niihara, “Gonna Do It My Way” reminds us all how much fun hard rock music can be. Blistering solos and fantastic finger work on “Hang Tough” are reminiscent of Nuno Bettencourt in his prime. “Hang Tough” is a hard and heavy rocker complete with some great rock screams, dark riffs, and mesmerizing guitar solos.
Guitarist Akira Takasaki provides chops that would put most modern guitar players to shame. The lead guitar work is some of the best that I’ve heard on any album released in 2012. Takasaki’s fret work is simply astonishing. If you are a fan of guitars, guitar solos, and a crisp thrash metal sound, Eve To Dawn should be added to your “must own” list.
The instrumental track, “Emotions” may be one of the best overall tracks on Eve To Dawn. Once again, it is Akira Takasaki’s guitar work that makes this song stand out. His playing is simply mind blowing on “Emotions.” Throughout Eve To Dawn, I continued to be amazed at the ability of Takasaki as a guitar player. The guitar work, changes, and musical prowess really helps solidify Eve To Dawn and raise it from mediocre levels to outstanding.
Eve To Dawn is a terrific record that I highly recommend for any fans of the hard rock/sleaze metal genre. It could be the biggest surprise of 2012. Just as I was blown away by the band’s M3 performance, I am once again blown away by their latest CD release. Hard rock has been made fun again thanks to Loudness and Eve To Dawn.
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing
- A Light In The Dark
- The Power Of Truth
- Come Alive Again
- Survivior
- Keep You Burning
- Gonna Do It My Way
- Hang Tough
- Emotions
- Comes The Dawn
- Pandra
- Crazy! Crazy! Crazy!
Loudness Is:
Masayoshi Yamashita – Bass
Akira Takasaki – Guitar
Minoru Niihara – Vocals
Masayuki Suzuki – Drums
0 HELP! For JAPAN – EP will be released on Avenue Of Allies in early March 2012!
The first anniversary of the disastrous earthquake in Japan will be on March 11th, 2012. The aftermath of this catastrophe is still apparent, and to the present day the Japanese people are facing the impact of the events. The population of the affected area has not been able to completely return to their everyday live and the people are still grateful for our help.
Some of Europe’s leading Rock artists have united to join a campaign initiated by singer Tommy Heart (Soul Doctor, Fair Warning) and recorded a tremendous new version of the classic Beatles song “Help”. The EP “Help! For JAPAN” will be released in Europe on the German label Avenue Of Allies in early March 2012. All income from the sales of this project will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross.
This EP includes the following four songs:
1. HELP!
2. HELP! (Tommy Heart Version)
3. HELP! (Guitar Version)
4. HELP! (Extended Version)
The musicians: Don Airey (Keyboards & Piano, Deep Purple), Leo Leoni (Guitar, Gotthard), Neil Murray (Bass, ex Whitesnake), Hena Habegger (Drums, Gotthard)
The singers: Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Bob Catley (Magnum), Andi Deris (Helloween), Torstein Flakne (Stage Dolls), Marc Storace (Krokus), David Readman (Pink Cream 69), Claus Lessmann (Bonfire), Oliver Hartmann (Hartmann), Bernhard Weiss (Axxis), Michael Kiske (Unisonic), Tony Mills (TNT), Carsten Lizard Schulz (Evidence One) and Tommy Heart (Soul Doctor, Fair Warning),
The solo guitar players: Cede Dupont (Downspirit), Kyoji Yamamoto (BowWow), Helge Engelke (Fair Warning), Roland Grapow (Masterplan), Leo Leoni (Gotthard), Henny Wolter (Nitrogods), Robert R. Rodrigo (Airless)
All “HELP!” versions produced and mixed by Tommy Heart, Tommy Remm & Rene Schostak (Valicon).
Vocal Arrangement by Tommy Heart.
Solo Guitar Arrangement for “Help” (Guitar Version) by Helge Engelke.
Audio mastering by TMM/Tom Müller Berlin/Germany.
Cover artwork “Help! For JAPAN” designed by Kai Swillus.
For more information, please visit:
9 Loudness to Return in 2008 with Metal Mad!
According to a posting on the Tokuma Communications web site, veteran Japanese metallers LOUDNESS will release their new album, “Metal Mad”, through the label on February 20 in Japan. Release dates for other territories have not yet been announced.Metal Mad features the following tracklist: ‘Fire Of Spirit’ (instrumental), ‘Metal Mad’, ‘High Flyer’, ‘Spellbound #9’, ‘Crimson Paradox’, ‘Black And White’, ‘Whatsoever’, ‘Call Of The Reaper’, ‘Can’t Find My Way’, ‘Gravity’, ‘Transformation’.
5 EZO – Fire Fire (Release Year – 1989)
The Japanese band known as Flatbacker had two releases under their belt, before they were discovered by Gene Simmons of KISS who suggested the name change to EZO.
The band was signed to Geffen records and released a couple of albums in the late 80’s.
Fire Fire is the second and final release by this four piece
metal band. The band lost their deal with Geffen and broke up after this record was released. Their current whereabouts are unknown. Fire Fire is a very slicked produced record. EZO sounds like a million bucks on this disc. The tunes fall between somewhere between hard rock and heavy metal, and is in the vein of Loudness. Shoyo Iida’s fretwork does not disappoint on this record. Masaki Yamada is an above average singer/screamer. He even had a brief stint in Loudness
Fire Fire is a pretty good record for the most part. My favorite cuts are Love Junkie, the title track Fire Fire, Streetwalker, and Million Miles Away.
Both EZO records are a chore to find. If you are able to grab either one at a decent price, do so. They are pulling down big bucks on Ebay and on Amazon.com. Happy Hunting!
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Love Junkie
2. Night Crawler
3. Fire Fire
4. Wild Talk
5. Burn Down the Night
6. Black Moon
7. Back to Zero
8. Cold-Blooded
9. She’s Ridin’ the Rhythm
10. Streetwalker
11. Million Miles Away
EZO is:
Masaki Yamada – Vocals
Taro Takahashi – Bass
Hiro Homma – Drums
Shoyo Iida – Guitar
Hard Rock Hideout 