Loudness is a Japanese heavy metal band formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi. They were the first Japanese metal act signed to a major label in the United States. Loudness subsequently released 26 studio albums and nine live albums by 2014 and reached the Billboard Top 100 during their heyday as well as charting on Oricon dozens of times. Despite numerous changes in its line-up, with Takasaki the sole constant member, the band continued their activities throughout the 1990s, finally reuniting the original line-up in 2000. This incarnation released a further seven albums until November 30, 2008, when original drummer Munetaka Higuchi died from liver cancer at a hospital in Osaka at age 49. He was replaced with Masayuki Suzuki.
Minoru Niihara is a Japanese singer. He is the original and current lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Loudness.
Munetaka Higuchi was a Japanese musician and record producer. He is best known as the original drummer of the heavy metal band Loudness, but first rose to prominence as a member of Lazy in the 1970s.
Devil Soldier is the second studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in 1982. The American Daniel McClendon was called to engineer the sound of this album, because there was no Japanese technician experienced enough in heavy metal records at the time. The album won the award for Best Heavy Metal record of the year in Japan. The reissue in CD of 2005 contains two bonus tracks, coming from the second single of the band.
Disillusion is the fourth studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was recorded, mixed and mastered in London, England, in 1983 and released at the beginning of 1984. The sound engineer chosen for the recording sessions was the expert Julian Mendelsohn, who had previously worked with acts like Yes, Elton John, Jimmy Page and Bob Marley. The original Japanese version was licensed and released by Music for Nations in the UK and Roadrunner Records in Europe. Attention by major US labels for the band and the need to make their work accessible to Western audiences, prompted a new release of the album with vocal tracks sung in English on July 1, 1984. The English version opened the album with the instrumental "Anthem " by Akira Takasaki, which was missing in the original Japanese release.
Hurricane Eyes is the seventh studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in 1987 worldwide with standard English lyrics. A "Japanese Version" was subsequently released only in Japan later in the year with Niihara singing most of the lyrics in Japanese. The album was produced by the famous producer and sound engineer Eddie Kramer, who had worked with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Kiss. The song "So Lonely", a reprise of "Ares Lament" from the album Disillusion of 1984, was instead produced by Andy Johns, another world-famous producer. This was the last Loudness album to enter the US Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for 4 weeks, peaking at No. 190.
Jealousy is an EP by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in May 1988 only in Japan, a market that the band felt to have neglected in favour of American audiences. It would also mark the final recording with the classic line-up, until Spiritual Canoe in 2001. Singer Minoru Niihara left the band after the end of the domestic tour promoting this release. The song "Long Distance Love" would later be reworked for the On the Prowl album, with vocals by American singer Mike Vescera.
Odin is an EP by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. The EP was released in Japan in 1985, with and without the instrumental tracks. All tracks on the EP were included on the soundtrack of the Japanese anime film Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight, released that same year.
Spiritual Canoe is the fifteenth studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in 2001 only in Japan. It also marked the first time since 1988's Jealousy that the original and classic line-up recorded together.
Biosphere is the seventeenth studio album by the Japanese metal band Loudness. It was released only in Japan, in 2002.
Racing is the nineteenth studio album by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in 2004 in Japan. On April 6, 2005, the band released the English version of the album, the first entirely sung in English since 2001. An international edition was released on August 9, 2005, published by Drakkar, with a different track listing, a different cover and little differences in the production of the solo parts. The album cover marks the return of the band's classic logo, which was originally used from 1985 to 1988. A special international release of the album contains as bonus tracks the entire Rockshocks album of self-covers from the 1980s.
Breaking the Taboo is the twentieth studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in 2006 only in Japan.
Metal Mad is the twenty-first studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in 2008 only in Japan. It would be the last album before Munetaka Higuchi's death in November 2008.
The Everlasting is the twenty-second studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in 2009 only in Japan, after the death of original drummer Munetaka Higuchi, whose pre-recorded drum tracks were used on this album. It was also 15th and last album recorded by the original line-up. The song "I Wonder" introduces new drummer Masayuki Suzuki. The album also features a quasi-return to their 1980s sound in "Flame of Rock" and "I Wonder". The cover artwork is inspired by a Thailand's sculpture called "Budda Head in Tree".
Keiko Terada is a Japanese rock singer. She was co-founder and lead singer of the successful Japanese female hard rock and heavy metal band Show-Ya from 1982 to 1991, before going solo. On her solo albums she expanded from hard rock and heavy metal to blues, pop and soul.
Eurobounds is the second home video released by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released on BETA, VHS, Laserdisc and VHD formats in 1984. This release documented the first European tour of the band, with footage from concerts in England, Holland, Belgium and West Germany. Columbia Records remastered the video and re-released it in DVD format in 2000. A live album with the sound track of the DVD was also released in 2000, with the same cover art of the DVD.
The Soldier's Just Came Back is the fifth live album by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was released in 2001 only in Japan and recorded during the successful Spiritual Canoe tour with the original line-up. At the same time a VHS with the videotape of the concert was released by Nippon Columbia.
Rockshocks is an album of self-covers by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. The album, released in Japan in 2004, contains tracks taken from the first five studio album of the band from the 1980s, played again with a more modern sound and different musical arrangements than the originals. The album was published in the USA in 2006 by Crash Records, with three bonus tracks taken from the album Racing: "Exultation", "Lunatic" and "R.I.P.".
Cozy Powell Forever is a tribute album dedicated to the British rock drummer Cozy Powell, who died a few months before the album release. The album was produced by Japanese drummer Munetaka Higuchi, with the contribution of many prominent Japanese rock and metal musicians and of the western musicians Carmine Appice and Tony Franklin. The songs covered in the album span from the early career of Powell in the Jeff Beck Group, to his membership in Rainbow, Whitesnake and Michael Schenker Group, to his solo production. Higuchi brought the songs of this album on tour in Japan and in 1999 released a live album with recordings of a show held in Tokyo.
"Crazy Night" is the fourth single by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness, from their 1985 album Thunder in the East. Written by lead vocalist Minoru Niihara and guitarist Akira Takasaki and produced by Max Norman, the single was released by Nippon Columbia on December 1, 1984, in Japan and by Atco Records on November 1, 1985. The song was the band's big break in the American metal scene and has since become their signature song.
