Loudness - Racing (2005) (Japanese TKCA-72853)

Racing… First of all, I'd like to say, what a stupid name for any album. And with that out of the way, ironically, I will now attempt to describe the wonderfulness that is Racing. What is heard here to me is perfection. In the 80's, Loudness ripped, up until about 87 with Hurricane Eyes, up until after the release of On the Prowel, both of which failed miserbaly with a public that had already moved past glam, and with hardened fans who found the new sound taken after Lightning Strikes far too commercial. Then, in the 90's, EZO singer Masaki Yamada joined Akira Takasaki's cause on vocals, as well as two different bassists from two other brilliant bands, Taiji Sawada of X-Japan, and later Naoto Shibata of the great Anthem. It was in this period Loudness moved away from both the traditional metal sound they had on their first six albums, as well as the damned glam sound that plagued them from Hurricane Eyes to On the Prowel, and experiment with grunge, funk, and jazz. Some of their fans turned off by the move to the glam sound were even further disillusioned with this material, as while Loudness' self titled album with this line up was rather straight forward metal, by Dragon, Ghetto Machine, and Engine, things weren't even remotely the same.

That being said, I tend to love all Loudness, except of course, the glam stuff, done on the last album with Minoru Niihara on vocals and the moving in of Mike Vescera, a horrible, horrible, horrible singer. So I dug the first six albums very much, as Loudness was truly an example of how traditional metal should sound, and in the 90's showed they could be rather weird, but create something rather wonderful and original. As of Spiritual Canoe, the demands of the fans have really only been half met, because since the original 80's line up reunited, a partial return to the sound of the glory days has been achieved. What is being played now is even more unique than the 90's material, it is a blend of the super experimental 90's Masaki Yamada material with the tradiotional metal feel of the 80's.

Listening to songs like 'Lunatic' thrash about (yes, Loudness has gotten heavier as time progresses, not softer) and Exultation swiftly slay the listener right after the intro, it's clear that the aim here is to slaughter. And really, the band lives up to their name on this album, as it is truly LOUD. What makes it rather unique sounding is, a song like Crazy Samurai might begin with a nu metal guitar part (don't fret though!), but, still has things in the song to anchor it down to the past, thing being two chief things; Minoru's voice hasn't changed at ALL since the 80's, so over this experimental weirdness you still have his traditional metal sounding voice, and before you know it, a Thunder in the East finger-flying solo rips it's way through with pounding bass and drums to back it. Things are more catchy this way, and I love it. Of course, not all songs are like Crazy Samurai, and for more traditional metal moments (maybe not traditional, they're almost thrash, but not really), that is, moments with complicated guitar licks and actual metal guitar parts, songs like the aforementioned Lunatic, Exultation, as well as others like Speed Maniac should keep any old fan of Loudness happy. I do suppose if you have zero musical imagination, you might not like this fusion of old meets new, but as a fan of old and new Loudness, no musical marriage could be any blessed. Another thing of note is that Loudness has put out five albums in four years, yet none of them seem rushed, they all have the creativity that's behind this album. Other highlights of the album that embody what I'm talking about are Live for the Moment, Unknown Civilians and Telamerase.

Just don't expect to pick this up and get Thunder in the East, because you won't find that. Loudness is very weird and original now, yet at least now they are much more metal based than what was heard in the 90's.

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