★★★★★
3/5 More than 30 years in, these Japanese metal veterans are still finding new ways to deliver on their name. Their new 11-track outing goes beyond the KISS-meets-Accept vibe of pop-metal faves like "Crazy Nights" and "Heavy Chains" from 1985's Thunder in the East. Injecting furious bursts of thrash and power metal, the quartet thrives off founding guitarist Akira Takasaki's worship at the altar of Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, even if this isn't his most precise, clean playing ever...
- www.revolvermag.com
2012-08-30
★★★★★
Of course you know Loudness. Their history dates back to 1981 and they were the first Japanese metal band signed to a Western label, Atlantic records. You can hardly forget there great works back in the day including 'Thunder In The East' and 'Lightning Strikes' or the great single 'Crazy Nights.' So here we are in 2008. Cripes, these guys are as old as me and still producing heavy metal. And that's what you get on 'Metal Mad,' raw and raucous heavy metal...
- www.dangerdog.com
2010-12-06
★★★★★
The Everlasting is the 22nd full-length studio album from Japanese legends Loudness. Add to that a plethora of EP's, compilations, and live albums and they've got to have one of if not the most extensive metal catalogs by any band on the planet. I can't think of any other metal band with such an abundance of original recordings. It should also be noted that no two Loudness releases sound exactly the same...
- www.dangerdog.com
2010-12-06
★★★★★
Sound: The sound has changed a little bit since "Disillusion," and "Thunder In The East." They switch to more of a pop metal sound, however; it shows they are able to master many different sounds. Akira Takasaki proves his talent on guitar, as he shreds at incomprehensible speeds. // 9 Lyrics and Singing: Minoru's English has improved since "Disillusion," and "Thunder in the East...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2009-11-15
★★★★★
Sound: Classic '80s sound, almost as if it's all the best artist of the '80s thrown together in one band. The band originates from Japan. The guitarist Akira Takasaki is exelent! He plays at incredible speeds, and at the same time comes up with bone breaking riffs. All in all some of the heaviest of '80s metal. // 10 Lyrics and Singing: The lyrics are great. This album was the bands second album in English...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2009-11-15
★★★★★
With 1985's Thunder in the East, Loudness were faced with the daunting challenge of conquering heavy metal fans outside their homeland of Japan for the first time. Knowing that their early sound might prove a tad too heavy and complex for American audiences, the foursome rose to the occasion by dispensing their most melodic compositions ever...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
Wounded Bird had the good sense to reissue Loudness' quintessential live album -- originally issued by Warner Bros. in 1992 -- for a new generation of heavy metal fans. Hopefully, this will raise the profile of a group that continues to be woefully ignored by the Western metal world. Once and for All finds the group at its performing peak, featuring Akira Takasaki's guitar shredding before mid-'90s metal trends took hold of Loudness and shook them to their roots...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
The strangely-titled Heavy Metal Hippies finds Japanese metal institution Loudness searching for a foothold -- any foothold -- in the post-Nirvana alternative world, coming away with a modern metal sound somewhere between Pantera and Seattle. All things considered, they could have done a lot worse, but guitarist Akira Takasaki is obviously running on fumes here, resulting in a derivative, unfulfilling record which long-time Loudness fans will want to steer clear of...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
As one of Japan's first heavy metal bands, Loudness was quite literally playing it by ear when the group released its first album, 1981's The Birthday Eve. A somewhat awkward affair, the album finds the young but ambitious members of the quartet struggling to establish their identity by translating whatever sounds and styles they could from the established Western metal bands of the time...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
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