Loudness – Thunder In The East (1985)

I surprised myself by deciding to review this one. Loudness was (if my sources are to be believed), one of the first metal bands to come out of Japan, and Thunder in the East was part of a concerted effort to break into the American market after finding commercial success in their home country. As far as I know, it worked for a few years, before the band’s obvious traditional metal cred combined with a lack of more intense speed/thrash elements to kick them out of our market. This… probably isn’t a particularly accurate description of the band’s history, but it should give you a quick executive summary of what to expect – standard ’80s metal that isn’t especially hairy or particularly committed to one substyle.

As far as I’m concerned, the entire reason to listen to Loudness is their guitarist, Akira Takasaki. He provides a good dose of fret acrobatics that on their own were already enough to maintain my attention once I initially learned about the band. To be fair, I think the main reason I ended up listening to Thunder in the East is because a couple of the formative death metal bands in the USA had mentioned liking it in interviews, but I don’t actually remember. The most intricate guitar work here is understandably focused in the leads, but even the riffs benefit from his shred-flavored technique. Takasaki’s distinctive style would be exceedingly hard to replace, so you might as well take full advantage of its presence.

I don’t find the other aspects of this album particularly exciting, though. As a general rule, Thunder in the East presents competent traditional heavy metal, but rarely goes beyond it. Outside of Akira Takasaki’s clear talents, the rest of the band certainly exists… but beyond the singer’s minor accent (Minoru Niihara), nothing particularly pops out about their performances being particularly good or bad. I also feel like Takasaki’s guitar is squandered on what ends up being primarily basic pop/rock songwriting. Having an especially technical solo or more individual riffs than usual is one thing, but as far as I’m concerned, Loudness is being held back. Between that and a weak production (Screaming for Vengeance this ain’t), you have something that doesn’t have all that much shelf life. Barring a major production upgrade, I’d also accept some ambitious songwriting, or a really razor focused aesthetic. Thunder in the East is, unfortunately, lacking in those elements. Nothing here is actually bad (though your appetite for cheese may vary), but I don’t keep listening to albums simply because they don’t suck, and in today’s age of paralyzingly enormous musical choices, you shouldn’t either.

Highlights: “Like Hell”, “Get Away”, “Clockwork Toy”

Quickie: Iron Maiden – Piece of Mind

This one I listened to fairly often over a surprisingly lengthy period of time. It held up far better than I expected it would.

Anyways, there’s a few adages that explain why this album is what it is and not “Killers”, “Powerslave”, or for that matter, “Walls of Jericho” by Helloween.

1. A lot of the overt NWOBHM influence that pervaded the first three albums has disappeared, to be replaced with more traditional heavy metal stuff – think Dio era Sabbath, which shares a few similarities at times.

2. This album is at its best when it’s acting all progressive-rock flavored. In this case, that means “Revelations”, “Still Life”, and “To Tame A Land” – good song writing to be found. Nothing here is hyper complex or technical, but things are well performed and written overall.

3. There are no real “weak” songs here – “Flight of the Icarus” can be boring at times, but Bruce Dickinson busts out some cool vocal melodies, and the solos appeal to me for whatever reason.

4. The lineup had steadied into the classic Dickinson/McBrain/Smith/Murray/Harris lineup. This would stay relatively consistent throughout the band’s careers, give or take the occasional Janicke Gers or Blaze Bayley.

In comparison to surrounding Iron Maiden, I would say that this is the best thing they released since Killers (but it would be surpassed by Somewhere in Time). It’s a relatively accessible, considering that the first three albums had a substantial sense of grit and somewhat greater aggression, while the three after extend the songwriting formula to its logical extent, add synths, and more so than this define an early chunk of progressive/power metal (Ever listen to Dream Theater, Queensryche, Fates Warning, Helloween, Rage, Helstar, Dissection, In Flames, and a whole crapton of other bands?). I like this – it’s not nearly as flashy as much of the more extreme stuff I listen to, but it takes solid songwriting ideas, executes them well, avoids “bullshit”, and so on.