Loudness - Esper (Live in Balingen, Germany 2010) Soundboard

Loudness - Esper (Live in Balingen, Germany 2010) Soundboard

Loudness was started by guitarist Akira Takasaki, bassist Hiroyuki Tanaka and drummer Munetaka Higuchi, coming off the split-up of the rock band Lazy in Tokyo in February 1980. The three musicians, Takasaki in particular, were dissatisfied with the musical direction of their previous band and wanted to test their abilities in new areas. The rising movement of new Japanese heavy metal acts fit the aspirations and musical tendencies of the young musicians. Nevertheless, bassist Tanaka soon renounced to be part of the new metal group, searching success in the anime soundtrack business with the band Neverland. Takasaki recruited his childhood friend Masayoshi Yamashita as bass player and the rest is history. After a few auditions, the band found a singer in former Earthshaker member Minoru Niihara. He was a university student at the time.
With this line-up, Loudness signed for the major label Nippon Columbia and recorded their Japanese-language debut album, The Birthday Eve. Despite the reduced presence of the heavy metal genre in the Japanese media at the time and the lack of a single to launch the album, The Birthday Eve and the concerts to support it were quite successful. The flashy shred guitar work of Takasaki and the solid musicianship of the other band members soon became a trademark of their performances in the studio and on stage. The band, excited by the good sales response in Japan, produced four studio albums in rapid succession, while guitarist Takasaki found the time to start his solo career, releasing the album Tusk of Jaguar, which the other group members played in.
In 1983, after recording their third album The Law of Devil's Land, they embarked on their first United States tour, followed by a tour in Europe. They moved to Europe to record their fourth album Disillusion, performing several concerts there, as documented in their second video Eurobounds. As an attempt to break in the international scene, the band re-recorded the vocal tracks of the album Disillusion in English language, releasing their first album outside Japan in 1984.

The Birthday Eve (1981)
Devil Soldier (1982)
The Law of Devil's Land (1983)
Disillusion (1984)
Thunder in the East (1985) No. 74 (US)
Shadows of War (1986)
Lightning Strikes (1986)
Hurricane Eyes (1987) - Japanese Version
Soldier of Fortune (1989) No. 18 (JPN)
On the Prowl (1991) No. 7 (JPN)
Loudness (1992) No. 2 (JPN)
Heavy Metal Hippies (1994) No. 29 (JPN)
Ghetto Machine (1997) No. 65 (JPN)
Dragon (1998) No. 49 (JPN)
Engine (1999) No. 48 (JPN)
Spiritual Canoe (2001) No. 20 (JPN)
Pandemonium (2001) No. 27 (JPN)
Biosphere (2002) No. 45 (JPN)
Terror (2004) No. 88 (JPN)
Racing (2004) No. 60 (JPN)
Breaking the Taboo (2006) No. 129 (JPN)
Metal Mad (2008) No. 51 (JPN)
The Everlasting (2009) No. 42 (JPN)
King of Pain (2010) No. 21 (JPN)
Eve to Dawn (2011) No. 36 (JPN)
2012 (2012) No. 33 (JPN)
The Sun Will Rise Again (2014) No. 29 (JPN)
Rise to Glory (2018) No. 13 (JPN)
Sunburst (2021) No. 5 (JPN)