''Loudness'' is the tenth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

band

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as, "That attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The rel ...

. It was released in 1992 only in Japan, after the band had terminated the recording contracts with US labels. Original bass player Masayoshi Yamashita was replaced with former

X Japan was a Japanese rock band from Chiba, formed in 1982 by drummer and pianist Yoshiki and lead vocalist Toshi. Starting as a predominantly power/speed metal band with heavy symphonic elements, they later gravitated towards a progressive soun ...

bassist Taiji Sawada and the American vocalist

Mike Vescera Michael Vescera is an American heavy metal singer for various bands and projects like Loudness (''Soldier of Fortune'', ''On the Prowl'', ''Live at the Budokan''), Obsession (''Marshall Law'', ''Scarred for Life'', ''Methods of Madness'', '' ...

with former

Ezo (also spelled Yezo or Yeso) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the lands to the north of the Japanese island of Honshu. It included the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 18 ...

singer Masaki Yamada. The sound of this album is much more aggressive and the rhythms much faster than the preceding offerings from the band. This fact has been interpreted as a reaction by composer and producer Takasaki to the many compromises he had to accept by US managers and producers to remain in the record market in the United States. Also, the music has a much more traditional heavy metal feel to it overall, whereas their previous output from the late 80's had a very glam-oriented melodic sound to it. The cover art is designed by artist

Tadanori Yokoo is a Japanese graphic designer, illustrator, printmaker and painter. Yokoo’s signature style of psychedelia and pastiche engages a wide span of modern visual and cultural phenomena from Japan and around the world. Career Tadanori Yokoo, bo ...

. The limited edition of the album came with a special booklet and CD case, guitar picks, band name logo sticker and a T-shirt signed by the band. The album reached No. 2 in Japan on the

Oricon Charts , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nove ...

, making it Loudness' highest-charting and best-selling album in Japan. A live album, recorded in 1992, '' Once and for All'', and a live Laserdisc and VHS, ''Welcome to the Slaughter House'', also recorded in 1992 at

Nakano Sun Plaza , formerly Nakano Sun Plaza, is a hotel in Nakano, Tokyo. The hotel includes a concert hall, the Nakano Sunplaza Hall (formerly Nakano Sun Plaza Hall). Built in 1973,

, were also released.

Track listing

Personnel

;Loudness * Masaki Yamada - lead and backing vocals *

Akira Takasaki is a Japanese musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist and sole constant member of the heavy metal band Loudness. He is also the guitarist of the band Lazy, with which he first rose to prominence in the 1970s. Career He started his ...

- guitars, producer * Taiji Sawada - bass *

Munetaka Higuchi (December 24, 1958 – November 30, 2008) 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. Career From a ...

- drums ;Additional musicians *Jody Gray - demon rapper on "Twisted", vocal producer *Neil Coty, Phil Goodbody - backing vocals ;Production *Eric Westfall, Mark Corbin, Julio Pena, Makoto Furukawa - engineers *Eiji Ohta, Richard Scott, Takahiro Sakai - assistant engineers *Scott Mabuchi - mixing *Makoto Takahashi - mixing assistant *

Tony Dawsey Tony Dawsey is an American mastering engineer at Masterdisk in New York City. He has been active since 1980.Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such no ...

, New York

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loudness 1992 albums Loudness (band) albums Warner Music Japan albums