Loudness - Terror Hakuri
Tokuma Japan Communications
Garage Metal
11 songs (60:51)
Release year: 2004
Reviewed by Jay

Loudness as some may know is one of Japan’s first and longest running thrash bands. They had some great music back in the 80’s that was first rate thrash metal. I was pretty psyched about this release because it marked the reunion of the original lineup from 1982. This was a huge disappointment. Like their American counterparts Metallica, it seems as though Loudness has gone back in the garage, hooked up some equipment fast and cheaply and forgotten their entire storied history.

Tin pan snares, simplistic riffs, dirty toilet production, it is all there. I really hoped bands would not copy St. Anger and I was proven wrong. It is a sad day when another former thrash metal giant tries to emulate the garbage that other former thrashers are playing to sell a few records. The album has one redeeming feature in the opening song “Pharaoh.” It’s styled after the Something Wicked Egyptian metal motifs. A long and plodding song, it conveys a sense of meaning and togetherness which none of the other songs seem to possess. The vocals seem the least contrived here than they do on the rest of the album. But it’s all downhill from here.

Every other track is the same mind-numbing tripe that flooded my ears with St. Anger. The vocals sound completely out of place. James Hetfield forgot how to sing before recording St. Anger but Minoru Niihara tries to give a good performance, twisting his soaring vocals to nefarious ends in the new style of music that Loudness is attempting to play. It’s sad it came to this.

Killing Songs :
Pharaoh
Jay quoted 45 / 100
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