Ghetto Machine

Ghetto Machine is the twelfth Loudness album, released by Rooms Records on 25 November 1997, three years after its predecessor. It was recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Naoto Shibata of Anthem joined on bass, settling the line-up of Takasaki, Yamada, Shibata and Homma. Only the instrumental "Katmandu Fly" comes from elsewhere: it was taped in 1995 at the ESP Guitars rehearsal studio. A low centre of gravity and a forward groove run through the whole record — a third direction, neither the formal style of the 1980s nor the sheer weight of 1992. This line-up made three albums in all, through Dragon and Engine, later collected as the three-disc set Loudness Buddha Rock 1997-1999.