Ghetto Machine

Ghetto Machine is the twelfth Loudness album, released by Rooms Records on 5 July 1997, two and a half 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.