LOUDNESS BIOGRAPHY

LOUDNESS
Biography

At a glance

Loudness is a Japanese heavy metal band formed in Osaka in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi, following the break-up of their previous band Lazy. Minoru Niihara joined on vocals and Masayoshi Yamashita on bass.

They were the first Japanese metal band signed to a major American label. Thunder in the East reached No. 74 on the Billboard 200 in 1985 and Lightning Strikes went to No. 64 the following year — positions no Japanese rock band had reached on an American chart before.

Vocalists and rhythm sections changed repeatedly, but Akira Takasaki has never left. In 2001 the four founding members reassembled, and that line-up has now held for more than twenty years. This site carries the band's thirty-four studio records, from 1981 to 2021.

Formation and the first three years — 1981 to 1983

Takasaki and Higuchi started Loudness in 1981 to play something heavier than Lazy had, and brought in Niihara and Yamashita. All four came from Osaka, and all four were in their early twenties.

The debut album The Birthday Eve appeared on Nippon Columbia on 25 November 1981, and the concert that launched it, at the Asakusa International Theatre, sold out to 2,700 people. For the second record, Devil Soldier, in 1982, the band brought the American engineer Daniel McClendon to Japan, on the reasoning that no Japanese technician then had the experience to record heavy metal. Two albums in, the intention to meet an international standard of sound was already an action rather than an ambition.

The third album, The Law of Devil's Land, followed in January 1983 and later reached Europe through Roadrunner Records. That July the band played its first shows on the American west coast and in Europe.

Atlantic, and the American years — 1984 to 1988

Those 1983 shows were seen by people from Atlantic Records, and Loudness became the first Japanese band to sign a worldwide multi-album contract. Before it took effect, Disillusion appeared in January 1984, recorded, mixed and mastered in London with Julian Mendelsohn — an engineer whose credits included Yes and Elton John — at the desk. An English-language version, with every vocal re-sung, followed that July.

Thunder in the East, the first Loudness album released worldwide, came out on 21 January 1985. Max Norman, known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, produced. It reached No. 74 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart nineteen weeks, and on the US tour that followed, supporting Mötley Crüe, Loudness became the first Japanese band to play Madison Square Garden.

In 1986 the same set of sessions produced two records: Shadows of War in Japan in March, and Lightning Strikes internationally in July, resequenced with one song exchanged. The international edition reached No. 64 and spent fifteen weeks on the chart — still the band's best American showing. Hurricane Eyes followed in 1987 with Eddie Kramer producing, and a Japanese-language version appeared that December.

The mini-album Jealousy, released in May 1988, was the last recording by this line-up. In December that year Minoru Niihara announced he was leaving.

The years of changing singers — 1989 to 1999

The American vocalist Mike Vescera replaced Niihara and sang on two albums: Soldier of Fortune in 1989 and On the Prowl, the tenth-anniversary record, in 1991. He left afterwards for Yngwie Malmsteen's band.

In 1992 the band recorded the self-titled Loudness with Masaki Yamada of Ezo on vocals and Taiji Sawada of X on bass; founding bassist Masayoshi Yamashita had left before it. Takasaki produced, tuned down a semitone for a heavier sound, and the album entered the Oricon chart at No. 2.

Sawada and Higuchi both left in 1993. On Heavy Metal Hippies in 1994, Hirotsugu Homma came in on drums and Takasaki played the bass parts himself — at that point he was the only founder left in the band. Naoto Shibata of Anthem joined on bass at the end of 1994, and that line-up made three albums: Ghetto Machine in 1997, Dragon in 1998 and Engine in 1999, later collected as the three-disc set Loudness Buddha Rock 1997-1999.

The original line-up reunites — 2000 to 2008

In 2000 Takasaki brought the four founding members back together. Spiritual Canoe, released in March 2001, was the first album they had recorded in one room in thirteen years. A national tour followed, and from then on the band worked at a pace of roughly one album every one or two years.

Pandemonium came in November 2001, Biosphere in 2002, and three records in 2004 alone: Terror in January, the self-cover album Rock Shocks in October and Racing in November. Breaking the Taboo followed in 2006 and Metal Mad in February 2008.

After Metal Mad, Munetaka Higuchi took leave for treatment of liver cancer. He died on 30 November 2008, aged 49, after six months of illness. He had founded the band with Takasaki in 1981.

Masayuki Suzuki, and after — 2009 to now

The Everlasting, released in May 2009, was completed using drum tracks Higuchi had recorded before his death, with his successor Masayuki Suzuki playing on some songs. King of Pain in 2010 was Suzuki's first full album with the band and reached No. 21 on Oricon.

Eve to Dawn followed in 2011 (No. 36) and 2·0·1·2 in 2012. In 2013 the band founded Katana Music, their own management company and label. The Sun Will Rise Again came out through Universal in 2014, and from around this period invitations from overseas festivals arrived steadily enough that a European run each summer became routine.

Rise to Glory -8118- was released worldwide on 26 January 2018 — through Ward Records in Japan and earMUSIC elsewhere — the band's first new American release in twenty-seven years. Suzuki suffered a stroke shortly afterwards, and the band toured with Ryuichi Nishida supporting on drums; Suzuki returned to the stage for one song in September that year, on the last night of Metal Weekend at Zepp DiverCity.

Sunburst, the band's first double album, appeared on 29 December 2021 to mark forty years, on their own Katana Music label, and earMUSIC released it worldwide in July 2022. A forty-fifth anniversary tour has been running since 2025.

On 29 August 2026 the band played THE GREATEST ROCK FUKUOKA at Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka, alongside Journey, Night Ranger, Band-Maid, Hound Dog and Red Warriors. Also announced were an appearance on day two of the festival FULL METAL JAPAN 2026 - POWERED BY WACKEN at Pia Arena MM on 25 October, and the two shows closing the anniversary year, billed as LOUDNESS 45th Anniversary Tour 2025-2026 Chapter 6 THE END: LINE CUBE SHIBUYA on 25 November — the date on which The Birthday Eve was released in 1981 — and NHK Osaka Hall on 27 November. In the United States, the two Chapter 2 in US shows first announced for March 2026 were postponed and moved to The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on 5 May 2027 and the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood on 12 May 2027, with an appearance on the Monsters of Rock Cruise 2027 (6–11 May 2027, from Hollywood to Ensenada, Mexico) announced in between.

Box sets include Original Album Series (2010), Rhino's five-CD box of the five worldwide albums of 1985 to 1991.

Members

Name	Instrument	Years
Akira Takasaki	Guitar, backing vocals	1981–present
Minoru Niihara	Vocals	1981–1988, 2000–present
Masayoshi Yamashita	Bass, backing vocals	1981–1992, 2000–present
Masayuki Suzuki	Drums, backing vocals	2009–present
Munetaka Higuchi	Drums	1981–1993, 2000–2008 (died 30 November 2008)
Mike Vescera	Vocals	1988–1991
Masaki Yamada	Vocals	1992–2000
Taiji Sawada	Bass	1992–1993
Naoto Shibata	Bass	1994–2000
Hirotsugu Homma	Drums	1994–2000

A note on sources

The release list, dates, labels, catalogue numbers and running orders were taken from all sixty-eight product pages on the band's own site (loudnessjp.com) and from MusicBrainz release data for artist 513b6df2-f44c-4484-b99d-97f79266cb4a, with the two checked against each other. The band's history and current line-up come from the official site's own THE BAND page. Membership dates, production credits and chart placings were confirmed through the English Wikipedia article as an entry point, and only facts also carried by the official site or MusicBrainz are stated here. Every music video was checked through YouTube's oEmbed endpoint for the channel that uploaded it; no fan re-upload is included.