THE FINAL DAY

This is the first album the band recorded outside Japan. It was released on 25 October 1991 with the catalogue number POCP-1140, on Polydor, and was made in Germany with Stefan Kaufmann producing, then known as the former drummer of Accept. Until that point the band had struggled to get the sound they wanted; here it arrived at the first test recording. What followed is a record whose writing, playing and production all stand above anything they had made before. The speed and aggression of thrash metal remain, but the arrangements open out further than on The Great Blue of 1990, rebuilt around the voice so that every instrument has room. Naoki Hashimoto's range as a singer widens considerably, and at moments he phrases in a way that recalls Billy Idol. River, included here, is the band's first outright ballad, and he is said to have refused at first to record it. The running order here is the original release's as printed.