Browse 21 metal and hard rock albums connected to the Japan scene in the 1980s, with detailed artist and album pages.
Hunting Time is Anthem's fifth studio album, released on 21 May 1989. Their third with Chris Tsangarides, it was made as the decisive record for the line-up built around Yukio Morikawa and is counted among the band's best.
Soldier of Fortune, released on 17 September 1989, was the first Loudness album with the American vocalist Mike Vescera after Minoru Niihara's departure. Max Norman and Roger Probert produced; it opened the band's second era.
Outrage's second album, out on 7 April 1989, on which the riff-driven writing of the debut grows fiercer still.
X Japan's major-label debut, recorded between January and March 1989 and released by CBS/Sony on 21 April that year, billed as X.
Gypsy Ways is Anthem's fourth studio album, released on 21 May 1988. It is the first record with Yukio Morikawa as singer, and its title track and "Shout It Out!" became fixtures of the band's sets.
Jealousy is a mini-album released only in Japan on 25 May 1988. It was the last recording by the original line-up; Minoru Niihara left the band at the end of the domestic tour that supported it.
Outrage's major-label debut, out on 25 April 1988. It includes a reading of Flower Travellin' Band's Slowly But Surely.
Bound To Break is Anthem's third studio album, released on 5 March 1987. Made with Chris Tsangarides, it is the finest of their early records; the band played in the United States that June, and it was the last album of Eizo Sakamoto's first spell as singer.
Hurricane Eyes is the seventh Loudness album, released worldwide with English lyrics on 10 August 1987. Eddie Kramer — whose credits include Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix — produced. A Japanese-language version followed that December.
The debut EP, issued in 1987 on the band's own Pile Driver Records. Its cover earned it the nickname Peke Rage.
Tightrope is Anthem's second studio album, released on 21 April 1986. It was the first record they made with a foreign producer and it followed the debut by only nine months.
Dead End's debut, released by the band's own Night Gallery label in June 1986, and a remarkable seller for an independent release of its time.
Shadows of War is the sixth Loudness album, released first in Japan on 24 March 1986. The same material appeared internationally that July as Lightning Strikes, in a different running order and with one song exchanged.
Seikima-II's second album, recorded at CBS/Sony's Shinanomachi studio in January and February 1986 and released on 2 April that year; their first self-produced record.
Anthem is the band's debut album, released on 21 July 1985 on King Records' Nexus label under the slogan Power Metal Martial Law. It holds "Wild Anthem", "Warning Action!" and "Steeler".
Ready To Ride is an Anthem mini-album released on 18 December 1985: two new songs plus three tracks from the debut re-sung in English, issued as a twelve-inch record.
Thunder in the East, released on 21 January 1985, was the first Loudness album issued worldwide. It reached No. 74 on the Billboard 200 — unprecedented for a Japanese band — and stayed on the chart for nineteen weeks, with a US tour supporting Mötley Crüe.
Disillusion is the fourth Loudness album, released on 21 January 1984. It was recorded, mixed and mastered in London in 1983, with Julian Mendelsohn — an engineer whose previous credits included Yes and Elton John — at the desk.
The Law of Devil's Land is the third Loudness album, released by Nippon Columbia on 21 January 1983 and later distributed in Europe by Roadrunner Records. That July the band played its first shows on the US west coast and in Europe.
Devil Soldier is the second Loudness album, issued by Nippon Columbia on 21 July 1982. No Japanese engineer at the time had the experience to record heavy metal, so the band brought in the American Daniel McClendon for the sessions.
The Birthday Eve is the first Loudness album, issued in Japan by Nippon Columbia on 25 November 1981. Guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi formed the band after Lazy broke up, with Minoru Niihara on vocals and Masayoshi Yamashita on bass; their debut concert at the Asakusa International Theatre sold out.