Year : 2018 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , Melodic Heavy Metal
Country : Japan
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 110 mb
Bio:
Earthshaker (アースシェイカー, a-susheikā) is a Japanese heavy metal band that was formed in 1978 in Osaka. One of the first Japanese metal bands, they steered toward a poppier sound on later albums and dropped from worldwide view, preferring to record and tour in their home country. After a successful run, they broke up in 1994, but returned five years later and remain active.The quintet from the nineties is still together. An early incarnation of the band included Minoru Niihara (of Loudness fame) as singer (originally bass and vocals).The band was named after the track on the first Yesterday and Today album, as Shara, the guitarist, was a big fan of Dave Meniketti, the guitarist and singer of Y&T. An early incarnation of the band included Minoru Niihara of Loudness fame as singer, though he originally played bass in addition to vocals.Their first album was produced by DJ, critic and all-round Japanese metal guru, Seisoku Itoh, otherwise known as 'Masa Itoh'. The song "Dark Angel" on that album was written by Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden, which goes some way to describing how traditionally-styled the metal on their first album was.With subsequent albums, however, they began to display a competent pop edge (and used keyboard/synth arrangements) which achieved them popularity even amongst mainstream music fans. Which was the reason, no doubt, that they managed to play the Nippon Budokan in 1986, a first for a domestic heavy metal band.After a good few years of success, the band split-up in 1994 citing musical differences (according to Shara, part of the reason was the by then overwhelming obsession of vocalist Marcy's with mainstream pop music).After the break-up of the band, the individual musicians formed various bands and joined projects or did session work. Most notably Yoshihiro Kudo joined Niji Densetsu, a highly acclaimed Rainbow tribute band, which counted Anthem and Powernude singer Yukio Morikawa amongst its members, as well as Akira Kajiyama. Ex-Rainbow members Joe Lynn Turner and David Rosenthal were also interested enough to provide guest performances. It is worth noting that Joe Lynn Turner has worked with Akira Kajiyama on many occasions since.The band had an 'initially fulfilling' (according to Shara) reunion, which spurred them on to continue because they believed that they needed to reclaim something of their dizzy heights of the '80s and early '90s. They are still recording and touring.
Album:
I got this band quite early, in 1985 to be precise, as they were featured in the “Hell Comes to Your House” vinyl (still have it) which entered Bulgaria thanks to the Polish tourists swarming the Black Sea shores in the summer. They were the only outfit who had two songs included, the radio-friendly hard’n heavy hit “Young Girls” and the ravishing hyper-active “Wall”, an early speed metal champion, and one of the greatest cuts to ever grace these ears. Needless to add, this “Wall” was the finest number on the vinyl, alongside Metallica’s “Creeping Death” and Exciter’s “Violence and Force” (Manowar, Anthrax, Loudness and Helstar were also presented, among other less known acts).By the end of the decade the band had accumulated whole eight albums, and tracking most of them down around the studios wasn’t that hard. However, the two songs from the vinyl turned out to be quite misleading, especially this fabulous “Wall”: the band were neither feelgood hard rockers, nor were they rowdy boisterous speedsters… from this voluminous repertoire I really dig the debut, a nice classic heavy metal slab and arguably the guys’ most aggressive outing, with a cool contribution from none other than Adrian Smith who composed the number “Iron Maiden”… sorry, “Dark Angel” for it. With the sophomore things started going towards a more mainstream, more commercialized sound, think Motley Crue’s “Theatre of Pain” meets Stryper’s “In God We Trust”, with occasional ventures into faster-paced territories, but nothing as spontaneously combustible as this “Wall” for the umpteenth time.The band started the 90’s fervently, producing four albums in four years, the style pretty much the same, the last opus “Yesterday & Tomorrow” being a tribute, both title and music-wise, to the US hard rockers of the same name as the guitar player Shinichiro Ishihara is a big fan of the Americans’ axeman Dave Meniketti. But then the prolific streak ended, the band folding in 1994 due to musical differences. However, their passion for the earthshaking tunes re-emerged with the dawn of the new millennium, and they got together again for another string of decent hard’n heavy slabs, the guys staying true to the classic metal canons all the way.The story by all means goes on on the album reviewed here, a typical representative of their approach through the years. Those who have been firmly behind the band’s accessible pop-metal tactics will have another field day with these 47-min of cool party music which begins with the pleasant welcoming hard rocker that is the title-track, the vocalist’s warm attached clean mid-ranged antics the perfect accompaniment to this merry pageant which gets upgraded to more dynamic parametres (“Dream out Loud”, the nice energizer “Bright Light”) later although the tone remains friendly and genteel the whole time. A couple of ballads (“Tabitito no Lullaby”, “#9”) warm up the atmosphere to near-poignant proportions, supported by mild rock-ish swayers (“Kick to the Heart”, “Pride and Destiny”) that should keep the romantically-inclined in check, but hardly those who’re looking to tumble walls under the sounds of speedy guitars and thunderous drums.Nope, such calamitous noises haven’t been served here, the guys doing what they’ve epitomized perfectly all these years, to hard’n heavy with moderation without majorly perturbing anyone in the audience. This is a predictable but professionally-executed fare that holds no surprises whatsoever, the band thinking about their hard-core fanbase, above all, being successful once again in keeping it in the vicinity… and I’m pretty certain that the story will go on as expected on the next instalment… wall-crushing and earth-shaking will probably not appear on this schedule… but that’s alright, Japan already has plenty of seismic occurrences as it is.
Line-Up:
Masafumi "Marcy" Nishida - Vocals (1980-1994, 2000-present) - See also: Marcy, The Marcy Band, 西寺実, 西田昌史, ex-Girl U Need, ex-Hips, ex-Mantis
Shinichiro "Shara" Ishihara - Guitars (1978-1994, 2000-present) - See also: ex-Sly, mintmints, Punish, SMC, ex-X-Ray (live), ex-HAL9000
Takayuki Kai - Bass (1980-1994, 2000-present) - See also: ex-Mantis
Toshio "Toshi" Egawa - Keyboards (1987-1994, 2018-present) - See also: Gerard, Scheherazade, ex-Misako Honjoh, ex-Novela, ex-Glenn Hughes (live)
Yoshihiro Kudo - Drums (1979-1994, 2000-present) - See also: Gracias, ex-Girl U Need, ex-Natsumetal, ex-Hughes Turner Project (live)
Tracklist:
01. The Story Goes On 05:38
02. Dream Out Loud 04:38
03. 愛の歌よ泣かないでくれ 03:51
04. Bright Light and Shadow 04:40
05. 旅人のララバイ 05:17
06. Kick to the Heart 03:52
07. Pride and Destiny 04:15
08. #9 05:18 instrumental
09. 狂おしく激しきこの夢と 04:35
10. 星に願いを 04:52
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