Loudness - Eve To Dawn (2011) - They have kept the power of their youths alive - 76% (22/01/13)

Loudness is a true Japanese heavy metal institution that never fails to deliver. “Eve To Dawn” is the band’s twenty-fourth full length release and marks their thirtieth anniversary at the same time.Let's add that the band's dawn of career hasn't arrived yet and that they are still more convincing than many similar bands of a far younger age.

What these four guys deliver on this release is once again energizing, technically well played and this time particularly guitar driven heavy metal with a few thrashier parts that vary between mid and up tempo numbers. This record includes no big experiments and no ballads but convinces with a very honest attitude. There are still a few imaginative moments on the record that are well integrated into the powerful tracks. The slight oriental sounds in the quite modern sounding opener “A Light In the Dark”, the power metal guitar chords in “Survivor” and the short electronic vibes in the rather traditional hard rock track “Keep You Burning” are some pleasant surprises.

The highlights of this release can definitely be found in the strong middle section. Let's cite first of all the diversified anthem “Survivor”. I though prefer the vivid “Keep You Burning” that includes the most original ideas of all tracks on the record without losing a charming old school attitude. “Gonna Do It My Way” has an addicting angy attitude somewhere between punk rock and thrash metal. The literally crazy closer “Crazy! Crazy! Crazy!” that tells the story of an annoying neighbour, is one of the rare great tracks towards the end of the release and finishes the solid album on an entertaining and funny note.

The band though also included some filler material on this record. One could cite the exchangeable “Pandora”, the somewhat uninspired instrumental track “Emotions” and a few passages in the record’s epic track “Comes The Dawn” that sounds way too long and stretched in the end.

That’s why this release is neither among the band’s highlights, nor among its worst cuts. It's simply a very solid and overall quite good old school heavy metal record. As the releases of Loudness are almost all very hard to find in the Western world, you should absolutely grab this release as it has just been released in North America and Europe by Frostbite Media which wasn't the case for many other records before. Let's croos our fingers that this is just the beginning of a serie of releases from this legendary and still hevaily underrated band. Any way, if you have records of bands such as Iron Maiden or Judas Priest in your collection, then there is no reason or valuable excuse to not have at least one record of the world’s third most important Heavy Metal band in your personal collection. As this record is available at a fair price right now, don't hesitate to grab it because this band is definitely worth your attention and respect.