LOUDNESS – Dragon + Ghetto Machine [2 albums remastered] (2020)

Two quite unknown LOUDNESS albums have been reissued in remastered form: 1998’s ‘‘Dragon” and 1997’s ”Ghetto Machine”. While recorded in the USA, both albums were originally only released in Japan. Later both recordings were released in Europe as a double disc pack.
If you like LOUDNESS or if you don’t, in both cases you should check “Dragon + Ghetto Machine”: this is a very different band style-wise from the ’80s classic metal.
Both albums are groovy heavy rock akin ’90s GEORGE LYNCH / KXM, some classic bluey heavy like BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION (Glenn Hughes), and a touch of LIVING COLOUR.

Akira Takasaki is the driven force behind these albums, really guitar-oriented and quite heavy / dense at places, especially ”Dragon”. There’s some awesome guitar work and I really like Masaki Yamada (the band’s vocalist in the Nineties, ex-EZO) aggressive tone, perhaps the most ‘American sounding’ Japanese-born singer of LOUDNESS history.

While similar in vibe, ”Ghetto Machine” is less darker, bluesy based hard rock wioth a sharp production, heavy at places yet classic rock influenced at others – listen to ”Evil Ecstasy” and tell me if it doesn’t bring to mind BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION.

Both albums are varied, with different drum sounds / patterns, and of course a complete guitar work (Takasaki pay homage to his hero Eddie Van Halen on opener ‘9 Miles High’.
Very interesting and well produced records as you hear on this remaster.
Highly Recommended

Only at 0dayrox

Dragon – originally released in 1998
01 – 9 Miles High
02 – Dogshit
03 – Wicked Witches
04 – Crazy Go-Go
05 – Voodoo Voices
06 – 回想(Kaisou)
07 – Babylon
08 – Crawl
09 – Forbidden Love
10 – Mirror Ball
11 – Taj Mahal
12 – Nightcreepers

Ghetto Machine – originally released in 1997
01 – Ghetto Machine
02 – Slave
03 – Evil Ecstasy
04 – San Francisco
05 – Love and Hate
06 – Creatures
07 – Katmandu Fly
08 – Hypnotized
09 – Dead Man Walking
10 – Jasmine Sky
11 – Wonderman

Akira Takasaki – guitar
Masaki Yamada – vocals
Hirotsugu Homma – drums
Naoto Shibata – bass

BUY IT
www.amazon.com/Dragon-Ghetto-Machine-Loudness/dp/B08B366NLT
music.apple.com/tr/album/dragon-ghetto-machine/id1517917961