Rockshocks is an album of self-covers by the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Loudness

Loudness (band)

is a Japan-based heavy metal band formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi. They were the first Japanese heavy metal act signed to a major label in the United States, releasing twenty-three studio albums...

. The album, released in Japan in 2004, contains tracks taken from the first five studio album of the band from the '80s, played again with a more modern sound and different musical arrangements than the originals. The album was published in the USA in 2006 by Crash Records, with three bonus tracks taken from the album Racing: "Exultation", "Lunatic" and "R.I.P.".

Track listing

1. "Loudness" - 5:05
2. "Crazy Doctor" - 4:21
3. "In the Mirror" - 3:41
4. "Crazy Night" - 4:33
5. "Esper" - 3:50
6. "Like Hell" - 4:00
7. "Lonely Player" - 5:53
8. "Street Woman" - 5:40
9. "Angel Dust" - 4:32
10. "Rock Shock" - 4:47
11. "The Lines Are Down" - 5:02
12. "Milky Way" - 4:27
13. "Mr. Yesman" - 7:22

Band members

• Minoru Niihara
  Minoru Niihara
  is the original and current lead singer of the Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness.His first band was Earthshaker, in which he played bass and sang. His vocal style was influenced by blues singers, but he adapted quickly his voice to the high pitch tones requested in a heavy metal act...
  
   - vocals
• Akira Takasaki
  Akira Takasaki
  is the lead guitarist and founding member of the Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness.-Career:He started his career as a guitarist, winning a TV contest for young music talents at the age of 14. He was rapidly put under contract to be part of the pop-rock band Lazy, of which drummer Munetaka Higuchi...
  
   - guitars
• Masayoshi Yamashita
  Masayoshi Yamashita
  is the original and current bass guitarist of the Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness.He first started playing bass in a band called Black Rose...
  
   - bass
• Munetaka Higuchi
  Munetaka Higuchi
  was the original drummer of the Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness.Since very young, he was considered a talented drummer. During his high school years, Higuchi played in seven bands. But he was not happy with this situation, wanting to focus his time on only one band...
  
  - drums

Production

• Masatoshi Sakimoto - engineer, mixing
• Yuki Mitome, Keiko Koizumi - assistant engineers
• Yoichi Aikawa - mastering

External links

• Album review