By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

LOUDNESS – HURRICANE EYES (1987)

Featuring the same lineup that recorded the Thunder in the East in 1985 (singer Minoru Niihara, guitarist Akira Takasaki, bassist Masayoshi Yamashita and drummer Munetaka Higuchi), Hurricane Eyes (the 7th studio album) found Loudness still looking to break big in America.

After writing about Thunder in the East a few weeks back, I had been tempted to dive right into Hurricane Eyes and get yet another bit of immersion in the the Loudness back catalog. But I ended up deciding to wait a few weeks in the hopes that I wouldn’t be too overly influenced by my previous Loudness experience when writing and/or critiquing this album.

How’d that go? Well read on…

The first side of the album opens up with the song “S.D.I” and it wastes little time in blowing the roof off the place! The drums from Higuchi are immense. From the brief little flourish to open the song and then the non-stop almost violently intense way his playing rings through the song, he is definitely the song’s foundation. The song as a whole is a pretty fast moving number. The guitar playing is a constant frenzy throughout. Singer Minoru Niihara’s vocals were just a tiny bit rough in the first verse but became a lot clearer as the track went on. The song is pure fire throughout and it will surely get your blood pressure rising.

The guitar playing in the intro of “This Lonely Heart” was nice little earworm. The song itself is uptempo throughout and Niihara’s vocals are fine here but I think they are clearly enhanced by the guest singers who are on backing vocals for the album (see NOTES OF INTEREST for more info on that). By the way, the album’s title makes a lyrical appearance in this song.

With keyboards giving an added depth to the sound of the song, “Rock ‘N Roll Gypsy” turned out to be a decent ode to the rock and roll life. And man, the guitar solo from Takasaki is fantastic! I’m not sure if the crowd noise that comes into play in the latter part of the song is manufactured or from an actual Loudness concert or not but it did let the song temporarily give you the live setting feel without actually listening to a live album in total. I actually liked how this song came out and perhaps if there’d been a bit more subtlety in Niihara’s delivery, this one could’ve been a hit song for Loudness.

The song “In My Dreams” moves the band into power ballad territory. But the ballad portions of the song are pretty run of the mill. But when Loudness gives up the pretense of balladry, the guitar power goes unrestrained, particularly in the song’s outro and that’s what I liked most about the song.

The first side of the album closes out with the track “Take Me Home”. It is a blistering rocker and I found myself (ever so slightly) with my head banging away to the song’s attacking pace and full on explosive energy.

The second side of Hurricane Eyes kicks off with another furiously heavy attack thanks to the song “Strike of the Sword”. It’s relentless yet inviting to the listener. I honestly don’t know how the band didn’t need a nap after playing this song live (if it was in the set list at all) because they expend so much energy in the performance, they certainly should be tired. But my ears were loving every note of this song.

For “Rock This Way”, the heaviness of the band’s sound is fully on display but they pull back on the over the top pacing for a more restrained feel. The song is still uptempo with a chorus that has plenty of anthemic feel. It’s a damn good track.

“In This World Beyond” was a pretty lively song musically but for some reason, I just didn’t connect with the lyrics much. It’s annoying to me because of how much I dug the music. “Hungry Hunter” is another uptempo rocker. Great music, less interesting lyrical content for me once more though.

You could possibly make an argument that “So Lonely” falls under the power ballad banner. But while the main lyrical passages are a bit slower in delivery, I never felt that they were quite “ballad” speed in terms of the delivery and pacing. The lyrics definitely qualify but musically, this song is a brilliantly executed way to end the album. Yes, a tad bit slower but with plenty of rock and roll attitude to spare.

For the most part, I once again have to plead stupidity as to why I have not gotten around to listening to Loudness before now. I really enjoyed Thunder in the East a lot and while a couple of songs here didn’t quite hit the mark for me, Hurricane Eyes does another sensational job of rocking your socks off!

NOTES OF INTEREST: Loudness released Hurricane Eyes in Japan a bit later than in the rest of the world. However, that version of the album featured Minoru Niihara singing all the lyrics in Japanese. The album also featured a re-arranged track listing.

The Hurricane Eyes album peaked at #190 on the Billboard album chart. It is the last Loudness album to chart in the US at all.

Greg Giuffria (House of Lords and Giuffria) played keyboards on the album while his Giuffria bandmate, singer David Glen Eisley provided backing vocals. Frehley’s Comet keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Tod Howarth also sang backing vocals. Both of them are credited with providing “assistance with English lyrics” as well.