Earthshaker

Japanese quartet Earthshaker is one of many hard rock and heavy metal bands that emerged from Japan between the late seventies and mid-eighties. While the band was one of the first of its kind, it never got the recognition bands like Loudness and Anthem have achieved. A major problem is that the band is missing an own and unique style on its debut. Loudness immediately convinced with its creative diversity. Anthem had excellent songwriting throughout its career. Earthshaker simply is a good band somewhere between melodic heavy metal and commercial hard rock.

The group's debut record is enjoyable to listen to if you like this type of music but it simply doesn't leave a deeper impression. The vocals are strong and melodic but are missing an edgier and grittier approach. The guitar riffs are solid and the melodic solos blend in nicely but they don't offer anything spectacular that hadn't been done by national and international colleagues. The bass guitar work is purposeful and skillful but doesn't stick out either. The drum play plods along similarly and fails to come around with appropriate breaks, stunning fills or vivid solo sections.

The record doesn't include any stinkers but only very few songs manage to stand out. ''Marionette'' is probably the best song on here with powerful guitar play, emotional vocals and an overall positive vibe. The guitar solo in this track is really playful and energetic. The track recalls the early works of Loudness without copying the band thanks to gritty and concise songwriting that Loudness would only establish through the mid-eighties. ''Wall'' deserves an honorable mention for its amazing extensive solo section that showcases Ishihara Shinichiro's talent while Nishida Masafumi's contrasting vocals are quite catchy and soft. This song would have been the record's strongest single candidate.

If you like Japanese hard rock and heavy metal, you will certainly enjoy listening to Earthshaker's eponymous record. The album has a consistent quality and offers nine melodic tracks with atmosphere, passion and skills. However, the band fails to establish its own approach to the genre. The song writing is mostly exchangeable. The material rushes by and fails to leave a deeper impression in most cases. While the band certainly has talent, it's no surprise the group didn't become as famous as Anthem and Loudness that were ahead of them with their distinctive styles back in those days.

Earthshaker never received the recognition that Loudness attained here in the US (Heck, I don't even think they had ANY acclaim in the US.), but that doesn't mean that they were terrible in any means. In fact, Earthshaker's debut album is quite good, except for a few minor flaws.

The vocals in this album are great, Masafumi Nishida did a terrific job in the singing department. His singing style is clean and melodic, but still have this raw quality to them that gives the album a certain energy and charm.

The guitar playing on this album is where I deducted some points off. Don't get me wrong, Shinichiro Ishihara is a good guitarist, but his guitar playing on this album is nothing compared to what he would do later on (especially in the band "Sly" with Minoru Niihara from "Loudness"). Some songs don't even have a solo, like "412" for instance, which makes the song a little less enjoyable. Besides that little gripe, the guitar playing is fine.

The rhythm section is good too, but nothing special. The bass playing is solid and the drums are good. I can't really think of anything else to say about them, since nothing really stands out from the other rhythm sections out there.

All the songs are quite good, minus the ballad "I Feel All Sadness". Standout Tracks are "Dark Angel" (written by Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden!), "Wall", "Time is Going", and the title track "Earthshaker".

If you like Japanese metal, or classic metal in general, then you can't go wrong with buying this album. All the songs are sung in Japanese, but the riffs and melodies will make you forget that the lyrics are in Japanese anyways. Great vocals, good guitar playing, and a whole album of solid songs gives this album a B -.