Hello fellow Otaku & Metalheads, and welcome....to the month....of Anthem!
Those of you who’ll recall part one of my Summer Of Japan event back in 2021 may remember these titans from the land of the rising sun, but for those who don’t, Anthem are one of the premier Heavy Metal bands from Glorious Nippon. What Judas Priest was to England, these guys were to the land of Samurai & Ramune. For a very long time Anthem had cult status here in the United States & Europe, but thanks to some special record deals, they now have a gateway to take over Europe, and to make a triumphant return to America. So, to celebrate one of my absolute favorite sleeper bands of all time, I’m dedicating February to taking a look at the band’s discography. Given their discography, I’m splitting my look into 3 separate posts, and today is obviously part 1. This post will cover the band laying down their foundation, creating some of the best metal that the 80s & early 90s had to offer. So with that said, here’s my look at the juggernauts known as Anthem.....part 1!
Anthem (1985) ***
Our story begins in Tokyo in the year 1980. A quartet of men would come to form what would be the Japanese equivalent of Judas Priest: singer Toshihito Maeda, guitarist Akifumi Koyanagi, bass player Naoto Shibata (Nicknamed "Ski") and drummer Takamasa Ohuchi (Nicknamed “Mad” due to his drumming style & drinking habits). Koyanagi would actually leave in late 1983, and his replacement would come in the form of guitar god Hiroya Fukuda. In December a year later, Toshihito Maeda would leave as well, and would be replaced by Eizo Sakamoto just in time for the band’s first release. Anthem would be release in July 1985 by Nexus (In Japan) and licensed to Europe by Roadrunner Records, but never released in the United States & the rest of the world (As far as I know).
Best Track? Like I said back in June of 2021, Blind City was a banger of a song! The instrumentation was perfect, Eizo’s voice was great despite a small hiccup, the pacing was wonderful, and even the rough production value adds to the track’s atmosphere. This is definitely the kind of song you’d hear in a seedy part of the city. The part where building look a little worn, and the people there are a bit on the tough side. Despite it being the 3rd to last tune, it’s most easily the face of the record in my opinion.
Blind City
Worst Track? Also like I said back in 2021, the only faults that like with the album were it’s production value & Eizo’s voice. The overall sound quality ranges between rough but bearable at best, and grating at worse. Given that Anthem didn’t have a producer, but the president of the Killer Guitar Company (George Azuma) turning the knobs, it’s not completely surprising as to why the albums sounds the way it does. As for Eizo’s voice, I can only say that it sounds like the guy is learning how things go as he sings. He’s definitely not an incompetent vocalist, but I have a weird suspicion that he may not have been as used to Heavy Metal as he was at that time.
Anthem. A rough start, but one in which showed a lot of promise of the band. If you can somehow find a way to buy or download this record, I can only say to do you. You will not be disappointed. Next album!
Tightrope (1986)
Despite the potential of their first album, Anthem unintentionally has a bit of a focus issue on it. The whole thing came across like something that the band wanted to sound like, yet they didn’t have a clear way to get there. Fortunately for them, a shift in sound would begin in 1985, when the band were contracted by Nihon Falcom to make a soundtrack single for the second Dragonslayer videogame, Xanadu.
Xanadu (Act 2)
As excellent as that single was, it would not compare to what would be coming. Released on the 21st of April, 1986, Tightrope was further evidence of the band evolving their sound & vision. Thanks to the enlistment of music producer Ken Casey (The first time they would get help from outside Japan, btw), not to mention the band’s manager Masanori “Masa” Ito throwing out the original recording & demanded that it come across more like the original demos. Because of this, the music on the album is thicker, richer, and more melodic than what came before it. Even the production got a bit of an upgrade.....but more on that in a bit.
Best Track? I’m definitely a sucker for the title track. Still containing plenty of speed (That’s also prevalent on a majority of Tightrope, btw), the band definitely lean a little more towards the melodic side of things on this one. Like the song’s name, Anthem are definitely walking on a tightrope for this one, yet show no signs of falling off. They strike a perfect balance between the speed and melody, but they don’t waver in any way.
Tightrope Dancer
Worst Track? Sort of like their first release, the production value on Tightrope is rough. I say sort of, because things sound so much better on here. If anything, I say the sound & production quality on Anthem’s second release sounds like the best off of their first. Because of this production improvement, Tightrope has aged quite a bit better that their self-titled debut, and isn’t quite as grating.
Tightrope. A considerable improvement over their self-titled release, it showed that Anthem was capable of evolving their own sound into something special. There’s still a little bit of production bumps here & there, but it’s not quite as ear-breaking as it was on their first release, and it’s smoothed out a bit more as well. Next album!
Bound To Break (1987)
Even those outside of Japan know of the mythical beings called the Oni. In ancient times they were a quasi-legitimate superstition, but in modern times it’s more along the lines of the unlucky number 13. Within the Japanese music industry, the 3rd album in anyone’s career is basically that unlucky number (Naota Shibata admitted as much). With the record company put a lot of pressure on the band, Anthem had to buckle down when it came to record number 3, but said pressure is what gave the band the strength to crank out one of the best albums in their career. Released on the 5th of March, 1987, Bound To Break was a colossus in their musical library! On top of that, it was also the first time that the guys would work with a producer that was outside of Japan. In this case, it was the legendary Chris Tsangarides! Known for his work with Black Sabbath & Judas Priest, Chris was a natural fit with Anthem, as he had nothing but respect for the band, and championed them for decades. Perhaps more remarkably than they, they would actually travel to the United States for their first (And currently their only) tour alongside Racer X....but that would have interesting implications by the time said tour was done.
Best Track? To pick a single song off of this album to represent it is absolutely difficult. Every single tune I listened to on this album is the pinnacle of 1980s Heavy Metal quality! So much so, I dare say that every song is the best. If I had to pick a favorite, however, I’d have to say it’s a tie between the delicious title track, and the rhythmic beats of Show Must Go On. That second song is somewhat significant, as it was actually featured in the OVA of Devilman from 1987 in an effort to push Anthem more commercially (Music from Tightrope would also be featured, but I don’t know which song was used). Regardless of commerciality, both tunes are heavy & rhythmic tracks filled to the brim with gorgeous riffs, pounding drums, and metallic crooning that only Eizo Sakamoto could provide. Again, everything on Bound To Break is fantastic, but these two tracks are my favorites.....and so I’m picking them!
Bound To Break
Show Must Go On
Even more so than the songs, the best thing about Bound To Break is the production! Compared to the self-titled release from 1985 & Tightrope from 1986, Anthem’s 3rd album was the best sounding thing at that time. There’s no roughness at any point, and as such has aged significantly well in the 25+ years since it’s release. If I had to compared this production increase to another album, it would have to be Grim Reaper’s third release, Rock You To Hell. Like Anthem, the first 2 albums from Grim Reaper had production issues, but when it came to their 3rd album it sounds significantly better in so many ways.
Worst Track? This doesn’t have anything to do with the music, but the worst thing that could be said about Bound To Break would be with Eizo Sakamoto himself. During the tour with Racer X & the world tour by large, it was reported that he was suffering from some pretty brutal stage fright, which resulted in some awful crippling panic attacks. Coupled with the constant tour/recording cycle, he couldn’t deal with the stress anymore, and left Anthem before said stress took him. Eizo would return much later down the line.....but we’ll just have to wait for that until part 2!
Bound To Break. An absolute behemoth within the Japanese Heavy Metal scene, and for the Anthem Cult outside of Japan, a tasty glimpse into the land of the rising sun’s musical landscape. If you somehow have a copy land in your lap, then don’t let go! Next album!
Gipsy Ways (1988)
By 1988, there was a musical shift in the air. Over here in the United States, the spandex and aquanet hair of Glam Metal was giving way, and the denim and leather of Bands like Guns & Roses and their ilk were moving in. Ironically, the opposite thing was taking place in Japan, with what would eventually be called Visual Kei was taking the place of bands like Anthem. Feeling the effects of this musical shift, the band would increasingly become more melodic because of this. However, there was the problem of their singer leaving the band the year prior, but their savior would come from an unlikely source.
Enter Yukio Morikawa! Originally trying out for the position of Anthem’s singer at the beginning of their career, he would ironically only receive runner up status, but his name was in bassist Naoto Shibata’s little black book since that encounter, and come time to find a replacement he most certainly did. Whereas Eizo (As fantastic as he was) had more of a rawness to his vocal work, Morikawa was much more refined when it came to his singing, being able to be smooth & heavy simultaneously as he sang. With the new lead singer acquired, as well as continuing to work alongside producer Chris Tsangarides, Anthem got back in the studio, and on the 21st of May, 1998, Gypsy Ways was released. Selling pretty well in Japan, the record would also act as a symbol of the shifting musical landscape in the band’s home country. For better or for worse things were changing, and Anthem were going to adapt & kick ass at the same time!
Best Track? Kinda like Blind City off of their self-titled debut, Bad Habits Die Hard is a song that you’d swear you would listen to in the seedy part of town. You’re sitting down in a dirty bar, the bar chick hands you whiskey on the rocks, and all the while you’re looking at everyone in the place, sizing up everybody, but always keeping your eye on the one guy in the corner that just gives you the creeps. Taking the atmosphere out of the picture, the song has great guitar & bass, pounding drums, and Morikawa’s vocal work is easily a wonderful replacement for Eizo. As a way to help open the album up to listeners, this is a nice choice.
Bad Habits Die Hard
Perhaps the other best thing about Gipsy Ways is Yukio Morikawa’s singing. More specifically, his ability to sing in English. Eizo Sakamoto is talented on the microphone no questions asked, but when he goes out of his comfort zone language wise, you get the sneaking suspicion that maybe he’s a little uncomfortable about it. Not so with Yukio, as he sound pretty confident & strong when he decides to crack open a can of English. Even when the album delves into the Engrish side of things, Morikawa still sounds competent when he’s singing outside of the languages he knows.
Worst Track? I dare anyone to find an issue with Gipsy Ways. I DARE ANYONE! From beginning to end you’re treated to a behemoth of a late 80s Heavy Metal album. Production is perfect. Instrumentation is perfect. Vocal work is perfect! The only thing one could nitpick would be that Anthem sacrifices a little bit of speed to put in more melody, but said melody adds to this album’s atmosphere delightfully.
Gipsy Ways. An absolutely fantastic start for the new singer, and a great record in it’s own right. If you fancy yourself more on the melodic side of Japanese Metal that’s got some improved English vocals in some songs, than Gypsy Ways is for you. Next album!
Hunting Time (1989)
By the end of the 1980s, things seemed to brighten for Anthem. Despite their original singer leaving a few years prior, the new guy was just as good if not better. On top of that, they were able to recover from a tiny slump, and there were even talks of a second tour in the United States. Sadly, that tour hasn’t happened even to this day, but perhaps the biggest sign that trouble was coming was the rift between Naoto Shibata & Hiroya Fukuda. By the sessions for their 5th release in 1988, both men were hardly speaking to one another, and this was complicated by the fact that Fukuda was laboring under reality that he was beginning to suffer from permanent hearing loss due to the constant touring in Japan. Despite all of the issues cropping up, everybody still put their noses to the grindstone without complaint, and on the 21st of May, 1989, Hunting Time was released. I’ll repeat this at the end, but Hunting Time was a great way to close out their time in the 1980s: in addition to continuing down the melodic path like Gypsy Ways (But picking a little bit of speed back up), it’s also another display of Yukio Morikawa’s vocal work.
Best Track? I gotta give it to the title track for this spot. Hunting Time the song is just wonderful! It’s got plenty of melody to it’s name, but is one of the tune on this album that got a little bit of that previously mentioned speed back. This is the kind of track you play in your car in the early evening with the windows rolled down & the top folded back (If your choice of vehicle has those), the sun is setting into the crimson sky, and the breeze flies against you at just the right strength. Even if you don’t listen to it this way, it’s still a great track regardless!
Hunting Time
Worst Track? How.....can anyone.....find a song.....on this album that sucks!? Anthem are a band that work their ass off, crafting gorgeous music under intense pressure from all sides. Every member of the band digs up diamonds from the rough, while Chris Tsangarides shines those diamonds until they sparkle so bright that virtually everybody in the world can see them. Anyone that even remotely tries to say that a song on this record sucks is genuinely mad, and should be put in the nearest mental hospital as soon as possible.
Hunting Time. More melodic than Gypsy Ways was, yet it doesn’t lose a single amount of heaviness over the course of it’s run time like it’s predecessor. It continues to be a great showcase for Morikawa, and is a great record to close out the 1980s at the same time. Next album!
No Smoke Without Fire (1990)
1990. In the eyes of most metal elitests, this was the year in which classic Heavy Metal up & died.....and in a messed up sense, they weren’t completely wrong. Metal was slowly being moved out of the spotlight, and Grunge & Rap/Hip-Hop were moving in to take metal’s place. Anthem were no exception to this, but they were having issues of their own around this time. Since the late 80s, Visual Kei was beginning to take over as one of if not the most popular genres in Japan, and as such the band was slowly being pushed out of the limelight, but it doesn’t stop there. The constant tour/album cycle was really putting a strain on the band, and the equally constant pressure from the record company didn’t help matters. Then, there is the matter of their producer, Chris Tsangarides. After their earlier output went on deaf ears outside of Japan, they parted ways with him despite still recording in London. In Chris’s stead emerged, and I’m not kidding, was longtime Duran Duran producer Tony Taverner. Even the band knew that this wouldn’t fly among metalheads in Japan, and so his name was left uncredited (Even on the 2005 re-release) to this very day. Finally, there was the leaving of Hiroya Fukuda. Due to a mix of being burned out, getting annoyed that the rest of Anthem was adding more commercial elements to their music, and being dismayed that Visual Kei was beginning to take up more room within the music scene in Japan, he ultimately decided to leave the band (But not before finishing). So with the record company once again adding on the pressure, Anthem sent out a message to anyone that could hear them: come on in if you can play guitar. They got their replacement in the form of Hideaki Nakama, a Yngwie Malmsteen like guitar god that already had something of a following in Japan (But with much less ego). Ironic, since he actually didn’t play a single note on Anthem’s 1990 release, though he would have an instrumental on the single for Love On The Edge.
Put out on the 21st of March, 1990, No Smoke Without Fire was an absolute beast of a record when it came out, despite the record company showing less & less interest in Anthem as Visual Kei was going places. If you recall from my review of this CD during part one of my Summer Of Japan blog event, you may recall that I heaped hordes of praise upon it, and I will still continue to do so. Despite the band practically running on fumes, they still put in a hell of a lot of work! Hiroya Fukuda puts in his work on guitar (Despite NSWF being his last album), Takamasa Ohuchi still calls down lightning & thunder on the drums, Naoto Shibata swings the bass like a kanabo, and Yukio Morikawa continues to prove that he’s just as good singing as the vocalist before him. Even with the lack of spotlight, it was still proof that Anthem were an absolute force to be reckoned with!
Best Track? Voice Of Thunderstorm is the Japanese equivalent of the iconic Ace Of Spades. Fast, rhythmic, shocking, you name it! It comes out of the gate like lightning & thunder, electrocuting anything that’s in it’s path, and you’re gonna feel it during the entire run time. Coupled with the excellent production that’s felt across the entire album, and you have a genuine Speed Metal classic. Don’t skip this song!
Voice Of Thunderstorm
Worst Track? Nothing! None! Nada! Zip! Zilch! No Smoke Without Fire doesn’t have a bad track anywhere! It has managed to age incredibly well in the 30+ years since it’s release, and thanks to it’s phenomenal production value, I got a feeling that it’ll manage to age well for a decade or two more. It’s that....damn.....good!
No Smoke Without Fire. Starting off the 1990s with an Japanese Bang, it’s proof positive that classic Heavy Metal didn’t “Die” when the 80s ended. If you want to see why Heavy Metal actually thrived in the decade of Crystal Pepsi & Saturday Morning Cartoons despite not being in the spotlight as much, I point you to this monster of a record. Next album!
Domestic Booty (1992)
As the beginning of the 90s continued on, Anthem were suffering a number of problems. Record companies being more interested in Visual Kei rather than their music, financial woes, and being unable to make it big in both Europe & the United States. To make matter worse, any attempt to make it to those nations would ultimately be squashed by of all things the Gulf War, which tripled the cost of travel. Hideaki Nakami was incredibly frustrated by his bandmates’s ability to get outside of Japan, and after a motorcycle accident in 1991 after the No Smoke Without Fire tour, he resigned from Anthem. His replacement would come in the form of Akio Shimizu, who’s particular way of playing guitar was different from both of his predecessors, yet still had an incredible level of quality behind it. With the replacement secured, and Chris Tsangarides back behind the producer spot, Anthem would go on to craft what would be their final album of the 1990s (And their last album for nearly a decade). Released on the 16th of March, 1992, the hilariously titled Domestic Booty was yet another example of classic Heavy Metal managed to stand strong in the decade of Boy Bands & Bill Clinton, raising it’s middle fingers into the face of any cynics claiming that metal died. This was actually the first Anthem I listened to years ago, but at that time I admit I didn’t appreciate it, but now that I’m a fan of this band, I understand it much more than I did back then.....Engrish & all!
Best Track? Venom Strike was always a catchy little tune whenever I listened to this album. It’s not quite a Speed Metal titan like Voice Of Thunderstorm was on the prior release, but this is made up by supplementing things with a bit more rhythm & melody. The song doesn’t feel like it’ll fly off the rains, but there’s still plenty of intensity over the course of the track’s runtime. Yukio Morikawa sings his ass off the entire time, but he keeps his voice under just enough control so as to not wear out his vocal cords. As a way to open up their final album in the 1990s, I couldn’t think of anything better.
Venom Strike
Worst Track? Look, I’ve been saying this for virtually this whole time, and I will for almost every other time after this, but Anthem are seemingly incapable of making an album that sucks. If there’s one crime that they have committed, and multiple times in fact, it would be the copious amount of Engrish that’s sung. To play devil’s advocate, English obviously isn’t the band’s primary language, and Japanese is definitely their first. Even with that said, I’m constantly doing double takes when they sing in Japanese, then all of a sudden an English word or phrase comes. This does break up twice....but more on that in parts 2 & 3.
Domestic Booty. Goofy name aside, it’s an absolute beast of a record, and given the album that came before it is saying something! If you can get past the wonky Engrish, you will find yet another example of Metal not getting “Killed” in the 1990s. You won’t regret it!
And that was part 1 of my look at Anthem. This was the foundation upon which the band built their empire in Japan, and the era where they also had perhaps their nose to the grindstone the hardest. So with Domestic Booty in their rear (Teeheehee) view mirror, and with diminishing returns & shows, the band quietly drifted into the night to take it easy & pursue their own personal projects. However, a metallic titan like Anthem does not rest so easily, so join me in the middle of February, when we’ll look at their time in the 2000s. See you then!
***
If you’re curious about listening to these albums, then click on the links below:
Anthem
Tightrope
Bound To Break
Gipsy Ways
Hunting Time
No Smoke Without Fire
Domestic Booty
Also, I copied info from my review of the first album in 2021 at the beginning of this overview. Lazy, I know!
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