5 Metal Albums From Japan You Should Own

 Well fellow Otaku & Metalheads, we’re home!

I had a lot of fun touring the metallic landscape of Japan with all of you this summer! I know that the season doesn’t officially end a few weeks from now, but it always seems like when August is going to end the magic of the past few months begins to fade. Luckily, there’s still some left to use, and none of these themed summers is complete without a list! With this one, I got the 5 metal albums from Japan that you need in your library. There are far more bands in the Land of the Rising Sun that are easy candidates for this post, but these are the ones I thought of first. Anyways, take a look, and enjoy!

1) Monster Musume - Centorea EP (Song)

It might seem a little strange to have an Anime CD on this list, but hear me on this! Out of all of the Monster Musume EPs released over half a decade ago, the one dedicated to the most noble of centaurs is firmly within the realm of Heavy Metal. Power Metal, to be more specific. Given that Lady Centorea is a steadfast knight, it’s only fair that the music reflects her nature. It’s a little difficult to locate these days, and it does play for a short time, but it is sincerely worth going out of your way to find this!

2) Gotsu-Totsu-Kotsu - The Final Stand (Song)

Who knew that Japan is not just known for J-Pop & typical Heavy Metal!?

Okay, that may sound a little goofy, but discovering that Death Metal has made it’s home even in the Land of the Rising Sun was certainly a surprise. Not only that, but the band mixed western brutality with the history & folklore of their home country into something unique. Like I said in the review, The Final Stand is distinctively Japanese, but that shouldn’t stop anyone outside of Glorious Nippon from giving this behemoth a listen to.

3) Loudness - The Birthday Eve (Song)

This album was a surprising hit when it first came out. Despite practically no music videos, singles, or even promotion from their record company for the most part, Loudness has crafted a genuine masterpiece! It does have some grey hairs on the top of it’s head on account of being 40 years old, but even with it’s age the song on The Birthday Eve are proof that Japan can kick ass and take names just as much as the rest of the world can. Take a listen, and see for yourself!

4) Balflare - Downpour (Song)

As a Power Metal fanatic, I took to this album like a politician takes to dishonesty. Like I said in my review for it, this is the most western record from Japan when compared to pretty much everything else I’ve covered this summer. Balflare have far more in common with European Power Metal than anything from their home country, so there is that bit of whiplash. It may have been nearly a decade since the band has released anything, but the downpour they unleashed in 2012 is still coming down nice and heavy.

5) Anthem - No Smoke Without Fire (Song)

Anthem’s first release of the 90s holds a special place in my metallic heart. In addition to being the first album from this iconic band I have ever acquired, No Smoke Without Fire also happens to be the first Anthem record that got it’s hooks into me. Much like Devin Townsend’s 2012 behemoth Epicloud, the music presented here is damn good! The guitar & bass is superb, the drumwork pounds like thunder, and the vocal work from Yukio Morikawa is fantastic. The fact that Anthem had a tiny foothold here in the states back in the 80s is incredible, and if that foothold stayed by the time 1990 came about, I’m sure that No Smoke Without Fire would be the album that gets my fellow Americans to pay closer attention. An outright classic!

Well, these were 5 metal albums from Japan you should own. Maybe next year, I might decide to do another trip through a different country. Who knows!? With that said, the blog’s 7th anniversary is coming, and I can’t wait to show off what I got coming. See you soon!