Disillusion (撃剣霊化, Gekken reika) is the fourth studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. It was recorded, mixed and mastered in London, England, in 1983 and released at the beginning of 1984. The sound engineer chosen for the recording sessions was the expert Julian Mendelsohn, who had previously worked with acts like Yes, Elton John, Jimmy Page and Bob Marley.[1] The original Japanese version was licensed and released by Music for Nations in the UK and Roadrunner Records in Europe. Attention by major US labels for the band and the need to make their work accessible to Western audiences, prompted a new release of the album with vocal tracks sung in English on July 1, 1984. The English version opened the album with the instrumental "Anthem (Loudness Overture)" by Akira Takasaki, which was missing in the original Japanese release.[2][3]

Disillusion
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 21, 1984
July 1, 1984 (English version)
RecordedSeptember 1983
StudioSARM Studio, London
GenreHeavy metal
Length38:06
40:18 (English version)
LanguageJapanese
LabelNippon Columbia (Japan)
Music for Nations (UK)
Roadrunner (Europe)
ProducerLoudness, Mikio Shimizu, Toshi Nakashita
Loudness chronology
Live-Loud-Alive: Loudness in Tokyo
(1983)
Disillusion
(1984)
Odin EP
(1985)
English version cover

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal6/10[4]
Rock Hard9.5/10[5]

In 2005, Disillusion was ranked number 290 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[6] In September 2007, Rolling Stone Japan rated Disillusion No. 40 on its list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time".[7] In 2019, "Exploder" was named the 21st best guitar instrumental by Young Guitar Magazine.[8]

Track listing

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Japanese version

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All lyrics are written by Minoru Niihara. English lyrics by Tommy McClendon; all music is composed by Akira Takasaki

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Crazy Doctor"4:13
2."Esper"3:45
3."Butterfly" (Mashō no Onna (魔性の女, "The Enchantress"))5:12
4."Revelation" (Keiji (啓示))4:19
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Exploder" (Instrumental)2:29
2."Dream Fantasy" (Yume Fantasy (夢・Fantasy))4:34
3."Milky Way"4:17
4."Satisfaction Guaranteed"3:39
5."Ares' Lament" (Aresu no Nageki (アレスの嘆き))5:30
2004 CD bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
10."Crazy Doctor" (Live English Version)4:10
11."Dream Fantasy" (Live English Version)4:37

English version

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Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Anthem (Loudness Overture)"2:18
2."Crazy Doctor"4:13
3."Esper"3:45
4."Butterfly"5:12
5."Revelation"4:20
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Exploder" (Instrumental)2:31
2."Dream Fantasy"4:35
3."Milky Way"4:18
4."Satisfaction Guaranteed"3:37
5."Ares' Lament"5:29
2005 Japanese CD release bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Eruption"3:14
12."Flash Out"4:07

Personnel

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Loudness
Production
  • Julian Mendelsohn – engineer
  • Stuart Bruce – assistant engineer
  • Geoff Pesche – mastering at Tape One Studios, London
  • Mikio Shimizu, Toshi Nakashita – executive producers

References

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  1. ^ "Loudness Biography". DoomRadio.net. 2005. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Loudness Disillusion review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
  3. ^ "Loudness – Disillusion". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  4. ^ Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  5. ^ Lerch, Uwe. "Rock Hard review". issue 6 (in German). Rock Hard. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
  6. ^ Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 96. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  7. ^ "English translation and summary of the Rolling Stone Japan article". neojaponisme.com. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  8. ^ "ヤング・ギター厳選『ギター・インストの殿堂100』名演ランキング". Young Guitar Magazine (in Japanese). June 11, 2019. Retrieved June 13, 2019.