Anthem - 30th Anniversary of Nexus Years Limited Collector's Box (2015) (9CD+DVD, Japan KIZC 90323~32)

Collector's box set from Anthem includes their seven studio albums, a rare live album "LAST ANTHEM," and a bonus CD with tracks not included in their original albums. Also includes a DVD with excerpts from "LAST ANTHEM" and interview with the members. Limited to 2000 copy.

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Anthem - 30th Anniversary of Nexus Years Limited Collector's Box (2015) (9CD+DVD, Japan KIZC 90323~32)

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A long time ago, being a video game fan, I listened to the "Perfect Selection Dracula Battle" CD's containing hard rock versions of songs from the Castlevania series of video games. I was impressed and wanted more. These are the CD's that actually made me interested in heavy metal. I looked up the arranger, Naoto Shibata, and saw that he had a band, namely Anthem. Anthem's first studio album is a bit more raw and unpolished than the later ones but is still a fun listen and also a foundation for things to come. Even though there isn't much variety among the songs they still feel well written, as they are quite energetic and rocking, with a fast pace, sometimes even epic (they would become even more epic later on if you ask me) sound, powerful choruses and good instrumental work. Hiroya Fukuda's (g) riffs are aggressive but still catchy, his solos are melodious and intense. The rhythm section of Naoto Shibata (b) himself and Takamasa Ohuchi (Ds) does a great job of driving the songs forward. Naoto's bass playing is speedy and solid, and Takamasa's drumming works but feels repetetive, it's almost always just his bass drum and the same fills over and over. Eizo Sakamoto (v) gives Anthem it's voice, and it's a fine one. He sings strongly and youthfully, but I still do agree with others that his vocals are not as refined as they would be. The songs are mostly in the band's native language of Japanese but English is used to a large extent, often in the choruses, which are highly tempting to sing along with. The bigger the audience, the better, I would say. In final, this album is a bit amateurish but still superb part of Anthems catalogue, and is recommended if you're interested in metal from Japan.

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Eizo Sakamoto
Guitars : Hiroya Fukuda
Bass : Naoto Shibata
Drums : Takamasa Ohuchi

Track List:

01. Wild Anthem [4:26]
02. Red Light Fever [3:03]
03. Lay Down [4:50]
04. Racin' Rock [3:04]
05. Warning Action! [4:11]
06. Turn Back To The Night [4:24]
07. Rock'n Roll Stars [3:41]
08. Blind City [4:28]
09. Star Formation [4:49]
10. Steeler [3:38]

Wow ! The total antithesis of Genocide's failed "Black Sanctuary" LP - a totally convincing heavy metal sound from the land of the rising sun !
The template for these 8 songs seems to have been something like Metallica's "Phantom Lord" or Accept's "Fast as a shark" - intense piledriver stuff, yet always highly melodic and well-written, so it never really falls into such formulaic and one-dimensional metal sub-genres as "speed metal" or "thrash metal". Superb energetic, hard-hitting riffing, great soloing all over, and incredibly fast-paced drumming make it a real killer. Remember your first encounter with Kill'em all ? Well, this is truly on the same level - in fact, closing number "Black Eyed Tough" is so awesome I couldn't believe my ears and had to play it 3 times in a row to actually absorb the shock.
I remember that fellow japs Loudness were extremely popular when I was a young pup into metal, back in the early to mid 80's - they were all over the french metal mags.. but Anthem ? Nope, never heard of these before, although they were on the much touted, french Black Dragon record label.
Anyway, a wonderful find - all you metalheads out there should check this out ASAP. Now if I were a record label, I would sign these guys straight away..

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Eizo Sakamoto
Guitars : Hiroya Fukuda
Bass : Naoto Shibata
Drums : Takamasa Ohuchi

Track List:

01. Victim In Your Eyes [3:45]
02. Night After Night [5:25]
03. Death To Death [4:16]
04. Tightrope Dancer [4:25]
05. Driving Wire [4:22]
06. Finger's On The Trigger [4:34]
07. Light It Up [5:57]
08. Black Eyed Tough [4:23]

Long running Japanese metallers, Anthem, made a very solid splash into the international metal circles with this album. I remember hearing the title track many years ago on my college radio station of choice's metal show and being very impressed with it. Listening to this again over 20 years after the fact reveals that this album is holding up pretty well and features some excellent tunes. Chris Tsangarides' production is clear and just gritty enough to add to Anthem's thundering, vintage Judas Priest-inspired style–the title track, in fact, is very reminiscent of "Painkiller", funnily enough. To my surprise, the drum sound is not as humungous as 80s drum sounds grew to become, it's just right. There is enough American influence in the music, though, most notably in the big sing-along choruses, to catch the average listener's ear and be memorable. The guitar work has just enough technical proficiency to impress and features unabashedly melodic work as well, over a booming rhythm section that rumbles along in an unstoppable vein once it gets rolling. A young Eizo Sakamoto sings his heart out as only he can on this album, with a slightly lower vocal style and sound than he currently features, and the lyrics are a mixture of mostly Japanese with the odd bit of Engrish for good measure, making for some both interesting, slightly cliched, and downright odd titles and lyrics–"Machine Made Dog"? Wonder what that one's about? So, on to the music… The title track powers its way out of your speakers with a howling barrage of guitar whammy bar madness surging into a crunching verse riff that charges into the fray right alongside Sakamoto's raspy, gutsy vocals. The pre-chorus and chorus on this one are dramatic and exciting, too! "Empty Eyes" keeps up the metal with an uptempo double bass romp and another strong chorus that etches itself into your mind despite it mostly being in a foreign language. Other standouts include "Show Must Go On" (the sole English language tune that Tsangarides helped write, possibly due to the band's lack of English skills at the time, and Sakamoto is actually rather easy to understand on this one), which is a thick midtempo wall of riffing, and "Soldiers", another dramatic and actually rather moving tune. Overall, this is a very well-crafted, well-produced album showing that metal and good music knows no language or national barriers. The songwriting is there, the musicianship is skilled, it's a shame that the language barrier probably kept more American fans from appreciating what Anthem had to offer. Too bad, 'cos these guys were and still are really good at what they do, no-frills melodic metal that is straight no chaser and just as good as any of their American counterparts. This is very worth downloading or seeking out in the used bin at your record shop, most definitely, so check it out if you can h

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Eizo Sakamoto
Guitars : Hiroya Fukuda
Bass : Naoto Shibata
Drums : Takamasa "Mad" Ohuchi

Track List:

01. Bound to Break [4:23]
02. Empty Eyes [4:04]
03. Show Must Go On! [3:42]
04. Rock 'n' Roll Survivor [4:06]
05. Soldiers [4:25]
06. Limited Lights [1:23]
07. Machine Made Dog [4:54]
08. No More Night [4:36]
09. Headstrong [5:13]
10. Fire 'n' the Sword [5:16]

This album, released in 1988, was the first album for the new lineup of the band. After the shock departure of (due to stress and pressure to perform mounting on) vocalist Eizo Sakamoto, the band looked set to either disband or take a nosedive in terms of popularity. They did neither. Vocalist Yukio Morikawa, who had previously auditioned when previous vocalist Sakamoto Eizo got the job after the band narrowing it down to these two, was called back to see what would have happened had he joined. At the time, Yukio Morikawa was known as ‘the local Graham Bonnet’, who, as we all know, has contributed vocals to some of the best Heavy Metal bands in history. Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group (MSG), his own band Alcatrazz, Impelliteri, and also, as it turns out, in 2000, Anthem (on their self-cover comeback collection, also highly recommended, ‘Heavy Metal Anthem’)! Anyway, back to the point. Yukio Morikawa, working at a Sushi restaurant at the time, had been compared to Bonnet. And rightly so. But we’ll get back to that. This album would have shut up any critics who wanted Eizo back. Although as the first generation of Anthem (with Eizo) went on, the music style hardly changed, the quality of the songs had undoubtedly improved, from the self-titled album of ’85, through ‘Tightrope’ (’86) and finally ‘Bound to Break’ (’87). They even made a break in America, playing a tour with Racer X (!) in support. Eizo’s singing had also matured to a very impressive level, from an amateuristic attempt on the debut. He would be sorely missed. All in all, a great album, so right for the time too, as had Eizo not left at the time, he may not have performed as well as he could have, and the lineup of albums have produced not a single dud between ‘Tightrope’ and the last album of Morikawa-era, ‘Domestic Booty’ (what the hell were they thinking when they named that album?) If you understand Japanese (or even if you don’t you can enjoy the impressive singing and brilliant songwriting) and like Metal in the vein of Accept or Bonnet-era Rainbow (bar ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Since You Been Gone’, ‘Down to Earth’ is so much more than those two tracks), you will really like this. Expertly executed Heavy Metal with a really great singer. Special mention must be made of guitarist Hiroya Fukuda, whose guitar solos on this are special, irresistibly melodic and a real improvement over his previous efforts. And he doesn’t resort to neoclassical shred for impact, it’s just classic metal-style shredding all the way through from him, often with palm-muted riff sections in the solos, to add emphasis. Some of the soaring melodies remind you of Wolf Hoffman (Accept) or Michael Schenker (UFO, MSG).

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Yukio Morikawa
Guitars : Hiroya Fukuda
Bass : Naoto Shibata
Drums : Takamasa "Mad" Ohuchi

Track List:

01. Gypsy Ways (Win, Lose or Draw) [5:21]
02. Love in Vain [4:24]
03. Bad Habits Die Hard [4:33]
04. Legal Killing [4:41]
05. Cryin' Heart [5:05]
06. Silent Child [4:28]
07. Midnight Sun [4:41]
08. Shout It Out! [4:21]
09. Final Risk [4:09]
10. Night Stalker [4:58]

This is the second album release by the incarnation of Anthem with Yukio Morikawa on vocals. Please read my review on 'Gypsy Ways' for my views on him in detail, and the history of his involvement with the band. By this time Yukio Morikawa was a welcome and suitable replacement for Eizo Sakamoto, and his confident (to say the least) vocal delivery indicates that he was comfortable in the recording of this album. Or was he? Apparently during the recording of this album, he lost his voice and had to have an injection into his throat muscles in order to continue recording. In order to conserve his voice, after his excruciatingly painful injection, he would not talk outside the vocal recording booth and had to communicate via writing on paper. It is in this tradition of military discipline that Anthem is based. Bassist/band leader Naoto Shibata is famous for being rigidly authoritarian as well as always having time for the fans of the band. An ideal band leader if ever there was one, he is an extremely respected bassist figure in the Japanese heavy metal world. Under the strong leadership of band leader Naoto Shibata, a great album was born. Possibly heavier than it's predecessor, it boasts 8 tracks of heavy metal greatness, many with that '80s futuristic' feel, which some may think is naff but which I adore. Seriously, 'Hunting Time' lives up it's predecessor which is itself considered an absolute classic of Japanese heavy metal, Anthem have really hit a sustained creative groove and this is only the second Morikawa-era album! Of course, it's helped by the membersE(especially Hiroya on guitars and MAD on drums) great improvement, probably another consequence of a strong band leader. Anthem have, from the first album to this album, improved greatly as musicians (like Glenn Tipton from Judas Priest, mark of a good musician). Amazing. The only problem is the number of tracks. Only 8? But then again, if they can keep it consistent, then I'd rather have the strongest group of songs possible, and this album Anthem have got dead right. The track order and selection are optimal. Astounding stuff from this incredible band.

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Yukio Morikawa
Guitars : Hiroya Fukuda
Bass, vocals : Naoto Shibata
Drums : Takamasa Ohuchi

Track List:

01. The Juggler [3:50]
02. Hunting Time [5:58]
03. Evil Touch [4:36]
04. Tears for the Lovers [5:07]
05. Sleepless Night [3:57]
06. Jailbreak (Goin' for Broke) [4:20]
07. Let Your Heart Beat [5:51]
08. Bottle Bottom [4:04]

Anthem in the mid-to-late 80's is pretty well known, particularly for the vocals of Eizo Sakamoto, who after leaving Anthem in 1988, rose to superstardom as a solo artist and with his Animetal band. But the material after Eizo's departure is worth a look, particularly the early-90's output such as the album in question, 1990's 'No Smoke Without Fire'. First off, out of the entire Anthem discography, this is far and away the easiest to track down and cheapest to purchase from Ebay or Amazon or what have you. The reason why is apparent as soon as you spin this record: it's Anthem's 'Painkiller'. It was released in the same year as the Judas Priest opus, and the songwriting is just as solid, and at times resplendent, as the album I'm comparing it to. The only difference here is the vocals. Yukio Morikawa is an incredible vocalist, but like the man he replaced, he is a man with a naturally high range, who sings full-voice, rather than falsetto, and does an incredible job plying his craft here. The triumvirate of tunes that hold this record together are actually the first three, which will tear the face off any Classic Metal fan, without question. 'Shadow Walk' is perhaps the most instantly recognisable of the three, but 'Hungry Soul' is the real gem, here. You will have the second track on this album spinning for weeks to come, and when it's not playing, it will be stuck in your head. It's a downpace, straight-forward Metal tune in the vein of Accept's 'Balls to the Wall' with an awesome driving riff and a bridge and chorus that are instantly memorable. 'Blinded Pain' caps off the unholy trio, with a similarly addictive chorus, but its real strength comes in the reverb-drenched haunting guitar solo sandwiched right in its middle. The album at this point exchanges most of its catchiness for sheer brutality and thrashiness, which has always been one of Anthem's staples. 'Do You Understand?', 'Voice of Thunderstorm', 'Fever Eyes', and 'The Night We Stand' have a heavy Thrash / Speed Metal vibe, while 'Love on the Edge' and 'Power & the Blood' are more Classic Metal anthems that wouldn't be at all out of place on an Accept album. The songwriting remains spectacular until the very end, with a perfect Metal guitar tone and Morikawa's soaring performance keeping the proceedings together. Anthem experiments throughout this album with some keyboards, but never once do you feel as if it's over the top, and it certainly never detracts from the heaviness. Think of how keyboards were used on 'Painkiller', and you'll get the idea of what's going on. An exceptional album, and my personal favourite in their entire discography. Highly recommended for Classic Metal nerds and fans of bands like Accept and Judas Priest.

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Yukio Morikawa
Guitars : Hiroya Fukuda
Bass : Naoto Shibata
Drums : Takamasa Ohuchi

Track List:

01. Shadow Walk 4:59
02. Hungry Soul 5:02
03. Blinded Pain 6:52
04. Do You Understand 4:51
05. Love on the Edge 5:31
06. Voice of Thunderstorm 3:30
07. Power & Blood 4:33
08. Fever Eyes 3:45
09. The Night We Stand 5:12

To keep it simple: Anthem rocks, and this album rocks. Produced by the legendary Chris Tsangarides, this album is another pearl in the Anthem discography, a great Japanese band that never ceased playing balls-to-the-wall traditional heavy metal. This was their last album before they announced their farewell with the Last Anthem concert, and it is one of their best efforts. (Thankfully the band re-united in 2000!) By this time seasoned singer Eizo Sakamoto had long been replaced by Yukio Morikawa, the Japanese Graham Bonnet, and he is as great as always. During the recording of Hunting Time, his voice gave out and required an injection, so it is hardly an exaggeration to say that he seems to sing until his lungs give out. His raspier, lower region comes into play here often, and it adds an edge to his voice not often heard previously. As always, there is something indefinably arresting about his voice, which never leaves the imagination. It contains such effortless attitude and rousing passion, that he alone gets me going. Luckily, there are three more amazing musicians to back him up! There is a lot of Engrish on this record, the title of the album itself being a prime example. To some it may detract from the music, but to me it’s both funny (“I don't wanna livin' your class … I don't wanna livin' your law”; “You’re guilty of electric faith”, “I'm get down, get down”) and really interesting: to make such preposterous lyrics completely engaging is a considerable feat. Somehow the mix of English and Japanese in the lyrics is executed in an unbelievably cool way. The thick accent and bad English are so disarmingly charming, and yet so badass at the same time. A good example is Mr. Genius, a suave number evidently poking fun at someone who considers himself very smart. I cannot understand the slurs, as they are in Japanese; but the song is so much more funny, and the singer so much more imposing, by rendering only the insults in Japanese! The first half of this record is tough as nail. The sound of Painkiller had roused the world of metal, and since that was also produced by Chris Tsangarides, it may very well have influenced the very heavy sound here. The first track, Venom Strike, features drumming as impressive as on Painkiller, but the riffs are unmistakably Anthem. It is fast, furious and tight: a true Anthem classic. It sets the tone, and the record rarely departs from it. All songs on the first half rock hard. Anthem loves anthemic choruses (heh), and there a plenty of them. Heavy Duty, my favorite party metal song, has a chorus which goes “Oh, we are heavy duty / Yes, we are going crazy / Oh, we are heavy duty / Yes, we just like it thunder” – but who cares? The lyrics all boil down to “we are goddamn bad machines”, and I can’t say I disagree! True fist-pumping madness at its finest. Anthem even uses synthesizers, and they are not pointless and annoying! Gold & Diamonds has passages which are not merely kickass, but even moving! I have no idea what he’s singing about, but again, who cares? For my part the lyrics could be about paperclips and they would engage if sang like this. There is an “oh” at the end delivered with such great passion that it appeared to be a sigh straight from the heart. This is how you write somewhat more emotionally resonant songs without being wimpy in the slightest bit. They feel as rebellious and suave as they do in their most aggressive material. The second half isn't as good. For some reason, Cry in the Night apparently required an organ prelude, and from there on the energy dissipates a little, to make room for slower and longer songs. There is actually a true ballad, but it is only 2 minutes long, and fully instrumental: Willesden High-Road. What the band was thinking here I do not know; nor do I have any clue what is so special about this road. It is a prelude to the final song, the ballad-like Silent Cross, filled with synthesizers and highly emotional cries, yet somehow not ridiculous. It’s a little corny, but luckily the lyrics are incomprehensible to those who don’t speak Japanese, save the occasional shout of “living in the darkness” or “let me dream”. There is also a great anguished scream right before the mid-section that saves the entire song for me. It is really remarkable how sincere it appears to be. This record isn't perfect, as the second half is a little less impressive; and there are no truly glorious, first-rate, untouchable songs on here: the final spark is missing. Nevertheless, this is a glorious effort from a great band, and something which all fans of traditional heavy metal should love.

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Yukio Morikawa
Guitars : Akio Shimizu
Bass : Naoto Shibata
Drums : Takamasa Ohuchi

Track List:

01. Venom Strike [4:49]
02. Renegade [4:41]
03. Gold & Diamonds [5:05]
04. Mr. Genius [4:42]
05. Heavy Duty [5:30]
06. Blood Sky Crying [0:46]
07. Cry In The Night [4:18]
08. The Dice Of No Mercy [6:12]
09. Devil Inside [5:25]
10. Willesden High-Road [2:02]
11. Silent Cross [6:19]

We all know the 90s weren't too kind to metal, especially metal of the traditional balls-to-the-wall kind. Bands like Anthem, which refused to play anything but hard and heavy metal, couldn't properly survive, so they wisely retired.. for a while. This album, The Last Anthem, is the recording of their supposed final concert. It is naturally a very passionate one, and that saves it from all its shortcomings to make it a very worthwhile live disc. There are a few qualms however. First, Yukio Morikawa is oddly.. inconsistent live. Here we can hear him sing some tunes written for the original vocalist, Eizo Sakimoto, and he doesn't pull all of them off that well. His singing isn't as good live, and that's a real shame. He needs proper miking for it to come out properly, perhaps. I admire the man enormously as a singer, so it pains me to say this, but he sounds rather second-rate on some tracks. His very thick English does come out in a hilarious fashion, and I have no complaints about it. Additionally, for a final live album, the sound is a little disappointing. It sounds far too distant. That element is present on every live album, naturally, but it's a little excessive this time. It isn't very pleasant to listen to, simple as that, and that really holds the album down. There are even some auditory glitches, such as on the start of Gypsy Ways, which hurt my ears. With those two grievances out of the way, the natural conclusion is simple: this albums kicks ass! It's the great Anthem, live, in their final show – how could it not? They give it their all, and you can hear it. It's hardly as tight as it could have been, but I don't care. Give me this to tiresome studio rerecordings all day and night. The original audience eats it up, and so do I. It is very nice to hear a tamer edition of several of the songs, such as Gypsy Ways. Without the studio magic, the songs flow spontaneously from the performers – a very viable new strength. Yukio Morikawa screams on this are very cool too. I have been caught aping them in real life, unfortunately. Watch out who you play the sedulous ape to! Those in the last track deserve an applause. All members are allowed to show off a little. Takamasa Ohuchi does some great drumming at the start of Headstrong, for example. It was his final bow to the fans, and the gesture was received accordingly. Some tracks feature little of the great soloing, but stand out as great performances nevertheless. Night After Night hits you in the face so hard, with such a magical performance, I almost prefer it to the studio version. In some ways this is the best greatest hit album a fan could get – except that over half of their "greatest" are missing! A special mention needs to go to the final track, Wild Anthem. Yukio shouts: "It's called..", and the audience screams "Anthem!" with a power rarely heard. Then the concert ends in a wonderfully evocative performance of Wild Anthem. If this was Anthem's very last minute on stage, it would be a glorious farewell. I once listened this with my mother near, and she referred to it as a "crazy screaming Japanese guy with lots of noise". It's somewhat accurate. Crazy, perhaps, but a very enjoyable crazy; and the kind of crazy that flows right from the heart. If you like Anthem, do give this a listen. If not, you may want to listen to the studio versions first.

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Yukio Morikawa
Guitars : Akio Shimizu
Bass : Naoto Shibata
Drums : Takamasa Ohuchi

Track List:

01. Shout It Out! [4:08]
02. Venom Strike [5:04]
03. Gypsy Ways [5:42]
04. Night After Night [4:57]
05. Blinded Pain [7:37]
06. Headstrong [6:57]
07. Bound to Break [4:29]
08. Hunting Time [6:09]
09. Tightrope Dancer [4:18]
10. Warning Action! [4:29]
11. Wild Anthem [6:19]









CD Track List:

01. Ready To Ride [4:38]
02. Shed [4:03]
03. Steeler (English Version) [3:37]
04. Rock'n Roll Stars (English Version) [3:42]
05. Lay Down (English Version) [4:47]
06. Back Street Groove [3:22]
07. Still I'm In Chain [5:04]
08. Are You Ready? [2:53]
09. A.D.D (Instrumental) [2:38]
10. Power & Blood (Synth Intro Version) [5:00]
11. Renegade (Edit Version) [4:43]
12. Wild Anthem (Vocal Retake Version From Anthem Ways) [4:28]
13. Tightrope Dancer (Vocal Retake Version From Anthem Ways) [4:26]
14. Silent Child (Chorus Retake Version From Anthem Ways) [4:32]
15. Do You Understand (Bass & Guitar Solo Retake Version From Anthem Ways) [4:53]
16. Headstrong (Live Version) [5:19]


DVD Track List:
1.Live Footage Of Last Anthem
- Shout It Out!
- Gypsy Ways (Win,Lose Or Draw)
- Do You Understand
- Show Must Go On!
2.Special Interview