Loudness longtime drummer Munetaka Higuchi
Another heavy metal hero has left the earth. On November 30, Loudness drummer Munetaka Higuchi died from liver cancer at a hospital in Osaka, Japan. he was 49.
"It is still hard to believe that Munetaka went to his eternal rest," Loudness singer Minouri Niihara told Japanese Web site WeRockCity.com. "It seems unreal to me so far. I will never forget all the things we shared, such as making albums, playing live, drinking together. I truly miss him."
We'll miss him, too. We can't remember exactly who inspired us to check out his Japanese metal band Loudness, but we vividly recall when it happened. The year was 1985, and we were already huge fans of the new wave of British heavy metal, and had been following the thrash scene for about two years. Metallica, Motorhead, Slayer, Manowar and Venom were rocking our record player (remember LPs?) and we had just discovered Exodus, Overkill and Possessed.
In an effort to expand our horizons, we checked out the shredders -- Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Becker, George Lynch, Vivian Campbell's Dio years, David T. Chastian -- and eventually we discovered Akira Takasaki, axeman for Loudness. He wasn't quite as flamboyant as the neo-classical guitarists, bearing more in common with Campbell and Eddie Van Halen, but his tone was killer and he accented nearly ever riff with stellar squalls and flashy fills. Plus, his flailing, articulate leads gave new heavy metal credibility to the Land of the Rising Sun. Read more...
