Outrage

Outrage is a Japanese heavy metal/thrash metal band which has existed for almost 30 years. Now they are back again with their 10th album, which is self-titled, after an absence for over 5 years. In the years they have been around they have established themselves as a strong force to be dealt with in Japan, but also in Europe and the States. Outrage is the first album in years on which you can hear the vocals of singer Naoki Hashimoto again, making it a release which many were very anxious to hear. The fans in Japan can already hear the new tracks live on one of their live shows during their current nationwide tour; we’ll still have to hear them from the record itself.

Rise is the first track on the album and also the first single from this record. What catches my attention, as a listener of a variety of Japanese rock, metal and punk music is again how good their English is. Rise also sets the tone for the bigger part of the rest of the album. Tight heavy thrash metal in which you can still hear influences from bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Motörhead etc, without sounding like a copy of those bands, and filled with tight solo’s and fast riffs. After You Care, I Don’t Care, which continues in the same atmosphere like Rise, they slow down their pace with Reign, which is a little bit slower and which stands out because of this. Reign is strong with powerful riffs and solo’s and the vocals are performed greatly.

Other tracks that stand out on the album are the fast Landshark and the power ballad Sine On. The vocals in Shine On are much more powerful here than in the rest of the album and compared to the other songs this might also be the best track on the album. Shine On is followed by the instrumental Tor, which consists of a guitar solo for half of the track and which is later on joined by riffs and drums. It matches the album and it’s a perfect song to follow Shine On.

Outrage delivers with these 10 tracks a heavy album with some very powerful songs, but sometimes they can be a little bit repetitive. Maybe this is just a matter of taste but in any case, it’s a record which sounds awesome and which is definitely a must hear!

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