Lightning Strikes (Loudness album)

Lightning Strikes is the sixth studio album by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness. The album, which was released on July 25, 1986, remained 15 weeks in the U.S. charts, peaking at #64 (Billboard 200).^[4] The album was produced by Max Norman. Lyrics for the album are credited to Loudness, even though producer Max Norman did a lot of uncredited work on them.^[5]

Lightning Strikes / Shadows of War
Studio album by Loudness
Released	March 24, 1986 (Japan) July 25, 1986 (US)
Recorded	December 1985–February 1986
Studio	Sedic Studio and Take One Studios, Tokyo, Japan
Genre	Heavy metal, glam metal
Length	39:23
Label	WEA Japan (Shadows of War) ATCO (Lightning Strikes)
Producer	Max Norman, Paul Cooper
Loudness chronology
Thunder in the East (1985) Lightning Strikes / Shadows of War (1986) 8186 Live (1987)
Singles from Lightning Strikes / Shadows of War
"Let It Go" Released: March 10, 1986
Shadows of War cover

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	6/10[2]
Kerrang!	[3]

The album begins with the most commercial sounding song on the album, "Let It Go." However, the rest of the album is in a heavier mold, and is in a relatively similar style to the previous album, Thunder in the East.

The album is known as Shadows of War in Japan, where it was released on March 24, 1986. The tracks are in a different order, and the song "Ashes in the Sky" is known as "Shadows of War." There is also a slight difference in some vocal melodies^[6] and arrangements, most notably an extended musical outro to "One Thousand Eyes".^[7]

Track listings

Shadows of War (Japanese release)

All lyrics are written by Minoru Niihara; all music is composed by Akira Takasaki, except where noted.

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Shadows of War"	6:02
2.	"Let It Go"	4:13
3.	"Streetlife Dreams"	4:28
4.	"Black Star Oblivion"	3:55

Side two

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"One Thousand Eyes"		5:02
2.	"Complication"		4:00
3.	"Dark Desire"		4:19
4.	"Face to Face"	Masayoshi Yamashita	3:49
5.	"Who Knows (Time to Take a Stand)"		4:02

Lightning Strikes (U.S. release)

Side one

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Let It Go"		4:13
2.	"Dark Desire"		4:19
3.	"1000 Eyes"		5:02
4.	"Face to Face"	Yamashita	3:49
5.	"Who Knows"		4:02

Side two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ashes in the Sky"	6:02
2.	"Black Star Oblivion"	3:55
3.	"Street Life Dream"	4:28
4.	"Complication"	4:00

Personnel

Loudness

• Minoru Niihara - vocals
• Akira Takasaki - guitars
• Masayoshi Yamashita - bass
• Munetaka Higuchi - drums

Additional musicians

• Masanori Sasaji - keyboards

Production

• Max Norman - producer, mixing at Bearsville Studios, Bearsville, NY, USA
• Bill Freesh - engineer
• Masachi Goto - assistant engineer
• Bob Ludwig - mastering at Masterdisk, New York
• Paul Cooper - executive producer
• George Azuma - supervisor
• Mikio Shimizu, Sam Nagashima - coordinators