Loudness
Disillusion

After the excellent The Law of Devil's Land, Loudness, fresh from their first international tour and supported by the English label Music for Nations, moved to London for the recording of Disillusion. The album was produced by the famous sound engineer Julian Mendelsohn, already known for having worked with major names like Jimmy Page, Bob Marley, Paul McCartney, and Elton John. Upon completion of the work, a decision was made to also release an English version of the album. As a result, within seven months, a Japanese language version released by Nippon Columbia for the domestic market and an English language version released by Music for Nations for the international market were published. The latter version differs due to the presence of an additional track, Anthem (Loudness Overture), an Akira Takasaki solo placed at the start of the album.

Despite Niihara's English pronunciation issues, the album was well-received by critics and audiences. In fact, in 2005, Disillusion was ranked 290th in Rock Hard magazine's book "The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time." Meanwhile, in September 2007, Rolling Stone Japan ranked it 40th in the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time."

The album features excellent tracks like Crazy Doctor, Dream Fantasy, and Satisfaction Guaranteed, which have become the group's cornerstones. It is their most complex album, and some tracks bring the band closer to progressive rock akin to Rush, as shown by the tracks Milky Way and Butterfly. Also worth mentioning is the very fast instrumental Exploder with its "Van Halen-esque" riffs. The album finally closes with the ballad Are's Lament, which was later re-proposed in their third American album Hurricane Eyes of 1987.

I therefore consider this their best album, and despite the excellent American albums, Loudness would never again reach these heights.

The album was remastered in CD format in 1993 for the Japanese version and in 1994 for the English version by Nippon Columbia. It was then re-released on October 27, 2004, by the Dutch label Roadrunner Records.