Thunder in the East by Loudness

Thunder in the East, the fifth studio album by Japanese metal band Loudness, came out in 1985 as their shot at America, and they swung for the fences. It was their first record released by a major US label, after a deal with Atco, then part of Atlantic, and their first sung entirely in English. Max Norman, best known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, produced it, and he gave Akira Takasaki's razor-edged shredding and Munetaka Higuchi's thunderous drums a big, gleaming arena sound.

"Crazy Nights" became the band's biggest American hit, and its chant of "M-Z-A!" means nothing at all: Norman asked singer Niihara for something to fill a gap over the main riff, it was supposed to be swapped out later, nothing better came along, and it stayed. The album was the first by a Japanese band to reach the US Top 100, hanging on for 23 weeks and peaking at 74. Its rising-sun cover also launched the band's signature logo.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.