In the 80's a few Japanese heavy metal bands distinguished themselves in the American market. Loudness tried to jump hurdles. EZO put on the makeup and then took it off to no effect. And Anthem made a tiny splash in LA. Now their worlds collide in the reformed Anthem––former Anthem bassist reunites with original singer-- and retains the services of former Loudness and EZO drummer--–the Anthem bassist himself is also a former Loudness bassist as well as video game soundtrack artist along with current Anthem guitarist…

With album Seven Hills by Anthem––which incidentally are two golf resort communities in Nevada in close proximity––things revolve even more. For Seven Hills, Anthem bassist Naoto Shibata wanted a Alcatrazz/Graham Bonnet style of metal. It was a sound he admittedly tried to pursue with his second singer back in 1988. He achieved it briefly by retaining the services of Graham Bonnet for the album Heavy Metal Anthem last year. Seven Hills is rife with rock and roll styled metal from yesteryear with its raunchy, guitar driven style. (Today some would call this Power Metal.) Akio Shimizu, a nifty guitarist with a sticky sound, has Akira Takasaki and Michael Schenker written all over. Naoto, whom I've voted best bassist in his work with Loudness' Engine album, lays down a waltz-like pattern that could be "groovy" like the bluesy, rock and roll metal style of the early 80s. Drummer Hiro Homma is more of a heavy set pounder than a speed metal punker like the old Anthem dude. And Eizo Sakamoto, the prodigal son returning from his stint in a Japanese post-80s glammy band, sounds more like Bonnet and the other Anthem singer and sounding less like his previous incarnation as a slobbering version Stephen Pearcy (RATT) with bad pronunciation.

So with all these enthusiastic descriptions and my admission that Anthem is one of my favorite metal bands ever, I am trying to be careful to not let my joy for more Anthem music get in the way of what it is about this album. Naoto Shibata probably wanted to get back to the sound of the 5 Star album Bound to Break. This album exemplified heavy metal in its most basic form back in 1987, a sound restrained before metal's future trends in specialization. But I don't think Naoto achieved that. Seven Hills is not of the same caliber as Bound to Break or even a few other Anthem albums simply because their direction solely reminisces to the old days without ever capturing what distinguished their unique ways in the first place. A few songs poke at these strengths in well-crafted songs of distinct melodies and hooks. But since the emphasis is more towards following a style in general (and a tired style in the first place), things average out overall. Its an album that has a particular sound (sans the Japanese language which can be a selling point to some fans, and for me personally, is a lot better than X-Japan, Concerto Moon, Double Dealer and etc.). But there are other bands out there that do "the sound" too. You might like this but it’s a grab.

Score 3/5

/author/ Alzn