I’m innocent. I do not know what a "Spiritual Canoe" means. As for Loudness, I have been following them since the hey days of "Loudness America" : Thunder in the East, Lightning Strikes, Hurricane Eyes, Soldiers of Fortune, On the Prowl. With Spiritual Canoe, Loudness returns with that original lineup and boasts a return to the classic Loudness sound - an antique sound deserving of a place in heavy metal folklore. But it mostly skips the highly polished era of over-produced and often imitated Loudness America in favor of prehistoric and post-historic times. What are these?

As a teen I vaguely remember a magazine article comparing Loudness then: "the Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Van Halen of the Far East." "Ha!" I sniffed. "This is heavy metal! (something new) I’m thinking more of Accept and Ratt. This is heavier than Van Halen!" Before Loudness America there were 4 or 5 albums. After Loudness America there is 4-5 albums. Today I recognize the Led Zepplin, Hendrix, Van Halen, Yes, and etc comparisons in Loudness’ sound because that is the sound of a majority of their discography, even their more recent albums.

It took me awhile to digest Spiritual Canoe then. I was already intrigued by Loudness’ artistic freedoms of the 90s, evolving since the departure of Mike Vescera and the glamorous Loudness American era. A return to the glamorous era in Spiritual Canoe could be too expected as compared to the recent "true metal" craze these days. Alas, as if in retort, pairs the songs of Spiritual Canoe builds a yearbook-like collection of the band’s evolution. Some songs were like b-sides from Disillusion. Very cool. Others more like Heavy Metal Hippies of the 90s. Oh yeah. So I was somewhat relieved.

And Minorou Niihara, the erstwhile original Japanese singer, adapted himself to the old/new styles with an entirely plausible voice - something more gritty and raw like Graham Bonnet in Anthem sans the English. If you yearn for the guitar heroics of Akira Takasaki - technically he is not the same samurai blade shredder who made Yngwie jealous - he does rip "shredding" solos worthy of a listen. Munetaka Higuchi dominates the "heavy metal" with his characteristic drumming in this very percussive album. And Masayoshi is back, looking less boyish and more gruff and buff and playing prominently like a Chris Squire of Yes. Same band = same sound. Well, its nothing new. Nothing exciting, save for a few cute moments where Minouru’s rapping (yes rapping) is actually "dope" and Akira’s psychedelic wailings indicating that he is instead on dope.

If only their reunion had more time for the chemistry of the band to develop(Akira was the only one in Loudness before this album), the music would be more exciting. Heck, rapping and psychedelic instrumental breaks can only add to a more thought out, creative process. Right now, its as if they are a cover band reliving past glories, barely covering themselves. I heard that Loudness’ reunion publicity stunt (as this album resembles) enjoyed a successful Japanese tour and fan interest and the guys have decided to keep the band hooked up to life support.

PS: the sound quality gives the packaging no justice.