Soldier of Fortune is Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Loudness

Loudness (band)

is a Japan-based heavy metal band formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi. They were the first Japanese heavy metal act signed to a major label in the United States, releasing twenty-three studio albums...

' eighth studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, and their first with American vocalist Mike Vescera. It's the third Loudness album produced by Max Norman

Max Norman

Max Norman is a retired record producer and recording engineer in the 1980s and 1990s. He produced many acclaimed heavy metal releases, and was renowned for his top notch production. Max got his "big break" while he was the resident engineer at Ridge Farm Studios in London, England...

 after Thunder in the East in 1985 and Lightning Strikes

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 . The album was produced by Max Norman...

in 1986. The album is co-produced by Fates Warning

Fates Warning

Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman in Hartford, Connecticut. Fates Warning has experienced numerous line-up changes...

's producer Roger Probert. Despite the good critical reception and the strong support given by the label, the album failed to chart in the USA.

Track listing

1. "Soldier of Fortune" - 3:55
2. "You Shook Me" - 4:42
3. "Danger of Love" - 5:02
4. "Twenty Five Days from Home" - 4:22
5. "Red Light Shooter" - 4:50
6. "Running for Cover" - 4:21
7. "Lost Without Your Love" - 4:56
8. "Faces in the Fire" - 4:08
9. "Long After Midnight" - 4:38
10. "Demon Disease" - 4:34

All music is by Akira Takasaki

Akira Takasaki

is the lead guitarist and founding member of the Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness.-Career:He started his career as a guitarist, winning a TV contest for young music talents at the age of 14. He was rapidly put under contract to be part of the pop-rock band Lazy, of which drummer Munetaka Higuchi...

. Lyrics are credited to Loudness

Loudness

Loudness is the quality of a sound that is primarily a psychological correlate of physical strength . More formally, it is defined as "that attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud."Loudness, a subjective measure, is often...

Band members

• Mike Vescera - vocals
• Akira Takasaki
  Akira Takasaki
  is the lead guitarist and founding member of the Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness.-Career:He started his career as a guitarist, winning a TV contest for young music talents at the age of 14. He was rapidly put under contract to be part of the pop-rock band Lazy, of which drummer Munetaka Higuchi...
  
   - guitars
• Masayoshi Yamashita
  Masayoshi Yamashita
  is the original and current bass guitarist of the Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness.He first started playing bass in a band called Black Rose...
  
   - bass
• Munetaka Higuchi
  Munetaka Higuchi
  was the original drummer of the Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness.Since very young, he was considered a talented drummer. During his high school years, Higuchi played in seven bands. But he was not happy with this situation, wanting to focus his time on only one band...
  
   - drums

Production

• Max Norman
  Max Norman
  Max Norman is a retired record producer and recording engineer in the 1980s and 1990s. He produced many acclaimed heavy metal releases, and was renowned for his top notch production. Max got his "big break" while he was the resident engineer at Ridge Farm Studios in London, England...
  
  - producer, mixing
• Roger Probert - producer
• Bill Freesh - engineer
• Charlie Brocco, Steve Sisco, Dave Carpenter, Joe Barresi, Pat MacDougall, Masanori Ihara - assistant engineers
• Chris Bellman - mastering