According to a message on the official Loudness Facebook page, "drummer Masayuki 'Ampan' Suzuki has suffered a stroke and is recovering in hospital. He is doing well under the circumstances. Loudness will do their announced March tour with Ryuichi Nishida as a fill-in. Nishida has performed with Marty Friedman and Gackt in the past."

Suzuki replaced original Loudness drummer Munetaka Higuchi following his passing in November 2008 due to liver cancer, making his recording debut with Loudness on the band's King Of Pain album. Frontman Minoru Niihara commented on Suzuki joining the band in a conversation with BraveWords scribe Carl Begai:

“Masayuki was discovered by Akira (Takasaki / guitars). I didn’t know anything about him until we met at the rehearsal studio. There was a festival a month after Munetaka’s passing, the gig had been booked one year prior. We had an option to cancel the gig but we decided we’ll play because we knew Munetaka would be disappointed if we cancelled. So, we urgently needed a drummer to fill in and that’s when Akira brought Masayuki to the band. He’s very different from Munetaka in terms of his style of drumming but superb in both technique and power. On top of that, we love his sincere and passionate attitude towards rock music.”

“He’s a dedicated drummer who practices with enthusiasm, a world-class drummer who has brass balls. We toured with him several times and came to the conclusion that he’s the guy. After Munetaka’s passing, we feel blessed to have met such an amazing drummer. His drum sound injected new life into Loudness. There wasn’t much difficulty in recording or in live shows. Seemingly, our fans like him as well. It sure does make me feel weird without Munetaka, though.”

Go to this location for the complete story. Loudness' live itinerary can be found here.

Loudness recently released Rise To Glory, the  band's first album in four years and first since 2014's The Sun Will Rise Again, via earMUSIC. The new album is packed with aggression, melody and positive vibes. Vocalist Minoru Niihara says: “The album cheers you up, makes you feel fresh.”

Tracklisting:

"8118"
"Soul On Fire"
"I'm Still Alive"
"Go For Broke"
"Until I See the Light"
"The Voice"
"Massive Tornado"
"Kama Sutra"
"Rise To Glory"
"Why And For Whom"
"No Limits"
"Rain"
"Let's All Rock" (Bonus Track)

"Soul On Fire" video:

"I'm Still Alive":

With the album and the ensuing major scale world tour, Loudness will embark on the biggest global conquest since the 1980s. This indeed is the beginning of their Rise To Glory.

The European and US versions of the album are accompanied by Samsara Flight, a collection of 13 of the band's early classics re-recorded; it was originally released in Japan in 2016, including “Loudness”, “In The Mirror”, etc.

Loudness are:

Akira Takasaki - Guitar
Minoru Niihara - Vocals
Masayoshi Yamashita - Bass
Masayuki Suzuki - Drums