Ranking all of Lovebites songs from weakest to best. (Updated w/Soul Defender)

    (Yes I'm aware that a) I've been lazy with Soul Defender, and b) the 2nd Lovebites EP is out, I'll slot the other songs in when I've internalized them.)

    Power/speed/thrash metal band Lovebites comprise the best and most vital heavy metal band in a long, long time.  Not in recent memory have I been  so compelled to purchase every album and EP by a band.  They play heavy metal by old school rules with no emo or core bullshit, yet the infusion of what can best be called “anime music” influence has given them a fresh take on metal that only they can get away with.

    The band themselves are still relatively new (7 years old as of this writing), so a challenging task such as ranking a discography by songs is not THAT difficult (they haven’t even crossed the 60 mark yet).  Still for such a compelling body of work, nothing is easy, and one else on the internet has done this yet (no, really), so allow me to the first so that everyone afterwords will base their future opinions around my glorious E-peen.  Covers such as Eagle Fly Free and Painkiller will not be included.  They’re more like rare oddities rather than quirky staples all Green Manalishi for Judas Priest or Last Caress for Metallica.  Like anything, certain songs seen as staples will be called not so great, and songs you may not have heard of will be called the best thing ever!

So without further adieu:

57. Journey To The Otherside

I know, I know, it’s about former bassist and leader Rosanna Miho coping with the loss of her father, but like Running Wild’s “Diamonds of the Black Chest,” something about this chorus rubs me the wrong way.  Nothing really sticks out rhythmically or musically either.

56. Nameless Warrior

Blinding fast song with a somewhat interesting breakdown, but loses points for being the “new song on the greatest hits album.”  Not worth buying the compilation in question if you already have everything. If you still buy 2 disc greatest hits import CDs from Japan, you could do worse than get a copy.  At least Journey To The Other Side isn't on it.

55. Lost In The Garden

The only time Lovebites approach Dragonforce levels of silliness.  That extended outro… nah, this ain't it.

54. Spellbound

A staple of Lovebites catalog is the “gallop.” (The Trooper, Run To The Hills). However, the only difference between this and the other gallopers are the cheesy keytars.  Miyako actually uses it live, which sounds cool, until you actually see it and you realize keytars are the one thing from the 80s that should have stayed there.  Loses points for only being available on an extremely hard to find single.

53. We The United

OVERRATED.  I do not understand why this was chosen as the grand finale. It doesn't have the numbers of Holy War or Glory To The World, it doesn't have the bring the curtain down spectacle of Under The Red Sky or Edge of the World, it's another fast song among many that doesn't have any real hooks.

52. The Spirit Lives On

Has the unenviable task of following the legendary title track of their fourth album.  Nothing we haven’t heard before.

51. & 50. Shadowmaker & Bravehearted

OVERRATED & OVERRATED. Two multi-syllabic one word piles of forgettable that I still can’t tell apart from each other.  Along with We The United, these two have outstayed their welcome in the setlist.  Also, I love dearest Harupi Sweetchu, but if she is in fact a songwriter, how come she hasn’t written anything since this?  Even Midori has more songs than her at this point.

49. Scream For Me

Cool skank beat that implies a Sum 41 influence.  But Sum 41 didn’t write 6 minute songs that should have been 4.  Or at least not with the millennials nostalgic for Warped tour.

48. Wicked Witch

I can never remember how this one goes.  

47. Break The Wall

OVERRATED.   Lovebites have a few songs that would be highlights on Testament and Overkill albums.  This is not one of them.  Possibly the most mid-thrash song ever.  That middle interlude part would be more interesting if it was its own song.

46. Inspire

Typical power metal, even with the piano.  Decent enough, but at this point I’m more interested in soft/slow following through than a bait and switch into something fast.  

45. Puppet on Strings

Empty Daydream part 2. Not a bad thing, but this got banished to "rare single B-side" status like Spellbound did.  They ought to at least put it on a live album. Above average solos and harmonies in the middle.   Would work ok as Sailor Moon ending credits.

44. Golden Destination

Another average gallop.  On it’s own its fine, but not what I would designate as the first single (for the excellent Electric Pentagram, the album of the 2020s).

43. Liar

Typical power metal, even with the piano.  Decent enough, but at this point I’m more interested in soft/slow following through than a bait and switch into something fast. Yes I know I already just wrote this for Inspire.  Point still stands.

42. Today is The Day

Colony drop of an opening section gives into more typical J-Rock flavored metal.  Fun tune, but lower tier compare to the rest of the Electric Pentagram songs.

41. Glory, Glory To The World

overrated....slightly.  Their most popular video on youtube.  Fast, but nothing really outstanding.  It’s certainly no Holy War or Rising.  Fucking algorithm.  Guitarist Tatematsu Midori supposedly wrote this being inspired by sermons in black churches.  I can’t say I’ve ever heard of black churches operating at 380 bpm, but what do I know?

40. Unchained

An above average gallop.  Sticky breakdown, stickier chorus. 

39. Soul Defender

Decent thrasher.  I'm hearing complaints about "going pop" with the choruses on the EP.  Frankly, that's a direction I think they should go in.  Not J-pop per se.

38. Pledge Of the Saviour

Solid chorus, and the motif guitar harmony sounds inspired from Thin Lizzy’s Renegade.  Always a plus.  Would be higher if not for the fadeout.  Fuck fadeouts.

37. Warning Shot

More like a warning death star blast.  Infinitely more interesting than most of the “staples” from Awakening.

36. The Apocalypse

Great fast song with a killer chorus that stumbles abit an awkward breakdown transition.

35. Dystopia Symphony

The closest they get to “flower metal” (a rather gaudy piano lick is the hook of the song), but not as bad as Lost In The Garden.

34. We Are The Resurrection 

Solid opener that indicates (albeit nervously) that the departure of Miho will not affect the intensity one iota.

33. Addicted

Solider opener to the supposed AOR influenced album.  You know its AOR because it opens with acoustic guitars

32. Victim Of Time

Fast and furious Judgement Day cut worthy of being on Overkill’s 2010s output.

31. Mastermind 01

Ska-flavored like Scream For Me, but unlike the latter, this trims the fat.  In the context of the Clockwork Immortality album, it serves as a great primer for M.D.O.

30. Above The Black Sea

Symphonic metal done the right way.  Proof pudding that female guitarists are better suited to run bands than male keyboardists.   At least I assume that Miyako runs the band now.  I could be wrong (dark horse guess is Haruna).

29. Winds of Transylvania

This one is the literal anime theme song.  Vladlove to be exact.   More like it should be called Tornados of Transylvania cos after hearing this you’ll feel like your kidneys have shifted.

28. Paranoia

Halfway through the Electric Pentagram cycle, Asami discovered a newfound love for thrash.  After a one minute entry fee (similar to Set The World On Fire) we find she has a better understanding of it than the big 4 do in 2024.

27. Signs Of Deliverance

Walls Of Jericho style riff opens to a song not quite of its caliber, but is worthy of Keeper 1.  (Keeper 1 is inferior to WoJ IMO.  Both are inferior to Keeper 2).

26. Rising

As of this writing, this is their highest streamed song on Spotify.   Opening will trick you into thinking it’s faster than it is.  Nifty waltzy piano interlude.  I won’t slap an OVERRATED on this one as it at least has the numbers.

25. Empty Daydream

Clockwork Immortality is regarded as being the most AOR influenced album.  This track is the most AOR, and it’s charming.

24. Burden of Time

“Steamrolling (sic) like an 18 wheeler with a drunk driver driving, there’s no surviving.” -Inspectah Deck

23. Dissonance

Asami’s self-proclaimed peak of her thrash songs.  No argument here.

22. The Crusade

Ever since Bastardhead called this an unashamed rewrite of Aces High, I’ve never quite been able to hear it otherwise, but at least this song’s dissonant harmonies don’t fuck up live albums like Aces Highs do (yeah I said it, sue me).

21. My Orion

A girl power anthem waiting to happen.  Mid-paced and glorious.  Dammit ladies go back to midpaced!  You’ve fulfilled your fast song quota (I feel like a dad telling the daughter to slow down during driving lessons).

20. Holy War

The big hit on youtube, or at least among vocal coaches (possibly because passerby think it’s a Megadeth cover.  It’s not).  It’s fine, but there’s better songs on its mother album and others.  But better this than say…..We The United or Shadowmaker.

19. Hammer Of Wrath

THRAAAAAAAASH!  GO! (second only to Tomas Lindberg’s)

18. The Unbroken

This one has a Van Halen swing that you find on Hot For Teacher and Sinner’s Swing.  Wish one or two songs from Judgement Day did this.

17. M.D.O.

Another brilliant, deadly thrasher and well deserved live staple. Is to Lovebites what N.F.L. (and A.I.R.) is to Anthrax.   Pay particular attention to the chorus riffage underneath the chants.  Yeah, that's a Slayer style riff if I've ever heard one.

16. Raise Some Hell

To give you an example of how Lovebites don’t know their own strength, they think this song is a “silly, fun Halestorm song.”  To my ears, it sounds like coked up Black Label Society (with lyrical touches of Saxon’s Denim and Leather).

15. No Time To Hesitate

UNDERRATED.  A death-from-the-skies chorus worthy of being an anime theme song.

14. Stand & Deliver (Shoot Em Down)

Motorhead meets Spice Girls.  Nasty and sassy.

13. When Destinies Align

Beloved classic. Opening harmony riff worthy of Somewhere In Time or Piece of Mind. Could be their best song if it was a little shorter.

12. Thunder Vengeance

THRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSH!! 

11. Judgement Day 

Asami writing this deadly scorcher of a lead single on a piano is so shocking it’s the equivalent of the “TONY STARK BUILT THAT IN A CAVE WITH SCRAPS” meme.   And that final scream… Jesus.  Bruce, King Diamond and Rob would be proud.

10. Dancing With The Devil

Excellent midpaced stomper worthy of its own stage in BlazBlue. Awesome R&B vocal runs at the end.  MAKE MORE SONGS LIKE THIS DAMMIT!

9.  Swan Song

Exquisite classical flavored power speed metal.  Even better live when the fadeout to piano is replaced with a dead-stop.

8. Set The World On Fire

Why yes Virginia, those are blast beats.  If I was Testament or Exodus and I had to follow Lovebites when they play this song, I’d be sweating bullets (pun intended).

7. Epilogue

Limited Edition 2018 Still In Love With You.  Gary Moore, Brian Robertson, and Scott Gorham  (and Phil Lynott for that matter) would and should be proud.  Remember kids, the number one important detail in putting piano ballads in metal is god-tier guitar solos.

6. Edge of the World

Crystallized perfection of the soft-to-loud, slow-to-fast formula. The last 2 minutes are worthy of a Sailor Moon final battle.  Asami’s vocals are powerful enough to pull you out of heroin addiction on a path to Bilderberg success.

5. Under The Red Sky

The proper Lovebites concert grand finale.  Lyrically, it’s Electric Funeral taken to a power metal abstraction.  Typical happy power metal chorus, but given the subject matter that’s a miracle.  

4. The Final Collision

THE MOST UNDERRATED.  I’ll admit I’m not too familiar with the animes, but I keep hearing the kids talk about this elusive Naruto/Sasuke final battle.  I’ve never seen it, but even I know this song is epic enough to be its soundtrack. If any of their songs have a Rock & Roll All Nite chorus, it's this.

3. Don’t Bite The Dust 

Classic bloody classic.  A unanimously beloved single and live staple.   This is the song we wish Iron Maiden would go back to writing after locking Steve Harris in a cellar.  

2. Soldier Stands Solitarily

THRAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSH!!  Wait, that doesn't do it justice.  This is a 10 ton tungsten rod launched from a kill-sat (I forget what movie I saw that in) meant to shatter moons and crater planets.  White dress J-idol getup or not, this goes toe to toe with the Angel Of Deaths, Strike Of The Beasts, Disciples of The Watches, Riot Of Violences, and other assorted L’amours staples.  

1. A Frozen Serenade

This Asami penned masterstroke is what legions of Euro-symphonic assclowns have been trying -and miserably failing- to create for the past 20 years.  What makes this track seminal is not only what does, but what it doesn’t do. No beauty and the beast vocal stupidity, no guitars taking a backseat to orchestras.  A truly progressive movement with nay a single note wasted. Midpaced neck-break gives way to piano backed latin lead, which gives way to harmonic Exodus pit violence.  Worthy of Rick Beato, Charismatic Voice AND Professor of Rock studies.