Album of the Week 08-2026: Lovebites – Outstanding Power

And with the fifth full-length album in Lovebites’ alphabetical discography, we are already in the second half of the alphabet, in the year that the band celebrates its tenth anniversary, no less. In those years, the Japanese quintet released a lot of excellent European-styled power metal, though I don’t think they ever matched their incredible 2017 debut ‘Awakening from Abyss‘ and the following year’s ‘Battle Against Damnation’ EP. ‘Outstanding Power’ does come close, however, and it is their most consistent album since. ‘Judgement Day‘ (2023) was good, but this one has higher peaks, and the lows a bit better.

Overall, ‘Outstanding Power’ feels a bit darker than anything Lovebites released to date. It also feels slightly more restrained, although the sound is still dominated by Midori’s and Miyako’s guitar fireworks, and Haruna is without a doubt the best power-hitter in the scene the band originated from. Having Asami push towards the upper limits of her vocal register significantly less is probably a good idea with future live performances in mind, but I also think it benefits the vocal melodies, simply because it allows for more melodic variation. It certainly made me realize I like mid-range, soulful Asami better than air raid siren Asami.

In my opinion, Lovebites has quite an iffy track record when it comes to selecting first singles off their albums, but they hit the nail on the head here. Opening track ‘The Castaway’ is both a spectacular power metal song and one that represents the direction of the album quite well. It reminds me of ‘Shadowmaker’ from the debut album quite a bit, but with the melancholy dialed up even further. ‘The Eve of Change’ is another one of those melancholic power metal tracks that Lovebites simply excels at. This is one of the styles within their sound they do best.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the other is when they go full-on thrash metal. ‘Reaper’s Lullaby’ is hands-down the most vicious moment on the album, even dipping its toe into extreme metal for a few seconds. The verses feel quite similar to those of ‘Break the Wall’, but since that is a top three Lovebites song of mine, that’s no reason to complain. The awesome ‘Silence the Void’ is another great slab of thrash-infused power metal. ‘Forbidden Thirst’ and closing track ‘One Will Remain’, on the other hand, are expertly-crafted dramatic power metal songs. The latter feels like a more compact, streamlined take on their previous closer ‘Soldier Stands Solitarily’.

Occasionally, Lovebites looks outside of its comfort zone for inspiration. They generally wear their influences on their sleeves – Helloween, Angra, DragonForce, Blind Guardian – but the intro to ‘Wheels on Fire’ is textbook Thin Lizzy, while its pre-chorus is a dead ringer for Whitesnake’s ‘Guilty of Love’. ‘Out of Control’, with its crunchy main riff and its strong chorus, is a better hardrocker. The heavy, yet still quite theatrical and melodic modern metal of ‘Dream of King’ is the album’s most pleasant surprise. ‘Blazing Halo’ is the song I’m most conflicted about. Relatively new bassist Fami wrote it, and I’m not sure if a Lovebites arrangement is what serves the song best, though it has grown on me.

Still, 64 minutes is a bit too long for this style of power metal, though having it mastered differently than the typical “everything on 12 all the time” Finnvox mastering job the band once again went for here may have changed my mind about that. It’s one of the reasons why I tend to prefer Lovebites’ live releases over their studio albums, despite the excellent songwriting. Personally, I would have dropped the obnoxiously upbeat ‘Phoenix Rises Again’ – once more, I don’t think producer Mao should write Lovebites songs on his own – and edited the good, but overlong power ballad ‘Etenally’ at the very least.

Like ‘Judgement Day’ before it, ‘Outstanding Power’ surpasses my expectations. The void left behind by original bassist Miho, who in my opinion generally wrote the best Lovebites songs, has been filled better than I reasonably could have hoped for. ‘Outstanding Power’ is the better album of the two, however. There are more songs on this one that I would love to see turn into live staples, and the album as a whole just has a much better flow. Also, there are some compositional developments that I would love to see Lovebites further expand upon here. Highly recommended to fans of bombastic non-symphonic power metal.

Recommended tracks: ‘Reaper’s Lullaby’, ‘Silence the Void’, ‘The Castaway’, ‘Dream of King’

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