Naked Machine in Meguro
With Hiro Homma back after his injury, Naked Machine showed us why they are one of the best Japanese metal bands.
Naked Machine at Rockmaykan, Meguro, Tokyo, Japan on 20th September 2025
Hiro Homma is back! The legendary drummer couldn’t play drums for six months due to a serious back injury. On stage with his band Naked Machine, he played like a monster again.
Hiro is one of my all-time favourite drummers. His thunderous drumming has been heard with Flatbacker (which became E-Z-O when KISS legend Gene Simmons worked with them in the 1980s), Loudness, Anthem, Mari Hamada and many more.
To celebrate Naked Machine’s tenth anniversary, the band put on a special extended show for its Tokyo fans.
Naked Machine’s musical style is a rather Japanese version of heavy metal, which combines riff-happy metal with catchy melodies. The band is a solid quartet – Keisuke Okamoto on bass, Gentaro Satomura on guitar, backed up by Hiro on drums. Up front, lead vocalist Kan certainly has the pipes to deliver. She’s also got the stage moves and a talent for tongue-in-cheek banter between songs. The combined package is great and entertaining.
The band played for over two hours and treated us to the best of the band’s songs, including favourites such as “Evil Eyes”, “Turn on the Ignition”, “Wasurenagusa”, “The Devil of the Hatred”, “Eternal Moon”, “Vanity of the World” and “Monochrome Heart”. We also got two well-chosen covers, a terrific version of E-Z-O’s “Fire, Fire” and, as an encore, Dio’s “We Rock”.
For the encore, the band was joined by bassist Takenori “Ruzer” Minemura (Dr Phibes Electric Wizards, Galactica Phantom, Sleazy Wizard) for the evening’s final song, “Fight to Survive”. Ruzer also served as a guest DJ to warm up the audience before Naked Machine hit the stage.
This evening was a triumph on several levels, not least Hiro being back on the drum stool and the band proving that they are up there with the best Japanese metal bands.
