After a sold-out world tour, concert film and 2025 album DETOX, ONE OK ROCK‘s Live from DETOX JAPAN TOUR 2025 EP doesn’t falter from a string of critically acclaimed releases.
With almost 2 decades of experience, it’s no surprise that the rock band is able to give new life to their studio recordings, with each song transitioning effortlessly onto the live stage.
Starting off the EP is the 2023 release “Make It Out Alive” with guitarist Toru Yamashita’s rhythm quickly setting the intense tone for the show. Takahiro Moriuchi’s vocals are easily the highlight of the live EP, and the opener hastily establishes this with raw screams in the chorus’s “we gotta make it out alive.” Despite the higher pitch of the metal screams throughout the EP, Moriuchi’s voice does not once falter, but instead moves effortlessly between screams and belts.
The band’s experimentation with electronic elements in rock music are heard loud and clear in the live version of “NASTY,” with the drum machine elevated by the live playing of drummer Tomoya Kanki and bassist Ryota Kohama. “NASTY,” however, does reveal one fault within the live EP in its bridge. There were clearly little to no microphones to pick up the audience during the performance, which leads to a somewhat awkward silence when fans sing back the lyrics while the band is quiet.
DETOX‘s “Party’s Over” is next, with the 4-minute song including an extraordinary guitar solo from Yamashita. The contrasting sharp and clear tone of the solo against the song’s distorted rhythm guitars highlights Yamashita’s skills even further. The extensive pedal effects on the guitar throughout the EP also emphasise the band’s skill in translating their studio recordings to a stadium environment, with the fuzz and distortion sounding almost identical to the original album version of “Party’s Over.”
The piano makes it introduction in “Renegades” with a change to a slower pace. Easily the most changed from the studio version, the acoustic piano ballad of “Renegades” lets the lyrics be the focus as Moriuchi sings “I’m here for you, ooh / Are you here for me too?”. While there is a recorded piano version of “Renegades,” this live version has a more raw and emotional drive behind it.
Electronic elements and the rest of ONE OK ROCK take back the stage in the epic call to action that is “Delusion:All.” One of the singles off of 2025’s DETOX, the song highlighted the shift in ONE OK ROCK’s lyrical content as the band became more outwardly political. The gamble that came with this shift paid off, with the live version of “Delusion:All” having the most fiery energy out of the entire EP, with the driving and loud drums from Kanki giving it a new burst of energy.
The final song of Live from DETOX JAPAN TOUR 2025 is “The Pilot </3.” Ceremoniously chosen as the last song for its message about the band growing up together, “The Pilot </3” is also the EP’s longest, with each member given time to shine. Moriuchi holds a note for 8 bars, Kanki fills up each minute with impressive drum runs, and both Kohama and Yamashita are given solos.
Live from DETOX JAPAN TOUR 2025 releases in conjunction to the North American release of ONE OK ROCK’s concert film ONE OK ROCK: DETOX. Both the film and live EP show audiences that after 20 years together, the Japanese rock 4-piece are not slowing down anytime soon.
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