TOKYO BLADE – Tokyo Blade [Deluxe Edition Japan mini-LP remastered] (2016)

Another request from the recent Japan-only remastered reissue series of TOKYO BLADE, the Deluxe Edition mini-LP replica plus a bonus disc of the band’s first album “Tokyo Blade”.
Features 24 bit new remastering and cardboard sleeve packaging with OBI & inserts. The cardboard sleeve replicates the design of the UK LP.
This Japanese reissue comes with a bonus disc with 12 tracks total, including tracks from the rare Tokyo Blade previous EPs (“Midnight Rendezvous,” “Madame Guillotine,” “The Caves Sessions”) and a B-side.

There was a period of music in the mid-to-late ¡80s where at least one member of every metal / hard rock band owned some kind of Japanese ephemera. You couldn’t swing a Hamer guitar without hitting someone in a rising sun T-shirt. Tokyo Blade fitted right in.

Promisingly, 1983’s “Tokyo Blade” sounded like a fledgling Def Leppard. With the right kind of polish, songs like ‘If Heaven Is Hell’ could have bought them their own tour bus. This song is one of those metal-with-melody gems that boasts a chorus line that is embedded in the brain forever after just one listen.
Formerly known as Genghis Khan, this Salisbury quintet already had three singles to their name before recording this debut LP.

None can deny Tokyo Blade’s conviction to metal on this record, which features up-tempo songs chock full of revved up guitars and quality hooks.
It’s hard not to enjoy spirited cuts like ‘Sunrise In Tokyo’ (with great soaring lead breaks), the cool chorus of ‘Liar’, the rowdy and dual-soloed ‘Killer City’, the fast paced heads down ‘Powergame’, or the aforementioned ‘If Heaven Is Hell’.
On a more commercial side, there’s the Russ Ballard (often covered singer / songwriter at the time like Rainbow did) penned ‘Tonight’, a catchy tune.

Tokyo Blade, the album, is a very fine showcase of early ’80s British hard n’ heavy. The bonus disc offers collectors material, Tokyo Blade early EP’s with solid twisters like ‘Mean Streak’, ‘Highway Passion’ or ‘Midnight Rendezvous’.
Additionally, it’s included the B-side of the Powergame single, titled ‘Death on Main Street’.
Tokyo Blade may score zero for originality in song titles, but they certainly gain full marks in my book for producing some of the best British metal from the first half of the ’80s.

You’ve seen it first here, at 0dayrox

ＷＡＳＡＢＩ ＲＥＣＯＲＤＳ ~ WSBAC-25/6
Ｔ Ｏ Ｋ Ｙ Ｏ  Ｂ Ｌ Ａ Ｄ Ｅ 「ＲＥＩＳＳＵＥ ＳＥＲＩＥＳ」

Disc 1: “Tokyo Blade” remastered
01 – Powergame
02 – Break the Chains
03 – If Heaven Is Hell
04 – On Through the Night
05 – Killer City
06 – Liar
07 – Tonight
08 – Sunrise in Tokyo
09 – The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine

Disc 2:
01 – Death on Main Street
02 – Midnight Rendezvous
03 – Mean Streak
04 – If heaven is Hell
05 – Highway Passion
06 – Madame Guillotine
07 – Breakout
08 – Love Struck
09 – Monkey’s Blood
10 – School house is Burning
11 – Shadows of Insanity
12 – Jessabel

1 B-side of the single “Powergame”
2-5 – Midnight Rendezvous EP
6-8 – Madame Guillotine EP
9-12 – The Cave Sessions

Alan Marsh – lead vocals
Andy Boulton – guitar
John Wiggins – guitar
Andy Robbins – bass
Steve Pierce – drums

BUY IT !
www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/WSBAC-25
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