TOKYO BLADE – Beware The Blade: Classic, Rare & Unreleased [Cherry Red Box Set] (2025) *HQ*

320_1 /// 320_2 /// HQ

Cherry Red / Dissonance Productions are releasing ”Beware The Blade: Classic, Rare & Unreleased” a brand new all-encompassing 4-CD set from British metal institution TOKYO BLADE, featuring classic tracks, a rare live set and a full disc of completely unreleased songs.
CD’s 1 & 2 cover multiple eras of the band, from their beginnings as one of the leading acts of the NWOBHM movement, including tracks from the band rare EPs, right up to the present day. CD3 features a rare early live set, captured in all its raw and rough edged glory, at the Earthquake Festival, Holland in 1984.
CD4 includes a whopping 14 unreleased songs, personally curated by band leader Andy Boulton from his enormous archive of unused TOKYO BLADE material.
Hailing from Wiltshire, and formed in 1982, TOKYO BLADE were initially considered part of the NWOBHM scene but quickly outgrew the tag, enduring over the course of 14 studio albums and 5 EPs.
Producing genuine early classics such as their self-titled debut and follow up ‘Night of the Blade’, the band went through multiple line-up changes over the years and yet continued to enjoy the support of the metal community and diehard fans across the globe.

CD1 captures the tracks at the core of Tokyo Blade’s debut and follow up albums, Midnight Rendezvous and Night Of The Blade. Brutally honest heavy metal, with tunes, just crying out to be used as a soundtrack to the international birth pangs of NWOBHM. Both got vigorous nods of approval from the heavy metal community. ‘Mean Streak, ‘ Love Struck’ and ‘If Heaven Is Hell’ were the high watermark… 3 of the 10 chosen ones from those first two albums. All on CD1.

Like almost every rock/metal band you could care to mention they encountered the disappointingly familiar litany of label turmoil, personnel changes and ill judged decisions. Band members left and sometimes they came back. Like a movie. The band survived.
Strangely, they chose to widen their musical horizons, a brave but perhaps foolhardy decision. After cycling through many albums (and personnel), like No Remorse (1989), Burning Down Paradise (1995), Thousand Men Strong (2011) , a secure future still proved elusive.

Then in 2014, the classic lineup reformed. Originals Andy Boulton (guitar) and Alan Marsh (vocals) were reunited with new originals, Steve Pierce, Andy Wrighton and John Wiggins. The future looked brighter.
Fury (2022), a 15 track return to heavy metal sanctuary, born of Covid isolation, lauded by fans and media alike, hit the ground running. This was focused, self aware heavy metal, each track cutting its own path through a post NWOBHM soundscape that had virtually been disappeared by the rise of European Power Metal.
‘Blood Red Night’, ‘Kill Me Till I’m Dead’ and ‘Life Leaves A Scar’, are the 3 standout tracks featured on CD2.
The follow up, Time Is The Fire (2025) is an entire album of un-reinvented wheels, armed with dark and profoundly dramatic lyrics and melodies. Heavy metal to remember. The second CD closes with its standouts, ‘Moth To Flame’ and ‘Don’t Bleed Over Me’. Raw expressions of today’s life and times.

CD3 is a recording of the band captured live at the Earthquake Festival in Holland, 1984. It’s a rough, gritty recording with the band withg the pedal to the metal. Sound quality is fine.

CD4 contains 14 unreleased songs, personally selected by Andy Boulton from his archives. Many of these tracks showcase the band at their most full-throated, and their most committed. They are a reflection of the band’s migration from the gritty visceral realities of Seventies NWOBHM, to the present day, revealing a tightly cohesive, dynamic outfit. Sound quality is very good, very well recorded songs for the most part.
Marsh is great form all the way through this previously shelved material, with ‘Last Of The Renegades’, the modern leanings of ‘This Dying Light’ and the six minute metal epic ‘Serenade’ all benefitting from his carefully channeled vocal energy.

Highly Recommended

DISC ONE / 1983-1985
1. Midnight Rendezvous
2. Mean Streak
3. Powergame
4. Death On Main Street
5. If Heaven Is Hell
6. Highway Passion
7. Sunrise in Tokyo
8. Night of the Blade
9. Love Struck
10. Warrior of the Rising Sun
11. Lightning Strikes (Straight Through the Heart)
12. Madam Guillotine
13. Make It Through the Night
14. Blackhearts & Jaded Spades
15. Monkey’s Blood
16. Stealing the Thief

DISC TWO / 1986-2025
1. Too Much Too Soon
2. Chains Of Love
3. Friend In Need
4. Hot Breath
5. Flashpoint Serenade
6. More Than A Pretty Face
7. Woman And Love
8. Dark Revolution
9. Story of a Nobody
10. Life Leaves A Scar
11. Kill Me Till I’m Dead
12. Blood Red Night
13. Don’t Bleed Over Me
14. Moth To The Fire

DISC THREE / Live in Holland (1984)
1. Intro (live)
2. Powergame (live)
3. Mean Streak (live)
4. Break The Chains (live)
5. Death On Main Street (live)
6. Liar (live)
7. Midnight Rendezvous (live)
8. Madam Guillotine (live)
9. If Heaven Is Hell (live)
10. Unleash The Beast (live)
11. Sunrise in Tokyo (live)
12. Killer City (live)
13. Night of the Blade (live)

DISC FOUR / Rare and Unreleased
1. Last of the Renegades
2. Line in the Sand
3. Serenade in Black
4. Shout At the Dark
5. This Dying Light
6. Midnight Sun
7. Who’s Laughing Now
8. Hard Getting Over You
9. Save A Bullet
10. Hold Your Ground
11. Shadows In The Rain
12. Walk
13. Dead Forever After
14. The Weeping Wind

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