Tokyo Blade are back with their latest offering ‘Time Is The Fire’. Here, we have another collection of blistering heavy metal delivered in the usual fashion of the lads from Tokyo Blade. I’m not going to go on about their NWOBHM roots, blah blah, we’ve heard it all before. Let’s concentrate on the here and now, I reviewed their previous album Fury back in 2022 and loved that album. ‘Time Is The Fire’ follows on nicely from that, we have 14 tracks that deliver a masterclass in old-school metal. Alan Marsh’s vocals soar over the crunchy riffs spectacularly.

The opening track ‘Feeding the Rat’ kicks off with a mid-paced headbanger with some great lead work from Andy Boulton and John Wiggins.  Moth to the Fire has some hair metal-tinged riffs, ‘Man on the Stair’ begins with a spooky intro before we get more chuggerama and fist-pumping rhythms. Are You Happy Now is another great track with another pounding riff. ‘The Enemy Within’ starts with a Judas Priest feel, more lovely lead guitar work here and a catchy chorus. ‘Going With the Flow’ showcases some nice bass work from Andy Wrighton, a melodic intro builds into another powerful track. The 47 has some great lyrics about a historical event in Japan where a band of samurai avenged their former master. ‘The Devil in You’ is my favourite track on the album, muscular riffs, and some fine drumming from Steve Pierce drives the track along fantastically. ‘Soldier On‘ has a feel of old school Thin Lizzy with its twin lead attack.

Overall, it is a fantastic bunch of songs that show that Tokyo Blade is still a force to be reckoned with. My only gripe is the processed drum sound, this seems to be creeping in more and more into recordings.

The album is out now! You know what to do.

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Author: Kenny Kendrick