Tokyo Blade are one of those seminal NWOBHM bands that everyone mentions as influential, but who never had made a successful impact in their original run. A quick look at the revolving door of musicians in their line up explains why, as this started from day one and never really stopped.
That said, the Tokyo Blade of today is (more or less) using the reconstituted key members of the original 1982-86 run, although to be honest all five of them were only actually in the band at the same time for the last three of those years. However, this is the team that brought us Night Of The Blade in 1984 and Black Hearts & Jaded Spades in 1985, which are the two albums to reach for if you want to hear Tokyo Blade in their original context.
And to be fair, this reformed line up has been stable since they moved to their current label Dissonance in 2020, making the period since the most stable in their long and turbulent history. I’ve not heard the two predecessors, but this, album number three of this reformed run, is ticking a lot of boxes for me. For new ears, this is a really good place to start, as the album distils many of the best elements that have made up this brand over the decades, but for once they’re all on the same record at the same time.
It’s quite a meaty beast too, with nearly an hour and a quarter of run time, which it sustains remarkably well. When you’ve been around the block this many times, you expect artists to be able to crank the handle for new product more easily, and it’s a continual disappointment to listeners when they just seem to go through the motions and rely on their back catalogue to sustain them.
This is categorically not happening here…
This is a solid and well-crafted set of songs, with solid rhythmic structure, but weaved with melody and fluidity. Three-minute belters are avoided in favour of songs that build and lead you somewhere over the time it takes to do this job properly, building mood, creating atmosphere and taking the listener to a peak, which is sadly all too rare.
And to be fair, this reformed line up has been stable since they moved to their current label Dissonance in 2020, making the period since the most stable in their long and turbulent history. I’ve not heard the two predecessors, but this, album number three of this reformed run, is ticking a lot of boxes for me. For new ears, this is a really good place to start, as the album distils many of the best elements that have made up this brand over the decades, but for once they’re all on the same record at the same time.
It’s quite a meaty beast too, with nearly an hour and a quarter of run time, which it sustains remarkably well. When you’ve been around the block this many times, you expect artists to be able to crank the handle for new product more easily, and it’s a continual disappointment to listeners when they just seem to go through the motions and rely on their back catalogue to sustain them.
This is categorically not happening here…
This is a solid and well-crafted set of songs, with solid rhythmic structure, but weaved with melody and fluidity. Three-minute belters are avoided in favour of songs that build and lead you somewhere over the time it takes to do this job properly, building mood, creating atmosphere and taking the listener to a peak, which is sadly all too rare.
These songs stand so well individually, and despite the sheer number and size of them do not tire the listener, because they also flow together well by avoiding sameness, padding or any repetition. It’s an album of fourteen songs clearly by the same band, but each distinct from its fellows. With some great performances all round, this unexpectedly made my week, and I now need to fill my weekend catching up on the recent years. 9/10
Crimson Storm – Livin’ On The Bad Side (Fighter Records) [Liam Williams]
Speed metal band Crimson Storm have unleashed their debut album, Livin’ On The Bad Side, upon the world, and it might just be one of the best speed metal albums I’ve listened to in recent times! Now, as a bit of a disclaimer, I don’t really listen to a lot of speed metal, it’s one sub genre that I can listen to passively, but rarely go out of my way to listen to in my own time. But this album is excellent and I definitely think I’ll be revisiting it in future!
We start with an intro track, Night Of The Tyrant. A short instrumental with some lovely duel guitars which leads into the next track Raging Eyes Of Darkness. This track starts with a really cool guitar intro and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. The chorus is pretty groovy, and so is the bridge section. There’s a nice scream that leads into the first guitar solo of the album. This is followed up with a final verse and chorus before the track ends.
Crimson Storm – Livin’ On The Bad Side (Fighter Records) [Liam Williams]
Speed metal band Crimson Storm have unleashed their debut album, Livin’ On The Bad Side, upon the world, and it might just be one of the best speed metal albums I’ve listened to in recent times! Now, as a bit of a disclaimer, I don’t really listen to a lot of speed metal, it’s one sub genre that I can listen to passively, but rarely go out of my way to listen to in my own time. But this album is excellent and I definitely think I’ll be revisiting it in future!
We start with an intro track, Night Of The Tyrant. A short instrumental with some lovely duel guitars which leads into the next track Raging Eyes Of Darkness. This track starts with a really cool guitar intro and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. The chorus is pretty groovy, and so is the bridge section. There’s a nice scream that leads into the first guitar solo of the album. This is followed up with a final verse and chorus before the track ends.
Track 3 is Outrageous, a very fitting title. It starts with an air raid siren before the band kicks in. This song has an early days Iron Maiden vibe to it, bit of an old school punk/thrash sound with the main guitar riff, and some of the vocals remind me of Dio’s in Stargazer. Throwing all that together, it’s a pretty epic track, one of my favourites on the album.
Abuse Of Power is up next, this one is another thrashy banger, featuring a cool groovy bridge section before the guitar solo. Then we have another favourite of mine, Nightmare Deceiver. This track is very Motley Crüe sounding. It’s got a great lead guitar riff with some nice use of harmonics, cool chorus and a nice lead-up to the guitar solo. Then it’s back to the thrashing for track 6, Speed Hammerin’ Metal. This is another good track with some great instrumental breaks before and after the guitar solo.
Harakiri Rendez-Vous starts with some clean guitars accompanied by a bit of bass before the full band come in and pick things up again. This track has some great lead guitar playing, the solo sounds very Slash influenced. Track 8 is Headfukker and this track is another one of my favourites. There’s a nice thrashy intro with some great drumming and the whole track in general has quite a big Judas Priest vibe to it for me. It also has my favourite guitar solo on the whole album. The album ends on a high note with another thrasher, Seven Days Of Mayhem. There’s a really cool chuggy instrumental part with some nice drumming just after the guitar solo which leads into the final verse and chorus.
Abuse Of Power is up next, this one is another thrashy banger, featuring a cool groovy bridge section before the guitar solo. Then we have another favourite of mine, Nightmare Deceiver. This track is very Motley Crüe sounding. It’s got a great lead guitar riff with some nice use of harmonics, cool chorus and a nice lead-up to the guitar solo. Then it’s back to the thrashing for track 6, Speed Hammerin’ Metal. This is another good track with some great instrumental breaks before and after the guitar solo.
Harakiri Rendez-Vous starts with some clean guitars accompanied by a bit of bass before the full band come in and pick things up again. This track has some great lead guitar playing, the solo sounds very Slash influenced. Track 8 is Headfukker and this track is another one of my favourites. There’s a nice thrashy intro with some great drumming and the whole track in general has quite a big Judas Priest vibe to it for me. It also has my favourite guitar solo on the whole album. The album ends on a high note with another thrasher, Seven Days Of Mayhem. There’s a really cool chuggy instrumental part with some nice drumming just after the guitar solo which leads into the final verse and chorus.
Now, considering I’m not a big listener of speed metal, I really enjoyed this album a heck of a lot more than I thought I would. My main issue with speed metal in general is the same issue I have with a lot of power metal and most glam metal, which is the vocals are usually very cheesy and a bit too over the top for me personally. But I did not have that issue when listening to this album. The vocals were done really well. A lot of the time the vocalist sounds like Bruce Dickinson, but with more grit and power to his voice. This, along with the instruments, which all sounded fantastic and really well mixed, made this whole album a real pleasure to listen to. 10/10
Lethal X - 90 Tons Of Thunder (Metallic Blue Records) [Matt Bladen]
Now listen, in the history of Shrapnel Records, few bands are as important as Racer X, their debut Street Lethal was a 80's speed metal masterpiece, virtuoso players all pushing the limits of their instrument on the shred genre. For many Racer X never got better than Street Lethal, though I have soft spot for their latter material, they set a legacy as one of the foundations of that entire Shrapnel sound.
Perhaps though the band members were better known for what else they did. Guitarist Paul Gilbert was a member of Mr Big and successful solo artists, bassist Juan Aldertrete, the only constant member of the band went on to join The Mars Volta and drummer Scott Travis, who joined on follow album Second Heat took the Judas Priest drum stool for Painkiller until the present day.
Vocalist Jeff Martin has been around the rock world for a long time now as both a vocalist and a drummer for numerous artists, his uber-dramatic vocal style has seen him be both an in demand lead and backing vocalist, as well as a drummer too. However for me he was never better than behind the mic for Racer X, so imagine my excitement when I say the blue tinted album cover with a race car on it and the band name Lethal X.
This had to be deliberate right? They have to trying to emulate Racer X? Yes, yes they are, taking their name from Street Lethal, Lethal X pay homage to Racer X as Jeff Martin puts a band together along with original Racer X drummer Harry Gschoesser to rediscover that Shrapnel sound of their debut. Joining them are bassist Mike Szuter and guitarist Milan Polak, the latter having shredded with Shred God himself Marty Friedman, Kip Winger and Billy Sheehan.
Speaking of Sheehan, the bass wizard himself add some flair to instrumental Chasing The Flow, while on Daredevil and Fallen, Paul Gilbert returns to widdle up a storm. There's rarely a misstep if you loved the debut, speedy shredfests, Tormental is a grinding heavy rocker but also a lot of familiarity Dancing With Shadows, sounds a lot like Where Eagles Dare and some muscular balladry on God, Guts, Faith And Glory.
Lethal X continues where Street Lethal left off, Shrapnel Records Shred for 2025. 9/10
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