TOKYO BLADE · s/t | SPLATTER 2LP

Multi-splatter double vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover with 7mm spine, lyric sheet, 8 page booklet, poster, A5 photo card. Limited to 250 copies.

Background information about 's/t'

Some records arrive like a punch to the jaw, and the self-titled debut from Tokyo Blade is exactly that kind of record. Cut in November 1983 at Wickham Studio in East London on a budget of four frantic days and nights, the album still sounds like a band with nothing to lose. "Powergame" opens with a swagger that could level buildings, "If Heaven Is Hell" rides a riff so sharp it could cut glass, and "Sunrise in Tokyo" closes the original run with a melody that refuses to leave your head. This is NWOBHM at its most hungry, raw and gloriously unpolished, the sound of school friends from Wiltshire who simply could not stop playing.

What makes this expanded edition such a joy is the sheer amount of treasure packed inside. The four cuts from the "Midnight Rendezvous" EP are all here, alongside "Powergame" and "Death On Main Street" from the "Powergame" 7", plus "Machine Run", originally released under the name Madame Guillotine on the "Metal Maniaxe" compilation in 1982. Transferred, restored and mastered by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony, and cut by SST Germany on Neumann machines, these songs have never sounded this alive. The guitars bite, the rhythm section breathes, and Alan Marsh's vocals sit right in the middle of the storm. Kerrang! may have shrugged back in the day, but continental Europe knew better, and so do we.

For fans of: Iron Maiden, Saxon, Angel Witch, Diamond Head, Tygers of Pan Tang

Track listing

LP 1:
A1. Powergame
A2. Break the Chains
A3. If Heaven is Hell
A4. On Through the Night
A5. Killer City
B1. Liar
B2. Tonight
B3. Sunrise in Tokyo
B4. Midnight Rendezvous (12")
B5. Mean Streak (12")
LP 2:
C1. If Heaven is Hell (12")
C2. Highway Passion (12")
C3. Powergame (7")
C4. Death On Main Street
C5. Machine Run (Compilation Track)

Manufacturer: High Roller Records, Bertolt-Brecht-Str. 1a, 08412 Werdau, Germany, Contact: www.hrrecords.de