BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH !

Fastball/ Sony Music and band management announces a release date of March 18 for “Thousand Men Strong”, the brand new studio album from the NWOBHM band TOKYO BLADE – featuring Andy Boulton (guitar), John Wiggins (guitar), Andy Wrighton (bass), and Steve Pierce (drums), alongside new singer Nicolaj Ruhnow (Domain, Nick Hellfort). The CD was helmed by veteran British producer Chris Tsangerides, who has previously worked with Thin Lizzy, Y&T, Free, Black Sabbath, Ian Gillen, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, and Anvil, among others.

Exactly thirty years ago Boulton founded TOKYO BLADE together with Alan Marsh (vocals), Ray Dismore (guitar), Andy Robbins (bass), and Steve Pierce (drums) in Salisbury, UK. At first, they called themselves Killer, then Genghis Khan before they took on the band name TOKYO BLADE.

At the end of 1983, TOKYO BLADE released it's self-titled debut album, albeit without guitarist Ray Dismore but with the new addition John Wiggins. The following EP, “Midnight Rendevous” featured the song “If Heaven Is Hell”, representing the band's first musical climax.

“Night Of The Blade” - released in 1984 – is a milestone of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal which should not be missing in any record collection. “Lightning Strikes” and “Rock Me To The Limit” are another two hits from the album which brought TOKYO BLADE their international big break.

Due to internal differences, the band broke up and the band members turned to various other projects. However, Andy Boulton did not give up. In 1990 he returned to the front line together with the original singer Alan Marsh. Together with John Wiggins and new additions Colin Riggs (bass) and Mark Angel (drums) they released the comeback album “Burning Down Paradise” in 1995.

Boulton reactivated his former companions in 2009 due to the ongoing interest in the band. The race for the position of the vocalist was won by the German prodigy Nicolaj Ruhnow who also takes an active part in the melodic metal band Domain and his own project Nick Hellfort.

“Thousand Men Strong” track listing:

1. Black Abyss

2. Thousand Men Strong

3. Lunch-Case

4. Forged In Hell's Fire

5. No Conclusion

6. The Ambush

7. Killing Rays

8. Heading Down The Road

9. Condemned To Fire

10. Night Of The Blade       

Commented the band: “We are treating (“Thousand Men Strong”) as (our) third album, or the third album that should have been, so to speak. We view it as a natural follow-up to (1984's) "Night Of The Blade" as the songs hark back to the glory days of NWOBHM.

The group added, “ We have deliberately recorded the whole thing in a very live manner in just over a week (real time) as albums were recorded back in the early 80's. No keyboards, no bullshit – just 100% heavy metal helped considerably by the talent of our new vocalist Nicolaj, and classic heavy metal producer Chris Tsangerides.

TOKYO BLADE's lineup is:

Andy Boulton (guitar)

John Wiggins (guitar)

Andy Wrighton (bass)

Steve Pierce (drums)

Nicolaj “Nick” Ruhnow (vocals)