![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tokyo-150-hoist-image.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCherry Red [Release date : 21.08.26]<\/p>\n
The unquenchable flame that is Tokyo Blade is about to release its 14th studio album in a career lasting the best part of 50 years.
Hows that for durability?<\/p>\n
Hoist The Colours High is their second album of 2026. (We reviewed Time Is The Fire back in February).
And that on top of last year\u2019s 4CD boxset reissue.
Prolific as well as durable.<\/p>\n
As a child of the eighties, the band has always been associated with the cultural phenomenon known as NWOBHM. Even now, it\u2019s hard to shake off, but if you trace a line from the reformation of the original line up in 2014 (they broke up in 1985), to Hoist The Colours High, they\u2019ve progressively found their way onto higher ground.<\/p>\n
Only on \u2018When The Hammer Falls\u2019 and \u2018Too Wired To Sleep\u2019 do we detect trace elements of the distant past, the NWOBHM DNA is almost impossible to erase.
But otherwise, this new album doesn\u2019t sound like anyone else.
This is Tokyo Blade.<\/p>\n
And the band, then and now is Alan Marsh (vocals), Andy Boulton (guitar), John Wiggins (guitar), Andy Wrighton (bass) and Steve Pierce (drums). They write and produce their own stuff.<\/p>\n
Their lyrics have always been, at best, serviceable. But their lyrical game has most definitely been upped here. So many songs, like \u2018Last Man Standing\u2019 and \u2018She Was A Soldier\u2019 are full of sharp, observational narratives.<\/p>\n
A handful of songs truly standout musically.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of moving parts to \u2018I\u2019m Gonna Rise\u2019 and \u2018Devil In The Red Mist\u2019. Both swagger and rage, but every piece is oiled up and running like a dream.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the sultry, powerfully provocative \u2018Mr.Nobody\u2019 spits ire. An attitude mirrored in \u2018Sweet Desolation\u2019 . The arrangements, like on so many tracks here, is full of purposeful riffing and bolted to the floor rhythms.<\/p>\n
And all that said, the album\u2019s most compelling track is probably \u2018This Time\u2019, a rolling thundercloud of dark notes and haunting lyrics.<\/p>\n
For lots of different reasons, this their best album yet. No question. ****3\/4<\/p>\n
Review by Brian McGowan<\/p>\n
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