It’s a compelling and surprising twist that many legacy metal bands become consistently heavier in their mature years (see: Judas Priest, Accept, Diamond Head, etc).
Add Tokyo Blade to that growing list. One of NWOBHM’s brightest early stars, the band flirted with commercial accessibility in the mid-1980’s to varying degrees of success and suffered a head-spinning amount of line-up changes over the decades. But in 2016, founding guitarist Andy Boulton was able to reform the band’s classic ‘82 lineup and they’ve been going from strength to strength ever since.
Hot on the heels of last year’s stellar Dark Revolution, Fury follows the same template: epic, melodic heavy metal peppered with Boulton’s frequently jaw-dropping guitar wizardry and Alan Marsh’s soaring, confident vocals.
While slower burns like Cold Light Of Day and Disposable Me find the band branching out into different sounds and textures, the bulk of the album is a pulverising and satisfying return to form.
