Hailing from Wiltshire, and formed in 1982, Tokyo Blade was initially considered part of the NWOBHM scene but quickly outgrew the tag, enduring over the course of 13 studio albums and five EPs. Producing genuine early classics such as their self- titled debut and follow up ‘Night of the Blade’, the band went through multiple line-up changes over the years and yet continued to enjoy the support of the metal community and diehard fans across the globe.
Initially joining forces with Dissonance for 2020’s ‘Dark Revolution’ and the 2022’s ‘Fury’, the new album sees band leader Andy Boulton leading the charge with 14 new tracks of aggressive melodic metal, coupled with the anthemic vocals of Alan Marsh. ‘Time Is The Fire’ will be supported by a full promotion campaign with multiple singles and features in all major metal and rock media.
Italian symphonic power metal kings RHAPSODY OF FIRE will release their new album, "The Eighth Mountain", on February 22, 2019. The disc will be the band's first collection of brand new material to feature vocalist Giacomo Voli and drummer Manu Lotter, who joined RHAPSODY OF FIRE in 2016.
Emboldened by the popularity of Inner Mounting Flame among rock audiences, the first Mahavishnu Orchestra set out to further define and refine its blistering jazz-rock direction in its second – and, no thanks to internal feuding, last – studio album. Although it has much of the screaming rock energy and sometimes exaggerated competitive frenzy of its predecessor, Birds of Fire is audibly more varied in texture, even more tightly organized, and thankfully more musical in content. A remarkable example of precisely choreographed, high-speed solo trading – with John McLaughlin, Jerry Goodman, and Jan Hammer all of one mind, supported by Billy Cobham's machine-gun drumming and Rick Laird's dancing bass – can be heard on the aptly named "One Word," and the title track is a defining moment of the group's nearly atonal fury. The band also takes time out for a brief bit of spaced-out electronic burbling and static called "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love." Yet the most enticing pieces of music on the record are the gorgeous, almost pastoral opening and closing sections to "Open Country Joy," a relaxed, jocular bit of communal jamming that they ought to have pursued further.
Emboldened by the popularity of Inner Mounting Flame among rock audiences, the first Mahavishnu Orchestra set out to further define and refine its blistering jazz-rock direction in its second - and, no thanks to internal feuding, last - studio album. Although it has much of the screaming rock energy and sometimes exaggerated competitive frenzy of its predecessor, Birds of Fire is audibly more varied in texture, even more tightly organized, and thankfully more musical in content. A remarkable example of precisely choreographed, high-speed solo trading - with John McLaughlin, Jerry Goodman, and Jan Hammer all of one mind, supported by Billy Cobham's machine-gun drumming and Rick Laird's dancing bass - can be heard on the aptly named "One Word," and the title track is a defining moment of the group's nearly atonal fury…