Tokyo Blade – Time is the fire – 2025
Time is the Fire is an album by Tokyo Blades, a band that was around already in the NWOBHM era. Time is the Fire is the 12th or 13th album depending on how you’re counting. I’d say they’re still in the kind of sound philosophy that was coming during that era despite this is anew album 2025.
I’m not sure if I would even consider it a Metal album today. Maybe it was in the early 80s, but now it’s more of a Hardrock album. But on the other hard, everything was more Hardrock than Metal back then. Of course, not everything, there were still bands that broadened the perspective of music and maybe Tokyo Blade was one of those bands back in the day. I don’t really know. I might be old but there’s so many band that I don’t really have ever listened to.
That’s kinda odd too, because back then there were only a handful of them compared to the plethora of bands that are out there trying to make success today. I mean, if I wasn’t even able to know about these band when they were formed in the 80s, how could I have a relationship to them today when there SO much more to filter out.
However. I like Time is the Fire. As usual I’m pretty cheep with my ratings, I always am. I think that is a product of me having heard so much these days that nothing really distinguish itself form everything else. I’m exaggerating of course, There are bands and albums that stand out but they are sparse.
Tokyo Blade, at least of Time is the Fire, sounds pretty thin. There are a lot of melodies and the vocals are clean. I don’t see that as a problem at all. It just means that it’s more of a classic Hardrock album than Metal. I wish there were something more that would stand out, a special sound och a distinctive voice to make it more memorable. It’s still ok and really good, but it’s not enough to make it great or fantastic.
