Midnight Rendezvous

Tokyo Blade are a band I don't know a lot about, all I can tell you is that on this album they play a fast and energetic style of NWOBHM. Obviously inspired by early Iron Maiden(especially Killers,) but with a more raw sound, and more of a punk attitude. The production is solid, sounds pretty good for 1984. The musicianship is good, it's a bit rough around the edges, but I would imagine that's intentional. Some of the soloing is surprisingly very good, and their singer is absolutely great, he has a perfect NWOBHM voice. He sounds similar to Paul Di'anno, but even better in my opinion.

The title track kicks off the album, it's not exactly fast or energetic but it is incredibly catchy. The pre-chorus verse riff slays, and the vocals are absolutely stellar. It's a little light and fluffy, but man it's so damn catchy that you don't even notice how cheesy it is. "Mean Streak" is straight up old school speed metal, it sounds like the faster moments from the first two Maiden albums. The music is wild and raw, the chorus is catchy, the song is just full of attitude. There's a breakdown at 2:37 that is damn near thrash. "If Heaven is Hell" is an epic number straight out of the Maiden play-book, a bit more ambitious than the others on here, with it's extended solos and clean guitar section, but it's really a pretty straight forward rocker for the most part. Album closer "Highway Passion" is the highlight in my opinion. Blazing fast, high energy rocker, catchy as hell chorus. One of the best driving songs you'll ever hear, certainly this song has been the cause of many a speeding ticket over the years.

I really don't have anything bad to say about this album. Since it's only a 4 song EP you can rest assured that there's no filler here. It's just some high quality old school NOWBHM that's a hell of a lot of fun to listen to.