Fastball Music has set a March 18 release date for "Thousand Men Strong", the brand new studio album from the newly revamped lineup of the NWOBHM band TOKYO BLADE — featuring Andy Boulton (guitar), John Wiggins (guitar), Andy Wrighton (bass) and Steve Pierce (drums), alongside new singer Nicolaj "Nick" Ruhnow (IRONY, VOIVITTU, DOMAIN, NICK HELLFORT). The CD was helmed by veteran British producer Chris Tsangarides, who has previously worked with THIN LIZZY, Y&T, FREE, BLACK SABBATH, IAN GILLAN, JUDAS PRIEST, OZZY OSBOURNE and ANVIL, among others.

Exactly thirty years ago Boulton founded TOKYO BLADE together with Alan Marsh (vocals), Ray Dismore (guitar), Andy Robbins (bass) and Steve Pierce (drums) in Salisbury. At first, they called themselves KILLER, then GENGHIS KHAN before they took on the band name TOKYO BLADE for good in 1983.

At the end of 1983, TOKYO BLADE released its self-titled debut album, albeit without guitarist Ray Dismore but with the new addition John Wiggins. The following EP, "Midnight Rendezvous" featured the song "If Heaven Is Hell", representing the band's first musical climax.

"Night Of The Blade" — released in 1984 — is a milestone of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal which should not be missing in any record collection. "Lighting Strikes" and "Rock Me To The Limit" are another two hits from the album which brought TOKYO BLADE the international big break.

Due to internal differences, the band broke up and the band members turned to various other projects. However, Andy Boulton did not give up. In 1990 he returned to the front line together with the original singer Alan Marsh. Together with John Wiggins and the new additions Colin Riggs (bass) and Mark Angel (drums) they released the comeback album "Burning Down Paradise" in 1995.

Boulton reactivated his former companions in 2009 due to the ongoing interest in the band. The race for the position of the vocalist was won by the German prodigy Nicolaj Ruhnow who also takes an active part in the melodic metal band DOMAIN and his own project NICK HELLFORT.

"Thousand Men Strong" track listing:

01. Black Abyss
02. Thousand Men Strong
03. Lunch-Case
04. Forged In Hell’s Fire
05. No Conclusion
06. The Ambush
07. Killing Rays
08. Heading Down The Road
09. Condemned To Fire
10. Night Of The Blade

Commented the band: "We are treating ['Thousand Men Strong'] as [our] third album, or the third album that should have been, so to speak. We view it as the natural follow-up to [1984's] 'Night Of The Blade' as the songs hark back to the glory days of NWOBHM.

The group added, "We have deliberately recorded the whole thing in a very live manner in just over a week (real time) as albums were recorded [back in the early '80s]. No keyboards, no bullshit — just 100% heavy metal helped considerably by the talent of our new vocalist, Nicolaj, and classic heavy metal producer Chris Tsangarides."

TOKYO BLADE in July 2010 parted ways with vocalist Chris Gillen — only eight months after announcing Gillen's addition to the group.

TOKYO BLADE's current lineup is:

Andy Boulton (guitar)
John Wiggins (guitar)
Andy Wrighton (bass)
Steve Pierce (drums)
Nicolaj "Nick" Ruhnow (vocals)