The reissue program for TKO’s classic Let It Roll and In Your Face albums is now complete, with the CDs produced and ready for sale at this location

Liner notes for both were written by BW&BK; Editor In Chief Martin Popoff, who comments that, “Let It Roll was weirdly poppy but quite irresistible. I remember getting it as a new release and it was one of the first pop-edged metal albums I really got into. By the time In Your Face came out, man… it was a way different band. And really, those guys should have been huge, as big as QUIET RIOT or TWISTED SISTER or RATT, certainly. That album had so much swagger and power, it was a shame it slipped through the cracks. When Matt asked me to do the notes on these, I jumped at the chance, ‘cos those records were a big part of my youth. Plus, Brad Sinsel is a legend and a great interview – cracks me up every time.”

The “one-sheets” on these two reissues read as follows.

Divebomb Records is proud to present the first official (re)release of TKO’s classic Let It Roll album. In 1978 a little known Seattle band (formerly Mojo Hand) emerged with an album that would become a classic slab of American rock ‘n’ roll. Drawing influence from other ‘70s rock acts like Boston, Heart and Journey, but maintaining a sound all their own, TKO garnered critical acclaim for their achievements. Even with the praise being thrown upon the band while opening for acts such as AC/DC, VAN HALEN, THE KINKS and CHEAP TRICK, their label (Infinity Records) mismanaged money and went bankrupt soon after the album’s release leaving TKO without a home. Despite the bottom falling out, the band pressed on in support of the material they had spent years perfecting, but eventually the Let It Roll-era lineup disbanded sending members to start new bands throughout Seattle, most notably, Rick Pierce eventually to Floyd Rose’s Q5. Vocalist Brad Sinsel however took TKO and pressed onward with a new lineup and grittier edge which can be heard on the album In Your Face, also reissued by Divebomb Records (DIVE001).

Divebomb Records is proud to present the first official (re)release of TKO’s classic In Your Face album. Following the success of their 1979 debut, Let It Roll, TKO vocalist Brad Sinsel decidedly moved the band towards a considerably grittier edge and with a new lineup recorded In Your Face in Hawaii in the summer of 1981. Shockingly, this groundbreaking metal classic didn’t see the light of day until 1984 via Combat Records and Music For Nations, at which time it still held up against the flood of metal releases marking metal’s golden era. Indeed, the album is a metal classic by any standard including notable ‘80s hard rock anthems like 'I Wanna Fight', 'Give Into The Night', 'End Of The Line' and 'Working Girl'. Sadly enough, TKO were continuously plagued by a revolving door of band members and were never really able to capitalize on the strength of the press and fan response to the mammoth stadium rock of In Your Face. It’s now 2008 (fully 27 years after it was recorded) and In Your Face still remains a smash slice of American metal, every bit as swaggering and expensive sounding as records from Ratt, DOKKEN, MÖTLEY CRÜE, Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot recorded years later.

Click below to view a slide show video from TKO's first concert at the Japan Jam in 1979. Note that the band pictures happen about a minute into the song.