Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson Samson Years Return in Japan With Three Paper Jacket SHM-CD Reissues

Before Bruce Dickinson became the voice of Iron Maiden, one of the most important chapters in his development took place with Samson, the British heavy metal band that placed him directly inside the emerging New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

That period is returning to physical media in Japan on August 25, 2026, when Belle Antique releases new editions of Samson’s first three albums - Survivors, Head On and Shock Tactics - as collectible Paper Jacket SHM-CDs with new 2026 remasters and a combined 15 bonus tracks.

Each edition is priced at ¥3,630 and includes Japanese liner notes, lyrics and translations. The three releases also carry consecutive Belle Antique catalog numbers: BELLE 264423, BELLE 264424 and BELLE 264425.

For collectors, the attraction is not simply having the albums together again. The series preserves three successive stages of Samson’s early history - from the debut originally recorded before Dickinson joined, through the two studio albums that properly document him as the band’s lead vocalist before his move to Iron Maiden.

Samson released Survivors in 1979 as their debut album, during the formative period of the NWOBHM movement.

There is an important historical distinction surrounding this record: Bruce Dickinson did not sing on the original album. Paul Samson handled the vocals on the recordings, even though Dickinson - then associated with the stage name Bruce Bruce - became connected with the band around that period.

After Dickinson joined Samson, much of the Survivors material was recorded again with him on vocals.

That makes the new Japanese edition particularly interesting. Belle Antique preserves the original eight-song album and adds nine bonus tracks: two original Paul Samson vocal takes plus seven alternative recordings featuring Dickinson.

The result allows the listener to hear essentially the same early Samson material from two different stages of the band’s development.

SURVIVORS - COLLECTOR DETAILS

Original release: 1979
Japanese release: August 25, 2026
Catalog number: BELLE 264423
Format: Paper Jacket / SHM-CD
Mastering: 2026 remaster
Bonus tracks: 9
Price: ¥3,630
Extras: Japanese liner notes, lyrics and translations

SURVIVORS - TRACKLIST

01. It’s Not as Easy as It Seems - 3:06
02. I Wish I Was the Saddle of a Schoolgirl’s Bike - 3:11
03. Big Brother - 6:17
04. Tomorrow or Yesterday - 6:34
05. Koz (Instrumental) - 4:23
06. Six Foot Under - 5:13
07. Inside Out - 4:10
08. Wrong Side of Time - 4:49

Bonus Tracks

09. Mr. Rock ’N’ Roll (Original Paul Samson Vocal Take) - 4:00
10. The Shuffle (Original Paul Samson Vocal Take) - 3:20
11. It’s Not as Easy as It Seems (Alternative Recording With Bruce Dickinson Vocals) - 3:05
12. I Wish I Was the Saddle of a Schoolgirl’s Bike (Alternative Recording With Bruce Dickinson Vocals) - 3:03
13. Big Brother (Alternative Recording With Bruce Dickinson Vocals) - 5:47
14. Tomorrow or Yesterday (Alternative Recording With Bruce Dickinson Vocals) - 5:38
15. Six Foot Under (Alternative Recording With Bruce Dickinson Vocals) - 5:14
16. Inside Out (Alternative Recording With Bruce Dickinson Vocals) - 4:14
17. Wrong Side of Time (Alternative Recording With Bruce Dickinson Vocals) - 4:46

If Survivors documents the transition into the Dickinson era, Head On is where that era begins properly on record.

Released in 1980, Samson’s second album was the first full studio album to feature Bruce Dickinson as lead vocalist, alongside guitarist Paul Samson, bassist Chris Aylmer and the unmistakable masked drummer Thunderstick. Belle Antique describes the album as one of the representative records of the NWOBHM period.

Head On contains songs including “Hard Times,” “Take It Like a Man,” “Vice Versa,” “Hammerhead” and “Walking Out on You.”

The new Japanese edition adds three bonus tracks. “Angel with the Machine Gun” is joined by the nearly ten-minute “Kingsway Jam” and a 7-inch edit of “Vice Versa.”

For Dickinson collectors, Head On represents the point where the voice later heard across Iron Maiden’s classic catalog became fully established on a Samson studio album.

HEAD ON - COLLECTOR DETAILS

Original release: 1980
Japanese release: August 25, 2026
Catalog number: BELLE 264424
Format: Paper Jacket / SHM-CD
Mastering: 2026 remaster
Bonus tracks: 3
Price: ¥3,630
Extras: Japanese liner notes, lyrics and translations

HEAD ON - TRACKLIST

01. Hard Times - 4:42
02. Take It Like a Man - 4:07
03. Vice Versa - 4:44
04. Manwatcher - 3:36
05. Too Close to Rock - 3:35
06. Thunderburst - 2:06
07. Hammerhead - 3:37
08. Hunted - 2:59
09. Take Me to Your Leader - 3:48
10. Walking Out on You - 6:35

Bonus Tracks

11. Angel with the Machine Gun - 2:54
12. Kingsway Jam - 9:51
13. Vice Versa (7' Edit) - 3:23

The story reaches its natural conclusion with Shock Tactics.

Released in 1981, Samson’s third album became Dickinson’s final studio record with the band before joining Iron Maiden. Belle Antique highlights his increasingly powerful vocal presence on an album that included “Riding with the Angels,” “Earth Mother,” “Blood Lust,” “Bright Lights” and “Communion.”

Later that year, Dickinson’s career changed permanently.

Iron Maiden’s own history identifies him as the ex-Samson frontman who replaced Paul Di’Anno, setting the stage for his debut with Maiden on The Number of the Beast in 1982.

Rockum has previously documented Dickinson discussing the story behind that Iron Maiden transition:

Read: Bruce Dickinson Shares Story Behind His Iron Maiden Audition

The Japanese Shock Tactics edition adds three recordings from the album period: “Little Big Man,” “Pyramid to the Stars” and “Losing My Grip.”

SHOCK TACTICS - COLLECTOR DETAILS

Original release: 1981
Japanese release: August 25, 2026
Catalog number: BELLE 264425
Format: Paper Jacket / SHM-CD
Mastering: 2026 remaster
Bonus tracks: 3
Price: ¥3,630
Extras: Japanese liner notes, lyrics and translations

SHOCK TACTICS - TRACKLIST

01. Riding with the Angels - 3:43
02. Earth Mother - 4:40
03. Nice Girl - 3:19
04. Blood Lust - 6:00
05. Go to Hell - 3:19
06. Bright Lights - 3:07
07. Once Bitten - 4:36
08. Grime Crime - 4:32
09. Communion - 6:31

Bonus Tracks

10. Little Big Man - 3:23
11. Pyramid to the Stars - 5:19
12. Losing My Grip - 3:59

Taken together, the three Belle Antique releases form a compact physical archive of the period immediately before Dickinson became internationally known with Iron Maiden.

Survivors shows where Samson stood before his voice became part of the band and then adds the later Dickinson vocal recordings as historical counterparts.

Head On documents his first proper Samson studio album as frontman.

Shock Tactics captures the final studio chapter before he left for Iron Maiden in 1981.

For collectors, the consecutive catalog numbers, Japanese Paper Jacket presentation, SHM-CD format, new 2026 remasters and 15 bonus tracks make the three releases particularly natural companion pieces rather than isolated reissues.

Collectors buying all three editions together directly through World Disque have an additional incentive. The Japanese retailer is offering a paper-jacket storage box as a bonus to customers who purchase Survivors, Head On and Shock Tactics simultaneously. The three-disc set is priced at ¥10,890, combining the consecutive Belle Antique SHM-CD releases with a dedicated box designed to house the three Paper Jacket editions.

And the historical sequence remains the strongest reason for keeping them together. They preserve the music immediately surrounding one of heavy metal’s most consequential vocalist changes: the years before Bruce Dickinson moved from Samson to Iron Maiden. Bruce Dickinson’s Samson years are sometimes reduced to a sentence written before the beginning of his Iron Maiden biography.

These three albums show why that period deserves more than that.

Survivors, Head On and Shock Tactics document a young British heavy metal scene taking shape, a band finding its identity and a vocalist developing immediately before stepping into one of the biggest groups the genre would produce.

Belle Antique’s 2026 Japanese editions preserve that sequence in a collector-oriented format without separating the albums from the material surrounding them.

The Paper Jacket packaging and SHM-CD format give the releases their Japanese collector identity, but the bonus recordings provide the historical substance - particularly on Survivors, where the original Paul Samson recordings can sit beside the later Bruce Dickinson vocal versions.

Three albums, 15 bonus tracks and one short but important chapter before Iron Maiden.

Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist

IMAGE CREDIT: Courtesy of Belle Antique / Marquee Inc.