Well, who would have thought that? The crazed shrimp is back.1 But this time, it returns with a much sturdier depiction of the beast than the smudgy one that garnished Lion Share‘s Inferno piece earlier this year.
Oh, and don’t get your hopes up. The band didn’t suddenly experience a magical surge of productivity that led to this famed second annual record that should never have happened. Instead, the band’s current label, Metalville, decided to reissue the band’s 2009 piece Dark Hours, out on 28 August 2026.
And that suits us just fine. This is a record that careened about our mutual skulls since we reviewed the act’s somewhat warped 2026 piece. Because, you see, the metal may already be covered in an olde patina. But it truly feels like it’s emerging straight out of a blacksmith’s smoky workshop from the ’80s. Exactly how it should be, sez the bossman. So, fire up that juke box and let ‘er roar.
One thing is certain. Lion’s Share won’t forge their own Heavy Metal the way other bands do. Instead, the band prefers to surf along those known mighty waves others created eons ago. Stemming from a time when metal was a simple, straightforward, and powerful affair with the exciting air of novelty still wrapped tightly around it. Dominated by few and imitated by many. A genre that today has become desperately overloaded with a gazillion bands. With still only a few doing the domination game.
Thus, Dark Hours here won’t hide its influences. Judas Must Die, the first track, eerily sounds [nervous laughter] like a mix of early Scorpions2 and Dio. Speaking of which, the dead still speak loudly in Lion’s Share‘s studio. There’s so much Ronnie James baked into Dark Hours‘ mix here, one wonders if the man really bit the dust. This kinda goes axe-to-axe with the Saxon influence. Bottomless Pit could stem directly from Biff’s realm3, I kid you not. A track that comes garnished with a stunning solo to boot. Full Metal Jacket somehow got itself some airs of no other than Dream Evil. The band, not the ’87 Dio piece. But Heavy Cross to Bear truly smashes it. Just listen to the mountaineous build up to the theme, the arrangement, the powerful delivery. This one’s, in many ways, the fillet piece of the record. The RMR crew could go on.
Now that their style has been discussed ad nauseam, what about Lion’s Share‘s musical prowess? Well, Lion’s Share got it made. Dark Hours immediately taps into that trademark Heavy Metal and Hard Rock sound that makes this crew come back for seconds. First, vocalist Patrik Johansson impressed us with that high-pitched, tight-lipped snarl similar to Saxon’s Biff Byford or – to a lesser extent – Krokus’ Marc Storace4. Meaning, he won’t be doing any Dickinson-esque excursions into metal screams and rightly so. Instead, his contribution here is always right on point with the material at hand, with absolutely no note out of step anywhere. Any Heavy Metal piece stands or falls with whatever the axeman has in store. And here Lars Chriss5 truly smashed it. Typical, yet meaty riffs, absolutely stellar solos (Barker Ranch, for instance), leads, bridges – the man’s got it made. And – last but not least – Sampo Axelsson, the man who already appeard on this zine on Sideburn’s 2015 piece Evil and Divine, lent his considerable powers on keys and bass on Dark Hours.
Finally, while Inferno was just a consolidation list of sorts with a coherence problem, Dark Hours fully convinced this here crew. The RMR crew found that touch of magick straight from the ’80s, delivered by old warhorses with those beatz in their metal-infested blood. An outcome that’s inevitably juicy, stamped into the steely alloy from which early Heavy Metal emerged. And it did our cold metal hearts good to hear that Lion’s Share truly have this old spirit still burning inside them. Or at least they had it back in 2009. Let’s just hope that the frugal Inferno thing quickly disappears in their wake and that next time around this old vigor rules yet again.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Blistering Records / Metalville | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 25 March 2009
- Check the album cover for guidance.-↩
- No kidding, I had it playing back in my head with Klaus Meine’s voice in charge. Fits. -Ed.-↩
- Biff Byford, the master of the disaster over at Saxon.-↩
- And now we just listened to Krokus’ Dirty Dynamite piece all over again. No focus or discipline over here.-↩
- Aka Lars Håkan Christmansson. Quite the name.-↩