Dark Hours

Sweden's Lion's Share has been around for a while however, this album is only the second one to get a review here at Metal Reviews. Their debut album as well as their second album, Two were both released by Century Media in the mid to late 90's and the band enjoyed touring Europe with the likes of Saxon, Iced Earth, Nevermore and U.D.O. Their earlier work was more melodic metal focussed yet with 1999's Fall From Grace, the band adopted a more heavier style without compromising the melodic aspects of their sound. The Entrance followed in 2001 and then came Emotional Coma in 2007. The 1960's were not only an era of flower power and the whole tune in, turn on and drop out philosophy but they were also a very violent time in our history. This new album, Dark Hours explores the more darker aspects of that decade including the Vietnam War, the human rights violations of Communism as well as the alleged conspiracy of faking of man's first lunar landing. Easily the band's best and heaviest album to date, Lion's Share offers up an excellent album with a classic heavy metal style and features the very Dio-like vocals of Patrik Johansson who also sings for both Astral Doors and Wuthering Heights.

Right from the first track Judas Must Die, the Judas Priest worship is front and centre. The speedy double bass fuelled heavy metal style of Painkiller flows through this track as well as Phantom Rider and even more so with solo drums intro to Demon in Your Mind. The slightly more sinister Dio-style vocals of Patrik Johannson gives Lion's Share a grittier sound yet most tracks still have lots of melody and great melodic choruses. Slower and plodding Sabbath like tempos grace Behind The Curtain and especially Heavy Cross To Bear which comes across as a very Tony Martin era Sabbath-like track. The Bottomless Pit sees more of a fist pumping classic Accept vibe and Full Metal Jacket ventures into U.S. styled power metal territory. More traditional heavy metal can be found with Napalm Nights and Megadeth's Hangar 18 stuttering riff styles can be found with track Space Scam. A decidedly Queensryche vibe complete with chiming clean guitars mixed with heavier passages gives The Presidio 27 a nice change of pace. Michael Romeo of Symphony X does a few guest solos on this album but otherwise, the lead guitar work is a mix between harmonized leads, shredding as well as very expressive melodic styles.

There's absolutely nothing new, innovative or ground breaking with Dark Hours but when a heavy metal album is done this well, there doesn't need to be. It's a little "front heavy" with most of the best songs being in the first half of the album but there are no filler tracks and a wide variety of tempos and heavy metal styles, awaits the listener. Fans of the more "muscular" power metal of Brainstorm, Mystic Prophecy, older Iced Earth and Dream Evil should check out this album immediately! The classic heavy metal mixed with a little power metal and lots of solid memorable choruses and great guitar riffs here has created a recipe for a truly outstanding album. The band should be very proud of Dark Hours and I cannot recommend it enough for those who are fans of this style of metal and even the casual traditional/power metal listeners will also find lots to like here.