{"id":680808,"date":"2026-03-25T13:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/680808\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:29:14","slug":"lions-share-inferno-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/680808\/","title":{"rendered":"Lion’s Share – Inferno Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Some bands need no introduction; somehow, Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>do. Hailing from Sundsvall, Sweden, guitarist Lars Chriss and keyboardist Kay Buckland formed the group in 1987 and, between 1995 and 2009, cranked out a smattering of respectable, high-octane heavy metal records before seemingly falling off a cliff. Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>were never condemned to obscurity, but they never reached the level of acclaim their fans believe they deserved. Now, seventeen years after 2009\u2019s Dark Hours, Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>attempt to swing back with Inferno, something Chriss claims as \u201cthe strongest, heaviest and most focused Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>record of our career.\u201d There\u2019s a lot working against Inferno: seventeen years between albums could either stoke the flames of ambition or see them snuffed out, and vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson most recently came off a plain bad solo record<\/a> in War and Peace. But can Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>overcome these challenges and stumbles to claim the throne they deserve with Inferno?<\/p>\n

Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>raise their Inferno through the ancient metal magiks of the early 80s. Ruled by the riff as first envisioned by the likes of Exciter<\/strong>, Diamond Head<\/strong>, and Dio<\/strong>, Inferno sneers at any notion that heavy\/proto-thrash doesn\u2019t deserve consideration this side of 2000. For the most part, Inferno\u2019s throwback nature proves engaging. \u201cThe Lion\u2019s Trial\u201d evokes Dio<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cHoly Diver\u201d with its dramatic synth intro and anthemic structure, while \u201cWe Will Rock\u201d teeters the line of homage and plagiarism of Dio<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cWe Rock,\u201d borrowing heavily from its chorus riff and vocals. Inferno flirts with select 90s innovations, like Primal Fear<\/strong>esque power metal in \u201cLive Forever\u201d and \u201cAnother Desire\u201d and brooding groove in \u201cPentagram\u201d and \u201cBaptized in Blood,\u201d which catches similar waves as Bruce Dickinson<\/strong>\u2019s The Chemical Wedding<\/a>. The only break from the formula is closer \u201cRun for Your Life,\u201d which blends doom riffs with symphonic elements and full-on hair metal sleaze into a ridiculously fun package. Inferno sees a band that doesn\u2019t just mimic the sounds of old but realizes them authentically.<\/p>\n

Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>sound spry as ever on Inferno. Vim drives Inferno, bestowing it great volumes of speed (\u201cWe Will Rock\u201d), brawn (\u201cPentagram\u201d), dirt (\u201cAnother Desire\u201d) and drama (\u201cRun for Your Life\u201d). Inferno\u2019s biggest surprise is Johansson, who sounds simply robust, and his Dioisms feel more like a feature and less like a caricature than on War and Peace. I think because Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>is riff-centric, NPJ doesn\u2019t have to carry the material himself and put too much pressure on his voice. When Inferno does call on him to take the lead, the results range from the strained hiccup of \u201cLive Forever\u201d to the chest-pounding victory of \u201cThe Lion\u2019s Trial.\u201d But the highlight of Inferno is Chriss\u2019 soloing, which evokes the gnarly excess of Vivian Campbell and Eddie Van Halen in their shreddy melodicism. Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>may have been away from the studio for some time, but age doesn\u2019t seem to have taken its toll on Inferno.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>don\u2019t do much you\u2019ve never heard before, but Inferno is just too fun not to feel like a total victory. There\u2019s little bloat on Inferno, bar some over repetition on \u201cChain Child\u201d and \u201cLive Forever,\u201d and the mix is clear and dynamic enough for what Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>do. The hooks are massive without being overbearing: I\u2019ve been humming \u201cBaptized in Blood\u201d and \u201cThe Lion\u2019s Share\u201d all week, and \u201cWe Will Rock\u201d escapes the knock-off label with a ridiculously catchy verse all of its own. Inferno\u2019s lyrics are silly but delivered so convincingly it rarely comes off as corny but more tongue-in-cheek: when \u201cWe Are What We Are\u201d calls for a heavy metal revolution, or NPJ describes himself as the \u201cAnti-Social Warrior\u201d on \u201cInferno,\u201d I laugh with Lion\u2019s Share<\/strong>. Overall, Inferno crackles and rages with simple heavy metal goodness.<\/p>\n

Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>are so easy to root for, and Inferno proves why. Good songs, good performances, excellent solos, and an undying allegiance to their craft make Inferno a blast all around. With how good \u201cRun for Your Life\u201d turned out, however, it makes me wonder if Inferno could\u2019ve ascended beyond mere enjoyability if Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>went in more adventurous directions in their songwriting. But there isn\u2019t a whiff of pretension on this thing, and I get the sense that this is exactly the record these guys wanted to make. Lion\u2019s Share <\/strong>are probably not going to take the world with Inferno, but if you like your metal loud, beefy, and dated circa 1981, it\u2019s just the record you want to hear.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: Good
DR<\/strong>: 7 | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: 320 kbps mps
Label<\/strong>: Metalville Records<\/a>
Websites<\/strong>: lionsshare.org<\/a> | lionsshare.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/lionsshareband<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: March 27th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some bands need no introduction; somehow, Lion\u2019s Share do. Hailing from Sundsvall, Sweden, guitarist Lars Chriss and keyboardist…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":680809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[12086,55679,21931,47371,157277,171,286260,18527,286261,286262,270528,286263,975,286264,118434,124860,2290,11853,55691,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-680808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-12086","tag-3-0","tag-bruce-dickinson","tag-diamond-head","tag-dio","tag-entertainment","tag-exciter","tag-heavy-metal","tag-inferno","tag-lions-share","tag-mar26","tag-metalville-records","tag-music","tag-nils-patrik-johansson","tag-power-metal","tag-primal-fear","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-swedish-metal","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116290058272349937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}