by Martin Popoff
Lion's Share - Fall From Grace
(Playground/Massacre)There's a merely here, but of course it's not that mere, Lion's Share being merely another well-appointed traditional metal act, no faults, no great distinguishing characteristics, one of many fine combos delivering what we all pined for through the grunge '90s. Fans of power metal will pick their preferences along the power spectrum, and when they look into this three record Swedish act, they'll find a few eccentric keyboard lines, LaBrie vocals and no-nonsense riffing, closer to hard Dio and old Savatage than Helloween, a certain star quality that for some reason recalls Electric Boys or Thunder or Whitesnake, a touch of hair metal but from the bluesy, leaden end. To spice things up: a daring and appropriately pomped City Boy cover (the Supertrampled The Day The Earth Caught Fire), and a not-so-daring Priest cover, the band straight-facing the unremarkable and maudlin A Touch Of Evil first offered on the high quality Century Media Priest tribute from '96. See http://come.to/lionsshare for more info.
Rating 7.5Solace - Further
(MeteorCity)Featuring ex-members of Godspeed, Solace, for better or worse, find themselves bass-wallowed in the stoner rock genre. But as with any of the winners in a maturing, trampled genre, Solace find ways to step out and aside, this first full-length after the Jersey Devils EP, triumphing through sequencing, pace and get-to-it songwriting discipline. As we're currently all enamoured with Spiritual Beggars, Further would fit logically as the perfect chaser, tracks like the swirling 'Whistle Pig' and 'Suspicious Tower' rocking as historically and smartly as anything on Ad Astra. A perfect blend of warm, fat production, grounded vocals and archival guitar textures a' plenty.
Rating 8
