Review | Lion’s Share – Inferno

Metalville Records

The last Lion’s Share album was called ‘Dark Hours’ and it came out in 2009. Since 2017 this band is a two-man unit consisting of guitarist/producer (and founding member) Lars Chriss and vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson. It is not that Lion’s Share has been on a hiatus. They did release only singles (often just digital) in between and quite a fair amount as well (I believe around thirteen). Also, Nils Patrik Johansson released three albums with Lars Chriss producing, writing and playing guitar. The pair have been busy. ‘Inferno’ is a proper band-album, the 7^th in their career.

OUTSIDE HELP

Lars and Nils Patrik reached out to close musical friends and family. The outside help on ‘Inferno’ is formed by Fredrik Johansson on drums (sons of Nils Patrik), keyboard wizard Anuviel (of Saecred Spirit), keyboardist Kay Backlund (he co-founded this outfit in 1987 with Lars) and bass player Andy Loos. All musicians that have worked with the dynamic duo before this new chapter for Lion’s Share.

DIFFERENCE

Nils Patrik released his 3^rd album ‘War And Peace’ in October 2025 and that was a concept-album filled with melodic and classic tainted heavy rock with a slice of metal. So, is there any difference between ‘Inferno’ and the albums that Nils Patrik released under his own banner but were made with most of the above-mentioned musicians present as well? Obviously, the specific voice of Nils Patrik has not changed overnight. The man has a certain sound, tone and style which he uses on ‘Inferno’.

The big difference is the music. ‘Inferno’ is very much heavy metal orientated with every now and then a big nod towards the king of doom Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. Listen to the epic track ,,The Lion’s Share’’, a song that could have been a brainchild of Iommi, who is a big influence on Lars Chriss. Nothing wrong with that. Mind you, not proclaiming here that Lars Chriss is just a copy-cat. His riffs on this album are out of this world. The energy and power that he brings to the album is matched by the massive drum sound of Fredrik Johansson who gives the record an extra heavy dimension.

LION’S SHARE – THE CONCLUSION

It took some time before a full album came out the workshop of Lars and Nils Patrik, but ‘Inferno’ has all the ingredients that a classic heavy metal record needs these days. First of all, there are no fillers here. From opener ,,Pentagram’’ until closer ,,Run For Your Life’’ (an epic doom metal track clocking almost seven minutes that speeds up) there are no prisoners taken. Strap yourself in for a heavy, adventurous and super energetic metal ride that fascinates from the first until the last second. They worked years on this album and you can just feel and smell the dedication that has been put into ‘Inferno’! Let it burn!

Release date: 27 March 2026