Originally published by L.S. Media. September 26th 2012.

L.S. Media rating ***

British Lion, two words that pretty much sum up Iron Maiden’s founder member and bass player Steve Harris. The writer of a plethora of songs from the British heavy kings has cemented Steve Harris as one of the godfathers of Heavy Metal and quite rightly so.

Now 22 years after his Iron Maiden band mate Bruce Dickinson released his debut album Tattooed Millionaire, Steve Harris has joined forces with Richard Taylor, David Hawkins, Grahame Leslie and Simon Dawson to produce an album that, might not roar like the beast it is represented by but also certainly doesn’t mew like a frightened kitten.

British Lion will surely get uncalled and undeserved comparisons with anything that Iron Maiden have produced since the original debut. This really is not fair as, how can you ever compare one of the biggest bands in the world with a side project that gives an artist or musician that little bit of breathing space that is occasionally needed. This is true in British Lion and it certainly is for Steve Harris. For nearly 40 years, Steve Harris has driven the Maiden juggernaut with vigour and the determination required to keep a band at the very top and despite a small blip in the late 90’s he has succeeded.

Now with this new album, Steve takes Richard, David, Grahame and Simon through their paces and on the whole they deliver an album that is good old fashioned metal, great to listen to and crunching in its final execution. Richard Taylor’s vocals will come under intense scrutiny and whilst they are not as domineering as Bruce Dickinson’s, they cope with the high musical demands set by Steve Harris.

Although the songs themselves may appear to be out of the ‘put to one side bin’ of Maiden’s career that shouldn’t detract the listener from the enjoyment that they will no doubt get from hearing them. On songs such as Karma Killer, Us Against The World and These Are The Hands, Richard Taylor’s voice matches the drive of Steve’s vision for this new band.

It may have been a long time coming but Steve Harris’ debut solo album was worth the wait, an interesting aside from the Maiden man and very enjoyable.

Ian D. Hall