So far only released in Japan, this is Lions Shares new offering. The much anticipated "Fall From Grace" is Lions Shares third album and after some difficulties regarding labels etc. the new cd has finally hit the streets. The cd has 8 songs, all in the classic Lions Share style. The cd starts off with "Unholy rites", a catchy and powerful song that set the standard of the cd and what`s to come. The songs features mean, moody and powerful guitarwork by Lars Chriss and the godlike vocals of Andy Engberg(ex. Twilight). Sheer power and an excellent chorus. Yes, this is pure quality and Lions Share at its best !

Another monster guitarriff starts track two "The edge of sanity" and is a great follow up to "Unholy rites". Good keyboards filling the backgound, excellent drumming and once again a good chorus. The song has a good technical part at the end of the song which features some superb guitar and keyboard solo duels. And it`s at this point I start noticing that this band has taken one step further into the progressive metal genre, adding more technical passages and parts, time changes, more variation and new arrangements to their songs.

Track three "Fall from grace" is a dark, moody, mid-paced rocker in classic Lions Share style, once again with a good chorus and a techical passage towards the end of the song. The following track "Drowning" starts really progressive with complex rhythms followed by some great staccatoriffing from Chriss. This song has more variation and technical rhythms than we are used to from this lot. And as always the song has some serious powerful riffing and a killer chorus.

Track five "Remembrance" is a great tear- jerking ballad featuring a beautiful mix of clean guitar, cello and flute. Vocalist Andy Engberg really shine on this song and the chorus is once again just brilliant. "The day the earth caught fire" starts off bombastic with exploding guitars and keys, followed by the awesome vocals by Engberg. Great orchestration in the mid section of the song and technically brilliant. Track eight "A hole of black" has a good technical guitarriff, atmospheric keyboards and a great melodyline in the verse. The chorus is again very good, backed up by the powerriffing of Chriss. Another good song.

Last track "A touch of evil" is another powerful rocker in the classic Lions Share style and features another superb chorus. Great orchestration and variation. "Fall from grace" is the most powerful, technical and interesting Lions Share album so far. The band has without doubt grown and the new material is both more mature, well structured and worked through. Adding more progressive elements, variation and various arrangements was a very smart move and sees the band taking one step further in the right direction.

The production is excellent, powerful and brings every instrument to its right. The band is technically brilliant and the vocals of A. Engberg is as good as it gets. This vocalist simply rules ! This is the most complete Lions Share album this far and fans of Lions Share will not be disappointed. Fans of melodic progressive metal/melodic metal who has not heard this band yet; I urge you to buy this album. "Fall from grace" should be a nice introduction to this brilliant band, and by this album Lions Share has established their position among the greats once and for all. Lions Share are here to stay !

I rate this album to 9 points out of 10. This kind of music doesn`t get much better than this. Essential !