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Lion's Share? I remember these guys; I reviewed their last album Emotional Coma ages ago and gave it a pretty positive score. When I heard they were coming out with a new album, I didn't really have time to check it out, although I figured it wouldn't disappoint. And now that I am actually listening to it, I must say that I give two thumbs up to the boys for this one, as Dark Hours just smokes all the way through.

The formula here hasn't changed all that much from the last one, except here the songs have more drive and power to them. The riffs are pretty standard speed metal, but they work. That can be said for all the instruments here - there are no creative riffs or song structures that will blow your mind, just good, solid playing from a bunch of guys who want to create heavy, fast music. And, yeah, they pretty much do.

The real surprise here was the vocals. Nils Patrik Johansson gives what I think might be the best performance of his career here. Better than Evil is Forever, better than Far from the Madding Crowd...it's just superb. His Dio-on-crack voice is meaner, angrier and more consistently menacing here than it ever has been, as he powers out a host of kickass performances for a solid 45 minutes of metallic fury. He's really reigned himself in here to sound more controlled and consistent here than he has before, and it's a welcome change. He still sounds pretty much like a demonic parrot, but...let's just get on with the review, then.

The songs are short, punchy and powerful, never wearing out their welcome. I liked that on Emotional Coma and I like it here; just call it Bite-Sized Metal, or something. "Judas Must Die" is fast and furious, and the band follows it up with slabs of demented shlock like "Phantom Rider," "Demon In Your Mind," the thrashy "Bottomless Pit" and the outstanding hooks of "Space Scam." Which also wins my pick for best song title. They do their standard AOR-chorus song with "Barker Ranch," too, and it's fun.

Not every song here is great ("Napalm Nights" and "Behind the Curtain" fall a tad short), but even then, there are no truly bad songs on here. Lion's Share have created a fun and aggressive album full of great hooks and great songs. Go get it, you rascals.