### Steve Harris: British lion

#### 17/10/12 || Smalley

Even though they had the best decade-long run in metal history (that decade being 1980-89, of course), I still must admit that Iron Maiden hasn’t the best of runs ever since; sure, 2000’s “Brave new world” is one of their very best releases, but looking at the stuff that came before and after it, it seems like a bit of a lucky fluke. Not to imply that some of those albums aren’t still decent, but compared to the 7 records from their Golden Age…? Definitely not living up to their full potential, no siree. Whatever, there are worse old bands still active today, and I was happy when I heard Steve Harris was embarking on his first solo project, since he’d be able to expand his creativity beyond just what the fans would demand from his main act.

I mean, he’s one of the best, most recognizable bassists in metal, fellow Maidenite Bruce Bruce hit it big with his own solo effort “The chemical wedding”, and Harris certainly has (had?) the songwriting chops to make it on his own, so anything he’d write would be sure to be interesting at the least, right? Well, “British lion” is certainly an interesting effort, but not interesting in a good way; it’s an interesting failure, where, despite their underwhelming recent history, it’s still hard to believe ol’ Steve-O would take any time away from IM to bother recording THIS.

First, the most obvious problem here is the choice of lead vocalist; Harris just sticks with his main squeeze of the bass guitar, which is fine, since his playing is one of the few silver linings on “lion”, but the guy he choose to fill that void can only be described as woefully inadequate. The deal is, there was once this band called British Lion, which Stevie mentored in the early ’90s. They eventually hit Splitsville without recording anything of note, but Harris kept in touch with the former members, and after he heard one of ‘em was writing new songs with another musician, Steve decided that he wanted in on that action, and thus, this solo-project was born.

Which could’ve been all well and good, since I get wanting to work with old friends, but the deal is that the singer for “British lion” (both the deceased band and the album), Richard Taylor, is just no good; he’s so whiny, faux-“sensitive”, and underpowered that he just prevents gleaning any possible enjoyment out of this (not that there’d be much of that here even with a better singer). Srsly Harris, you’ve worked with the best metal singer of all time since 1981, you should know what and what not to look for in a singer. I know he’s a friend, but still, why let him go ahead on this when it’s so obvious that he just doesn’t fucken work?

But at least Taylor doesn’t quite single-handedly turn this into a below-average album; it’s him in conjunction with Harris’s songwriting that makes “British lion” below average. The writing is just so supremely dull and lacking in urgency, that it’s absolutely mind-boggling that the same guy who wrote motherfucken “The trooper” once upon a time had a hand in this. I know Harris helped write this with the other members, but this is really just a case where he should’ve said “Just hang back and play whatever the fuck I write for you losers, cuz it seems I’m the only living legend in this room, biatches; it’s for your own fucken good”. Sounds harsh, I know, but definitely necessary, considering the final result here.

You go from sleep, whiny hippie crap to slightly more “energetic” crap that still bores to death. Even the Maiden-ripoff material is lukewarm, failing to get a bounce from even just nostalgia at hearing something close to such classic material. There is the extremely rare nice-sounding section, plus of course, Harris’ legendary bass stylings (which may help the score a lil’), but they’re faint beacons drowning in an ocean of disappointment. It’s a damn good thing Steve’s main band dominated the 80’s so hard, cuz this by itself sure as hell ain’t gonna get anyone more excited for the next Maiden, that’s for sure. If this is what you’re gonna make on your own, then just leave the solo efforts up to Brucey, man.

- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: EMI
- Website: www.steveharrisbritishlion.com
- Band
- Richard Taylor: vocals
- David Hawkins: guitars, keyboards
- Barry Fitzgibbon: guitars
- Grahame Leslie: guitars
- Steve Harris: bass
- Richard Cook: drums
- Ian Roberts: drums
- Simon Dawson: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. This Is My God
- 02. Lost Worlds
- 03. Karma Killer
- 04. Us Against The World
- 05. The Chosen Ones
- 06. A World Without Heaven
- 07. Judas
- 08. Eyes Of The Young
- 09. These Are the Hands
- 10. The Lesson