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LIONHEART
The Grace Of A Dragonfly

Metalville (2024)
Rating: 6.5/10

Veteran Brit rockers Lionheart never really made the grade in spite of promise with their 1984 debut Hot Tonite. Having formed in 1980 and featuring a line-up of singer Jesse Cox (ex-Tygers Of Pan Tang), guitarist Dennis Stratton (ex-Iron Maiden), guitarist / keyboardist Steve Mann (ex-Liar, and later MSG and Eloy), bassist Rocky Newton (ex-The Next Band) and drummer Frank Noon (ex-The Next Band), Lionheart should have been the next big thing, and yet by 1986 they had dissolved. In 2016 Lionheart reformed with a new vocalist in Lee Small (ex-Shy) and a new drummer, Clive Edwards (ex-UFO / ex-Wild Horses). Strange then that with such esteemed musicians in their ranks that Lionheart remain an underwhelming and somewhat obvious experience with this, their fourth full-length outing.

Lionheart are like a wholesome, creamy dessert that you get halfway through then push to one side. Lee Small’s vocals add that buttery gelling agent as the band serves up big harmonies, crunchy riffs and Def Leppard-styled choruses and layers. It’s simple, consistent and comfortable and yet here I am bemoaning its content like a killjoy popping a child’s balloon. I dunno, maybe it’s because it’s an anti-war concept album, or maybe it’s just because the occasional drifts into 80s nostalgia aren’t warm enough, but The Grace Of A Dragonfly tepidly traipses through history in rather harmless fashion.

Only sporadically does the band construct a jagged, rockier edge such as on ‘The Longest Night’, but too much of this material is, due to the themes, sombre in its reflection, and while I understand that, songs like ‘Just A Man’ and especially ‘Little Ships’ are just downright cheesy. On the positive side, Lionheart knows how to create infectious melodies; ‘The Eagle’s Nest’ is warm and soaring, the title track builds nicely and sounds bombastic and ‘UXB’ bristles with nostalgic rhythms and emotion, but this sort of hard rock, although somewhat timeless, has been done so many times before but with far more warmth.

Let’s just put it down to personal taste that The Grace Of A Dragonfly does so little for me, but I know for a fact that most if not all their fans will disagree and that’s fine.

Neil Arnold

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