LARS CHRISS Shares Why LION'S SHARE Continues To Defy Trends After Nearly 40 Years: 'We're A Heavy Metal Band. Period.'

By David E. Gehlke

Sweden's LION's SHARE has remained one of the top practitioners of straight-ahead, hook-laden, mildly prog-tinged melodic metal since their 1987 inception. Although primarily a cult curiosity in the States, the Swedes made their hay in Europe and Scandinavia with their 1994 self-titled debut and even better sophomore outing "Two". The two LPs established LION's SHARE as sort of the antidote to the type of epic, dare we say "happy" power metal that was starting to emerge across the continent. If anything, it gave LION's SHARE an identity that has carried them well into their latest studio album and first in 17 years, "Inferno".

Founding guitarist and songwriter Lars Chriss is joined once again by lead singer Nils Patrik Johansson, who, without fail, continues to sound like the second coming of Ronnie James Dio. It's a combination that pays dividends across "Inferno", which is an album that saw a rather circuitous route to completion thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic and the multiple shifts in the music industry that have prompted Chriss and company to think more strategically. Whatever the case, the arrival of "Inferno" was more than enough reason for BLABBERMOUTH.NET to snag the guitarist for the latest.

Blabbermouth: "Dark Hours" came out in 2009. Over the last few years, you released a succession of singles before "Inferno" was set to arrive. What led to the album's extended wait time?

Lars: "It started after 2009 and the 'Dark Hours' album. I thought the music industry was in turmoil after the 2008 bank crisis. Spotify had just started, and record shops were closing down and going bankrupt. I said to Patrik, 'Let's chill and see what happens in the industry. Let's see if things get settled and there is some kind of structure before we put out another album.' We toured for a couple of years, then we started writing songs. We live three hours apart by car, so we only get together a couple of times a year to write. It's very intense when we do it. I had the music for seven songs, and we'd work on vocal melodies together. We'll sit for a full day, and it's bang, bang, bang, ping-ponging ideas. I also started getting a lot of outside jobs, producing and mixing. That takes a lot of time. Some albums I just mixed, and some bands wanted me to be involved in playing guitar and writing songs. I got into that for a bunch of years as well; I didn't have much time. Around 2017, Patrik said, 'Come on. Let's focus on LION's SHARE and make a new album.' That's when we really started making recordings. Our goal was to release the album in 2020. [Laughs] We also had some shows booked. We were doing a couple of headline shows in Germany and flew back to Stockholm from Frankfurt on a Sunday. Three days later, everything shut down. Obviously, we lost another couple of years. It's mainly down to the fact that time flies."

Blabbermouth: 2020 feels like it was yesterday sometimes.

Lars: "Yeah, and it takes time with the vinyl pressing. I think we left the masters with the label this past summer, and now it's coming out. It takes time. We're not getting any younger. [Laughs] It's now or never. Let's go."

Blabbermouth: Nearly the entire record, except for two songs, has already been released as singles. Was there a reason for doing that?

Lars: "I thought that was going to be the norm. Things were going in that direction after our last album. Some journalists told me, 'Stop doing physical releases.' Back then, vinyl wasn't hip either. We thought, 'Hey, I have the studio. I can mix and produce for free. I have a deal with The Orchard, which is Sony, basically, for distribution.' We didn't really need anyone at that point. It was fun for us. It was fun for the fans to get some new music. It was appreciated, at least, for a while. [Laughs] Then, the fans started demanding to have the songs on vinyl and CD, because vinyl was becoming popular. I enjoyed it. As a producer, you can put all your efforts into one song, rather than going to the studio to record ten songs in three weeks, as it used to be. Now we can work on the one song until we're happy. Also, it gave every song a chance to shine. We put out the press release and a video or a lyric video. Usually, when you look at any band, really, on Spotify, it's usually the first couple of songs that have a lot of streams. Then, the longer the album goes on, the [streams] get fewer and fewer. We feel the last song on 'Inferno' is as good as the first one. That's a pity. I know a lot of artists are feeling annoyed. In the past, you bought an album, and you listened to it all the way through. Nowadays, people don't. It's the playlists and the first couple of songs. We love albums. We're old-school. We picked the songs for 'Inferno' to make a great album. We had a lot of songs that were equally as good, we thought. We picked them depending on the tempo, key, the mode — it's meant to be played from start to finish, as an old-school album, 42 minutes."

Blabbermouth: Patrik is now easily the longest tenured vocalist in LION's SHARE. He's probably one of the best remaining vocalists in the Dio mold. Why do things work so well between the two of you?

Lars: "We got him in the band in 2003. We've known each other for a long time. We're the same age; we're born three weeks apart. We have the same influences, TV programs, and we're both huge fans of the early '80s metal, like the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. 1980 to 1987 was the golden era for us. We both worship Tony Iommi [BLACK SABBATH] and Ronnie James Dio, 'Mob Rules', that type of music. JUDAS PRIEST. SAXON. ACCEPT. We just work well together. There's no fighting. I guess we have the personalities that fit, somehow. We complement each other."

Blabbermouth: I like the Dio homage on "We Will Rock". What made you do something so close to "We Rock"?

Lars: "Through the years, we've been involved in a lot of tributes after he died. We've been playing a lot of the RAINBOW, BLACK SABBATH and DIO catalog. Of course, it's in our DNA. Before Patrik joined the band, we supported DIO and MOTÖRHEAD. We opened up for a month on a great tour with them. I love the guy. He had very good things to say about us as well. When he passed, Sweden Rock did a tribute concert, and we were the 'house' band. We had guests like Johan Hegg from AMON AMARTH, Messiah [Marcolin] from CANDLEMASS, Jens Johannson [STRATOVARIUS, ex-DIO], Mats Levén [ex-CANDLEMASS, THERION], and a bunch of people came up to sing and do a song or two with us. The stage manager thought we were so good, and he had a drum clinic with Vinny Appice [BLACK SABBATH / DIO, drums] a month or two after the festival. We got invited to play with Vinny as well. We did a bunch of SABBATH and DIO songs with him. There's a strong connection to the DIO catalog for us."

Blabbermouth: It's interesting you highlighted "Mob Rules". It tends to get overshadowed by "Heaven And Hell", although "Falling Off The Edge Of The World", "Voodoo", the title track, and "Sign Of The Southern Cross" are incredible songs.

Lars: "It's my favorite album of all time. I think it's the greatest album ever made. It's number one. I also love 'Dehumanizer'. It's a great album."

Blabbermouth: "The Lion's Trail" and "Another Desire" were not released as singles ahead of the album. Did they receive the same treatment as the other songs?

Lars: "We started writing for this album in 2010. We kept on writing. We had a huge catalog of songs to choose from. So, some songs are from 2010, and a few are from when we made the album in 2024 and 2025, as we started finalizing it. Those songs aren't like the old ones we slapped on the album. We re-did them. We re-did the drums. I re-did the solos, and we added keyboards and more guitars. Whatever was released isn't the same version. They're totally re-done and remixed. I don't want people to think we took those old singles and put them on the album. It was also a good thing since we've been living with them for such a long time. We could see what we wanted to improve. I think it was a really good thing."

Blabbermouth: How does having a studio and live version of the band work?

Lars: "It's easy because Fredrik [Johansson, drums] also lives in Patrik's hometown, three hours away. It's okay to have the singer rehearse on his own and come in and do one rehearsal, but to get the drums, guitar and bass to really gel, you need to practice more. Magnus [Ulfstedt, drums] has been playing with us live since 2010 as well. And Andy Loos on bass, he's playing both on the album and live. It's just a different drummer."

Blabbermouth: You've talked a lot about the changes in the music industry and how they've impacted the band. Can we go back to 1994, when you had to go to Japan to get your first record deal?

Lars: "Yeah, you live in a bubble, and it is what it is. [Laughs] I didn't look at the world in that way, but, of course, we figured out that grunge and hip-hop had taken over. I don't think it was as drastic as it was in the States; it wasn't as bad here in Sweden and across Europe. Grunge never became that big. We made a demo, and we got a manager, and he went to one of these conventions, Midem, in France. He got a deal with Zero Corporation in Japan. We got an advance, and we went into the studio. That's basically how it happened. In a way, it was pretty fast. We didn't know how to look for a label or anything like that. It was his job. That's how we started; then other labels started contacting us. Then we got signed to Century Media. Jumping from label to label, we never thought we were the perfect fit. We always thought the grass was greener on the other side. It wasn't. There's been a couple of mistakes along the way."

Blabbermouth: Melodic or power metal became so segmented at the time. You weren't doing epic power metal like BLIND GUARDIAN or HELLOWEEN, which was pretty popular in the '90s. Maybe that contributed to some of it.

Lars: "Yeah, maybe. In the beginning, that was a very good insight that we took all of our influences, like DREAM THEATER, maybe FOREIGNER, BLACK SABBATH, everything. Now it's much more streamlined these days. We're a heavy metal band. Period. If I want to do something more melodic, '70s, or progressive, I do it as an outside project rather than bringing all my influences into LION's SHARE. We were a bit semi-progressive. I never liked European power metal. It's way too happy for me. If you want to use the word 'power metal,' I think we're more like the U.S. power metal, like SAVATAGE, who were darker and heavier. I'm a metalhead at heart. Tony Iommi is my biggest influence for riffs, so I always loved that doomy, half-note, dark feel. That's my first love. Then JUDAS PRIEST with the more uptempo. The way we sound on the last couple of albums is how I write. That's my DNA. Of course, when you're a band in the beginning, we were five people, and the other guys brought their influences into the mix."

Blabbermouth: For many over here in the States, their introduction to LION'S SHARE was your cover of JUDAS PRIEST's "A Touch Of Evil" on the PRIEST tribute album that Century Media released in 1997 ("A Tribute To Judas Priest: Legends Of Heavy Metal"). Do you recall why you went with that song over a safer choice?

Lars: "I love the heavy stuff and suggested to the label that we do it. They thought it was a perfect fit, then we tried to make it a little bit of our own. We had a section that's like 'Before The Dawn' in there. It was a great opportunity for us to be among those much bigger bands on that tribute. It was a great memory. I think JUDAS PRIEST's management and band were behind it and wrote a foreword, if I remember."