1242. Lionheart / The Grace of a Butterfly. 2024. 3.5/5

Lionheart came into being in their first iteration in the early 1980’s. Sometime referred to as a ‘supergroup’, that doesn’t take into account the fact that most of the musicians in that first group had either left or been fired from successful bands of the time. Vocalist Jess Cox had quit Tygers of Pan Tang. Guitarist Dennis Stratton had been moved on by Iron Maiden. Guitarist Steve Mann’s band Liar had just dissolved. Bass guitarist Rocky Newton’s band The Next Band had had no calls. Drummer Frank Noon... well... didn't seem to like staying with any band for any length of time. There were a few revolving doors, but the core of Stratton, Mann and Newton finally got a record deal for Lionheart, and they recorded their debut album “Hot Tonight” in 1984, to a resounding thud. Finally in 1986, they disbanded, and found success in other areas, especially Steve Mann and Rocky Newton who teamed up in the McAuley Schenker Group to be involved in their successful late 80’s early 90’s run of albums and tours.
Flash forward to 2016 – yes, 30 freaking years later – and there was a reunion of the band to play at a three-day Rockingham 2016 melodic/hard rock festival, held in Nottingham. The success of this gig convinced the band, with Stratton, Mann and Newton now joined by lead vocalist Lee Small from the band Shy and Clive Edwards who had performed with UFO, that they should make a go of it once again, which resulted in the album “Second Nature” in 2017. “Second Nature” found a nostalgic audience out there looking for music from a bygone age, and the five piece fitted the bill perfectly. This was then followed by the album “The Reality of Miracles” in 2020, and a renewed touring schedule that saw them getting exposure that surely none of them would have thought possible so many years after their initial foray into the music business.
With the pandemic having halted their momentum slightly, they now have their third reunion album out, and with the promise of more festival dates and tours in the ether, their new album has arrived, titled “The Grace of the Dragonfly”.

“The Grace of a Dragonfly” is a concept album, bathed in the shower of power metal, and both of these proponents of the album should be remembered when listening to the album as a whole. The album’s story centres around World War II and is basically aimed at being an anti-war themed album, the lyrics building up the sentiment at war being futile and other options should always be considered.
The album opens with “Declaration”, which builds from its quiet opening to an anthemic chorus with the declaration being made figuratively and literally, and carrying an energy that kicks off the album satisfactorily. “Flight 19” slows up the pace, settles into the long drawn-out spectacle of the post-ballad. The energy of the opening track isn’t quite maintained here, but then segues into “V is for Victory” which is a much more pleasantly paced track, moving beyond the opening keyboard synth dominated beginning to the soaring vocals of the anthemic chorus, backed by the great harmony of the support vocals, and then the great lead breaks through the middle of the song. “This is a Woman’s War” continues down this path, while “The Longest Night” is arguably the best song on the album, played at a great tempo and showcasing all of the members of the group’s best qualities.
“The Eagle’s Nest” on the other hand, is pure syrup, the power ballad at its best or worst, depending on how you wish to identify it (spoiler alert: at its worst). Look, I know power metal bands have to do power ballads, but gee whiz, just once I would love a power metal band to say “you know what? We’re going to avoid the cliche this time around!” If nothing else, this song puts to bed the question as to whether or not this is a power metal band, because this ties it to that genre for eternity. Kill me now. “Little Ships” and “Just a Man” both have a more keyboard oriented basis with Lee’s vocals soaring in while well supported in harmony by Dennis and Steve. Yes, this is more power ballad than power rock, but it doesn’t quite plumb the depths of the other tune, saved in the most part by the great solo break of Dennis and Steve’s guitars. The biggest problem is the song’s length, it does go on a bit too long at five minutes for such a track to retain the interest all the way through.
“UXB” returns to the band’s 80’s roots, with synth that makes it sound like it is from one of those great 80’s movie soundtracks (yes, start thinking “Together in Electric Dreams”), but when the guitars hit in it has a much better more modern take on that... like... 1990’s power metal I guess... but take a listen to the track. This could honestly have been recorded in the mid-1980's, such is the style of song, the vocals, the guitars. This could have come straight from my 1980’s playlist, and I could put it on that right now and no one who listened to it would bat an eyelid. The album rushes to its climax with the title track “The Grace of a Dragonfly”, the album’s epic conclusion where everything that has been put in place lyrically throughout is brought together with the final push, before “Remembrance: Praying for World Peace” finalises the concept album with its quiet keyboard synth outro.
So, this is for all intents and purposes a power metal album. Sure, the guys in the band may be more for the NWoBHM age or the glam metal age, but while there are specks of both f those metal genres on this album, it is basically tied very much to the power metal genre. However, it is a part of that genre where the keyboards are NOT the dominant instrument, and the drums aren’t hammering along with the double kick for the entirety of the album. Here we have the dual guitars, both playing lead and rhythm, while the keys offer filler underneath for the most part of the album. The drumming is also very much in the traditional hard rock style, much in the 2/4 beat and generally keep time and being the solid backing to wat is happening up front. So it’s a real mixture in the music, which perhaps is what drew me so strongly to this album when I first listened to it, because despite being a power metal fan I do prefer the bands that are guitar heavy not keyboard heavy, and sometime the drums can be a bit over the top, but here Clive Edwards knows what his role is, and he sticks solidly to it.

About 20 years ago, I started making a deep dive into bands that I had always heard about but that I had never listened to any of their material. Mostly it was NWOBHM bands that had come and gone so quickly that by the time I got into heavy metal they had already been non-existent for years. This involved downloads, YouTube searches and rummaging in record stores all over the place. One of those bands that I was searching for, or that I eventually came to search for, was indeed Lionheart, but the best that I could find was a couple of songs off that long-forgotten debut album “Hot Tonight”. They were... ok... but that was the extent of my knowledge. And that had come in essence because it was another of the 4000 bands that Dennis Stratton had played for since that one Iron Maiden album had initially brought him to my attention.
We move to the modern day, and I was as mystified as most others when I eventually discovered that Lionheart still existed, let alone had a new album released. It was only through the posts by a fastidious Iron Maiden fan on her podcast’s Facebook page – thanks Kirsty – that it came to my attention at all, and, given that I only had another half a dozen new albums just released to listen to and give a review on for this podcast, I thought, “What the hell, let’s see what it is like!”
And so you have what I have basically outlined here for you earlier. The themes here are unmistakable lyrically, but it is musically where I am still intrigued. Yes, the power metal genre is heavily represented here, though with the two guitars instead of just keys and one guitar, and without the typical power metal double kick drum. In this aspect, it does hold some similarities to the NWoBHM style of heavy metal, tying those two together. But at times I definitely pick up pieces of tracks that have similar strains to euro metal such as Sonata Arctica and progressive metal such as Symphony X, just not as frantic as those bands can be. And as a fan of all of those bands and their genres, perhaps you can see why this album keeps pulling at me, even after I’ve decided it just isn’t going to work for me. It is true that the very nature of the power ballad, that is a majority shareholder in a number of these songs, will eventually win and have me banishing this album to the shelves, only to see the light of day when I am in a particularly narrowed musical mood... for the moment, I can’t help but still have it on my playlist. And every time it begins, I find myself curious as to whether it is THIS time that I finally forgo it, or finally admit that I like this far more than I could imagine.
That being said, “The Grace of a Dragonfly” is an album that will definitely not be a fence sitter – you will either enjoy the story and the music that this band has created, or you will wonder why this kind of album is still being produced in 2024. Whichever way you turn, you won’t find out unless you give it a go. And my suggestion is that you do exactly that.