The story of Iron Maiden is a classic three-act drama: rise, fall and resurrection. And the centre of that story is Steve Harris- the man with the single-minded vision that would make Maiden the greatest metal band of its generation. Harris is a stubborn, no-nonsense working class Cockney and he has been leading the band since 1975.

This always was and always will be Steve’s band even if he himself would never say it explicitly. So why on earth he needs to release a solo album you might ask.

The answer is simple. This is an exit strategy. As simple as this. Maiden’s days are numbered. Even if they were willing to stay, their age would not let them keep the athletic levels of their stage show. Sooner or later someone would drop out. When it happens, Steve will have his British Lion project, which is now rather a band than a solo effort. And there will be more albums under this moniker, he says.

Musically, “British Lion” is a homage to Steve’s favourite bands - The Who, UFO, Thin Lizzy and Golden Earring. It has a certain classic hard rock feel but in the same time id doesn’t sound like it has been teleported in 2012 from the stone age.

No. Although most of the songs have been written in the course of the last 20 years, they are not dated at all, probably because tunes like “Lost Worlds” and “This Is My God” owe a lot to the recent face of British rock music- bands like Gun for instance. That’s not a problem.

The problem is that vocals on “British Lion” seem to polarize opinions.

You either hate Richard Taylor for his specific voice or love him for the same thing. To me he has ruined the songs completely. His flat, thin and soft manner of singing doesn’t do it for me. Unfortunately, the other weakness is the material itself.

Only few of the choruses are memorable. It’s ok if you listening to a contemporary metal record, but with a song like “A World Without Heaven” which is clearly as AOR as Whitesnake’s “1987”, this is simply unforgivable.

Compared to Adrian Smith’s melodic rock effort “Silver And Gold” in 1989, “British Lion” is somewhat tamed lion. Shame really!