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Following the
bands 2006 album 'Double X' German Hard Rock Gods Bonfire have returned in
2008 with something rather special. Very much in the Bonfire
tradition of hard rocking, no nonsense tunes, the band have united with
director Pierre Walter Politz for a rock opera based on Friedrich
Schiller’s ‘Die Rauber’, simply entitled ‘Die Rauber’.
Politz wanted
Bonfire to remain Bonfire for this project and to bring to life the work
of Schiller through rock music, and the band have certainly done that with
this the heaviest release by the band to date. However, I have to
emphasise that the diehard fans will not be disappointed by this album,
although it has its heavier moments, there a still a few great ballads
thrown in to keep those fans happy. With a rich mix of both English
and German lyrics, this album simply will blow out of the water what has
gone before.
Things get under
way with the intro track ‘The Rauber’, which is very Ramstein-esque,
before the album really gets underway with the full on Hard Rocking of
‘Bells of Freedom’. It's not until those unmistakable vocals of
Lessmann kick in that you can tell this is Bonfire. This track is
just screaming out to be released as the first single from the
album. It's Hard Rock Dynamite that will blow you away with the
scything guitar work of Hans Ziller reaping a six string harvest.
The more
traditional Bonfire sound is soon present with the superb ‘Refugee Of
Fate’. This is what the band do best, hard rocking with Lessmann
vocals being the forefront of the sound against a backing of the monstrous
rhythm section that is Jurgen ‘Bam Bam’ Weihler on drums, Uwe
Köhler on bass and Chris Limburg on rhythm guitar.
The next track
‘The Oath’ is pure theatrics and acts as an intro into the first of the
German sung songs ‘Blut Und Todt’, again the heavy refrain throughout the
song remains true. This is the sound we all grew up with and loved
from the band over the past 20 or so years. This one really
showcases the strength of the guitar work by Ziller and the formidable
vocal prowess of Lessmann that has been the backbone of the whole Bonfire
sound all these years.
The first of the
ballads is next the magnificent ‘Love Don’t Lie’, a track that will be
played over and over again by lovers everywhere I’m sure when the album is
released, again with Ziller’s fret work just superb on this one.
The hard rock is
soon back with another of my favourite tracks off the album ‘Black Night’.
This is pure classic Bonfire at their finest. The high quality continues
with the up beat ‘Hip Hip Hurray’ with Ziller and Limburg leading the way
on this one before Lessmann takes up the mike.
Then it's back
to the ballads for ‘Do You Still Love Me’ and ‘Let Me Be Your Water’, two
really great slices of old school Bonfire that will sit well along with
any of the bands older material.
‘Lass Die Toten
Schlafen’ is as you can surmise by the title, another song sang in the
bands native tongue German and once again we return to the hard-hitting
rock that we know the band are capable of.
The next one
really gets the rock n' roll juices flowing, ‘The Good Die Young’ is just
a great rock song that I can imagine will go down a real treat in a live
set. It really is just crying out for some audience participation.
Another of my
favourite tracks off the album has to be the melodic hard rocking ‘Time’,
before the Rock Opera section of the album closes with ‘Fathers Return’.
A somewhat dark ending to fine album.
The album also
boasts three bonus tracks, firstly an acoustic version of ‘Love Don’t
Lie’, which is every bit as good as the full on version. ‘Do You
Still Love Me’ which also gets an acoustic makeover and finally the German
version of ‘Hip Hip Hurray’, which ends what is a great album that not
only stands as the new Bonfire album, but also stands as a Rock Opera and
one that really does the work of Schiller proud. |
