Band : Bonfire

Album title : The Räuber

Label : LZ Records

Distributor : NL Distribution/ GerMusica

Release date : 15/02/2008

Release : CD

Been a while since I came across this Ingolstadt based German Hard Rock band...since their 2003 album Free , actually...as for some obscure reason we were not sent previous studio album, 2006's Double X ...nor 2007's live album Double Vision ...for review. Normally, I would give the reader a comprehensive band history in such a case where previous reviews are no longer available for data scrutiny, but this time around I didn't really feel like it, the more since this band's history goes back all the way to the beginning of the '80s, when singer Claus Lessmann and guitarist Hans Ziller formed the band Cacumen , which was to be Bonfire 's precursor. Since then, they've become part of the Hard Rock genre's top acts in German history where album sales are concerned.

The Räuber is a somewhat different album in approach for this band, as it was written as a soundtrack to theatrical director Pierre Walter Politz 's Rock Opera interpretation of Friedrich Schiller 's drama piece Die Räuber . Thematically, the theater piece deals with a very German theme in a truly radical and fascinating way, namely with the question of why there has never been a revolution in Germany. The writer puts it that apparently the urge to overthrow an existing system had always been avoided due to the fear for such a radical change.

Now when Politz approached the band in order to get their cooperation on this project for the stage in Bonfire 's hometown, they immediately went "We hate the theatre!"...but the director had a clear idea about it all, and he felt that this very story and Bonfire went together hand-in-glove! For him, Schiller 's story and Rock 'n' Roll went together perfectly, and he was obviously able to change the boys' opinion into a conviction that they needed to participate in this project. In a large portion, this was probably achieved by the fact that Politz was adamant that the band remain who they are, and not feel forced to write music different than what they're used to...just because it was to be used in a theatrical context, you know!? Together, they looked for themes such as love, rebellion, pain, joy – "...but also the joy of violence..." ( Politz ) – and longing for freedom. Then the musicians took to their writing process with the original Schiller transcript and an English translation close at hand.

As a result, so says the biography, the band "...came up with 12 songs in a "wild hybrid" of German and English...", or as Ziller puts it, "...Good melodic Hard Rock with hot ballads...", and it certainly gives the band a chance to show a different audience just what fine music they make. The theatrical production had its premiere on February 16 th , and during the performance the band performs live on stage...sounding just like Bonfire.

As you've been able to fathom, the band also recorded the written songs on album...and here's for a first surprise: in stead of 12 songs, you get 15...in fact, you get 18, because the boys decided to give two songs an acoustic mix, and re-do one other with German lyrics in stead of the original English. So, you might ask, how about that mixture of languages? Well, I have to say that the balance is on the English side, German only appearing in the album intro title track, "Blut un Todt" , "Lass die Toten schlafen" , and the (actual) album closing "Father's Return" (for which no lyrics were provided in the booklet). Somewhat disappointing for a band which has in the past actually re-done one of their albums complétely in German ( Feels Like Coming Home becoming Freudenfeuer )...and also did other songs in the German language.

When push comes to shove, this album sounds just like any other Bonfire album would, as Ziller said: good melodic Hard Rock with hot ballads...which carry the band's trademarks with Lessmann 's warm hoarse, and slightly nasal voice...and a couple of acoustic ballads as bonus! Another "bonus" (if you're into that kind of thing), is the fact that this is in actuality a conceptual album. If you don't know what Bonfire sounds like, surf to bonfire.de, where you can listen to a lot of tracks off each and every album and single the band ever released...except for the current one (at least, that's the situation at the moment – March 4 th – check again in a couple of months, and things may be quite different). Simply extrapolate what you can actually listen to, and you've got a pretty good idea of what àny of the band's material might sound like, actually.

87/100

Tony.