Label: AFM Records
Release date: February 26, 2021
Production: Hans Ziller
Album length (2CD): 104.24 min
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
Bonfire are legends of German hard rock, and in recent years they’ve been enjoying a full-blown renaissance. Hans Ziller, the only original member of today’s Bonfire, who has seen the good and the bad of the music business, is clearly relishing the company of the younger guys, who are positively bursting with commitment and drive. Studio albums keep arriving on schedule, and the rejuvenated, refreshed Bonfire also love to ‘spoil’ their longtime followers with surprises, like the double-CD compilation of re-recorded career hits called »Pearls« (2016), followed in 2018 by another double-CD, »Legends«, on which Bonfire paid tribute to their idols with a whole bag of covers. And this new document, »Roots«, is another treat of the same kind, a compilation that this time stretches across two CDs and 24 tracks, made up of either rearranged classics in an unplugged flavor (nineteen of those) or brand-new songs (five of them).
Sure, the nineties, when the format got famous through MTV’s infamous Unplugged series (where »Roots« would fit like a key in a lock), are long gone, but in these strange times, when the obviously imposed state of pandemic and ‘lockdowns’ is getting harder and harder to justify, bands are killing time in all sorts of ways. They can’t play live, but there’s more time for recording music. Bonfire released their current studio album “Fistful of Fire” (RockLine review) on April 3, 2020, when Covid-19 had already swept across the world. The band got a serious boost back in 2016, when top-notch vocalist Alexx Stahl joined the ranks. After he came aboard, they quickly put out the album »Byte the Bullet« (2017) and turned into a devastating heavy metal and hard rock machine.
»Roots« is a record that was played and created with huge enjoyment. The very structure of these brilliantly reworked originals, where you often need a good while to connect the ‘unplugged’ version with its electric original, was enough of an artistic challenge for Ziller and the crew that the veteran of German rock guitar tackled it in great detail. Stahl is really the central figure here, and his vocal range, chameleon-like as it is, comes across as remarkably distinctive and convincing. His vocal moves land in the right place every single moment. He certainly doesn’t lack commitment, and the classics in his re-interpretation hit with incredible energy and a potent vibe. The effect that the softer and gentler your approach to a performance, the stronger the response the music gets from the listener, works flawlessly on »Roots« time and again. Stahl’s interpretation gives the Bonfire classics a new dimension of character, one that reflects the band’s maturing in 2021. The project could have been a double-edged sword, since Bonfire are literally walking on hot coals with it, but they came out of this challenge to the untouchable golden era of the eighties, and this test of their artistic strength, as big winners. Especially charming is the reworking of Love Don’t Lie, where Lydia Panè, wife of Bonfire guitarist Frank Panè, joins Stahl for a duet. And evergreen hard rock favorites like The Devil Made Me Do It, The Price of Loving You, Ready For Reaction and American Nights, among others, seduce with surprising magnetism. That Roots is going to be an interesting listening adventure, especially if you’re a true Bonfire fan, is already signaled by the opening atmosphere-building in the first track, Starin’ Eyes, with the help of Hammond organ sounds.
That said, the band didn’t manage to stir up enough interest, support or enthusiasm for this idea from their label, AFM Records. So they turned to their fan base for help and organized a mini fundraising campaign just to be able to make the planned project happen. The band also put five completely new tracks on the collection: Your Love Is Heaven To Me, Piece Of My Heart, Youngbloods, Our Hearts Don’t Feel The Same and Wolfmen, which fit seamlessly alongside the older material and make you very curious how they’d sound in ‘plugged-in’, i.e. electric, versions. I should add that Bonfire hunted for fun at every step while interpreting the material. In Starin’ Eyes, which opens the compilation, they work in a phrase from the Led Zeppelin classic Living Loving Maid, and in the following American Nights, right in the opening, they tease with the main phrase of Hendrix’s Purple Haze. Under Blue Skies doesn’t escape either, as Bonfire tack the playful main motif of Clapton’s Layla onto the start of the song . Then there’s Judas Priest’s Breaking the Law (Ready 4 Action), and so on… In short, »Roots« knows how to entertain the listener.
Fans of Bonfire, lock, stock and barrel, will grab »Roots« without hesitation. It’s more than obvious that Ziller and company are living through a new spring, that the energy lines in the new lineup are perfectly distributed, and that Bonfire, with Ziller’s career of almost 50 years in music, still have plenty of good things to say.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
CD1.
1. Starin’ Eyes
2. American Nights
3. Let Me Be Your Water
4. Price Of Lovin’ You
5. Comin’ Home
6. Ready 4 Reaction
7. Give It A Try
8. Sleeping All Alone
9. Who’s Foolin’ Who
10 Why Is It Never Enough
CD2
1. Fantasy
2. When An Old Man Cries
3. Love Don’t Lie
4. Lonely Nights
5. Under Blue Skies
6. You Make Me Feel
7. No More
8. The Devil Made Me Do It
9. Without You
added tracks:
10. Your Love Is Heaven To Me
11. Piece Of My Heart
12. Youngbloods
13. Our Hearts Don’t Feel The Same
14. Wolfmen
Line-up:
Alexx Stahl – vocals
Hans Ziller – guitar
Franka Panè – guitar
Ronnie Parkes – bass guitar
Andre Hilgers – drums
