Review BONFIRE – the MMXXIII versions of ‚Don‘t Touch the Light‘, ‚Fireworks‘ and ‚Point Blank‘

German metal outfit Bonfire started in 1972. Guitarist Hans Ziller founded the band as Cacumen before a renaming into Bonfire took place in 1986. Sailing under a new flag, the band created some attention right away. ‚Don‘t Touch the Light‘ was the debut album that saw the light of day in 1986.

The album didn‘t come with a lot of innovative factors as Bonfire focussed on melodic metal which was trending at the time. However, the tracklist features. Few songs that made it to be Bonfire classics. The ballad ‚You Make Me Feel‘ belongs to those songs as well as the heavy pounding title track and ‚SDI‘ as being a hot topic at the time. ‚L.A.‘ is another entertaining track back from the days and in the end it is ‚Don‘t Touch the Light‘ that paved the way for some bigger successes to celebrate.

One year later, Bonfire launched ‚Fireworks‘ which showed a clear evolvement of the band. The band still didn‘t create a new sound again and followed some of the American role models. Still they did a good job, resulting in music that entertains and provides a good time. ‚Ready 4 Reaction‘, the opener, is a song that gets listeners directly into the right mood. A well-crafted melody and the power of rock is what sets the tone of voice. The album also includes with ‚Sweet Obsession‘ a sugar-sweet tune that helped the band to widen their fanbase. What also contributed to the attention of the band was their tour with ZZ Top in 1986. Tour support and new album were factors that lifted ‚Fireworks‘ into the German charts.

With ‚Point Blank‘ the third chapter of the Bonfire story started in 1989, but some clouds started to reduce the shining sunlight. Hans Ziller left the band although he was part of writing three songs of ‚Point Blank‘ to which one of the big hits belongs – ‚Who‘s Foolin‘‘ Who‘. Produced by Micael Wagner, who was at the helm too when it comes to ‚Fireworks‘.

To celebrate the glorious first era of the band, the current Bonfire line-up, including the bands new singer Dyan, re-recorded the first three longplayer and gave the songs some new life. Things sound more modern and the dynamics increased which, together with a powerful sound, makes this re-issue to a good time travel back into the 80s.

‚Don‘t Touch the Light‘