BONFIRE ALBUM REVIEW

HIGHER GROUND

REVIEWER – GRAEME WRIGHT

I first fell in love with Bonfire when I heard their seminal ‘Fireworks’ album in 1987. I quickly picked up their debut album ‘Don’t Touch The Light’ and the rest is history. The band have had various incarnations since then and briefly split in the 1990’s before guitarist Hans Ziller fought valiantly to reclaim his band and ever since that period Bonfire have released albums on a regular basis right up to the present day. The appeal of Bonfire has always been about the songwriting for me. Every record is of the highest quality, containing melodic and catchy Metal songs of the highest order.

‘Higher Ground’ is the bands first release under the Frontiers Records banner, a label who are doing Gods work in keeping our kind of music alive and this album is an absolute banger, amongst the best releases we’ve ever had from Bonfire. It’s full of the bands traditional harmonies, pounding drums, soaring guitar work and above all immediate and impressive songs that have made this scribe for one a very happy fan indeed.

After an evocative instrumental opener ‘Nostradamus’, the first song proper is ‘I Will Rise’. It’s an autobiographical piece which centres around the story of Hans Ziller founding the band (originally known as Cacumen back in 1972), being sacked by his friends in 1989 and ultimately reclaiming ownership of the bands name in 1996. It’s a thunderous opener, very personal to Ziller and a wise choice as the first single from the album. ‘Higher Ground’ is a slightly slower paced grinder and contains a great vocal performance from singer Dyan Mair who shows off his full range here. ‘I Died Tonight’ is a glorious throwback to the eighties but souped up with modern day production methods and this is exactly the type of song that would have led a stampede to the dance floor in Maxime’s in Wigan in the eighties.

‘Lost All Control’ flies out of the blocks with a pounding and ominous thunderous drums led opening before hitting the ground running at full pace, while ‘When Love Comes Down’ is a Scorpions style majestic ballad that will have those mobile phones lit up and in the air in the live arena. ‘Fallin’’ is yet another song with a huge break, big riffs and a mighty chorus that will have you punching the air, while ‘Come Hell Or High Water’ has big harmonies and is the heaviest track on display here. ‘Jealousy’ is perhaps not the strongest track on the record but has some dazzling twin guitar work and another big chorus which saves the day. ‘Spinnin’ In The Black’ is textbook Bonfire, powerful and aggressive but melodic and immediate. The album closes out with the 2024 version of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Survivor’ which is a new spin on a classic Bonfire track and it’s a suitably fiery climax to this album.

Obviously I’m a touch biased as I’m a big fan of the band, but if your looking for traditional Heavy Metal with big arena style songs you can’t go wrong with this album, or indeed most of the bands back catalogue. Highly recommended, what are you waiting for?

BAND

Dyan Mair – Vocals

Hans Ziller – Guitar

Frank Pané – Guitars

Ronnie Parks – Bass

Fabio Alessandrini– Drums

ALBUM TRACK LIST

1. Nostradamus

2. I Will Rise

3. Higher Ground

4. I Died Tonight

5. Lost All Control

6. When Love Comes Down

7. Fallin’

8. Come Hell Or High Water

9. Jealousy

10. Spinnin’ In The Black

11. Rock ‘n’ Roll Survivor (2024 Version)