Against all expectations Bonfire have rediscovered their hunger and recorded an excellent album.

They say it's better to burn out than to fade away, but Bonfire were surely fading fast long before the ill-judged decision to simply rebrand Hans Ziller's EZ Livin' side project when vocalist Claus Lessmann jumped ship in early 2015. Though personally a big fan of singer David Reece (Bangalore Choir), the whole situation just felt wrong, and the subsequent album 'Glorious' did not alter my opinion. Now, 2017 brings another new singer with Alexx Stahl (Roxxcalibur), and against all expectations Bonfire have rediscovered their hunger and recorded an excellent album.

The template seems very much set on their classic 'Fireworks' album, with upbeat, fast Rocking songs such as opener 'Power Train', 'Stand Up 4 Rock' and 'Too Far From Heaven' rubbing shoulders with exquisite ballads 'Lonely Nights' and 'Without You' – where Stahl comes across eerily like a young Lessmann – alongside wonderful Melodic Rock cuts 'Praying 4 A Miracle' and 'Sweet Surrender', although the latter is criminally redolent of Scorpions' 'Make It Real' on its opening line, note for note, and virtually word for word.

Elsewhere, we have a quite brilliant cover of Jethro Tull's 'Locomotive Breath' which the band really make their own, the rather disappointing title track, and 'Reach For The Sky', with its cool chorus in search of a deserving verse, but unfortunately never finding it. Joke track 'Friedensreich', a "fun" conversation caught on the tour bus with Ziller's mobile phone has no place on a professional release, and the instrumental is yet another Teutonic workout of Classical music standards, and I really could have done without yet another version of 'Sweet Obsession' as the bonus track, although I understand the reasoning.

So a few misfires, but it's really exciting having Bonfire back recording albums of this quality, and the next one could really be a killer!

Bruce Mee