Bonfire
Knock Out

THE REVIEW

It is 1991, and the Bonfire, a German group coming off three excellent hard n' heavy albums in the late '80s, which positioned themselves halfway between the hard rock of their fellow countrymen Scorpions and the hair metal of overseas bands, are attempting with this "Knock Out" to make their definitive bid for success. Coming off the excellent "Point Blank," which achieved great success both in the Old and New World, allowing them to tour supporting Judas Priest's "Ram It Down," the Bonfire aim in this album to smooth the edges of their hard rock, shifting towards less elaborate songs and increasingly seeking the winning chorus; ballads are certainly not lacking, being more numerous compared to previous albums and leaning more towards mainstream and radio-friendly styles.

However, the quality of the songs remains consistently medium/high, and the various tracks are always a pleasure to listen to, starting from the opener "Streets Of Freedom", one of the most successful of the batch, with an acoustic intro that quickly leads into a rocky riff, where guitarist Angel Schleifer manages to strike the right chords, the chorus is definitely engaging and uplifting; I can't say the same for the following "The Stroke", a cover of Billy Squier that was also chosen as a single, a piece that never thrilled me; but fortunately, the subsequent "Dirty Love" turns out better with its mid-tempo featuring a somewhat predictable yet successful chorus. The album's pace slows down to make room for ballads, starting with "Rivers Of Glory", a piano ballad that reminded me of some Manowar tracks (specifically "Courage"), touching straight to the heart with Lessman's subdued singing and its filled pace of sadness and passion; while "Home Babe" presents more radio-friendly sounds yet is a beautiful, very engaging, and sunny track.

And the mid-tempo prevails again with the subsequent "Shake Down", "Hold You", "Down And Out", and "All We Got", all very pleasant and catchy songs, even though they don't shine for originality and deviate little from the typical hard rock standards of that period, it is particularly "Hold You" that turns out more successful with a truly captivating chorus; while at the end of the record, the ballads reappear again, specifically with the more upbeat yet convincing "Take My Heart And Run", and the penultimate "Fight For Love", an acoustic and delicate gem that is also one of the best things present in this full-length. The strange "Tonmeister" closes, upon first listen given its 9-minute duration, I might have expected a nice, more elaborate piece that Bonfire had never written up to that point in their career; but instead, we are faced with a composition with little music indeed, as it is a kind of sketch with voices in German occasionally broken by some riffs from Schleifer; already in the previous "Point Blank," Bonfire accustomed us to some fun interludes, but 9 minutes seem an exaggeration that honestly we didn't need.

"Knock Out" ends here, and it will also be the last work of Bonfire as a classic lineup, indeed after the resounding failure of the album the band opted for dissolution, swept away by the grunge wave and the renewed tastes of the public and record majors; even though Clauss Lessman rebuilt the band four years later together with guitarist Hans Ziller, an original group member but not present in the most famous works, a group that continues to produce albums even today (the latest, "The Rauber," is from 2008) but which I haven't heard yet. Instead, I recommend giving a listen to the old Bonfire, those of "Don't Touch The Light," "Fireworks," and "Point Blank," those were indeed a great band.

Waste No Time!