Few German rock acts can look back at as long and successful a career as Bonfire. Counting their predecessor – a group called Cacumen, which was also founded by Hans Ziller and featured more or less the same line-up – the band has been around since 1972, has operated under its current moniker since 1986 and released more than two dozen albums. During the most successful phase of their career, Bonfire counted – alongside the Scorpions and Accept – among Germany’s three internationally most acclaimed acts, celebrating major success all over Europe and worldwide. Bonfire’s trademarks are and have always been deeply melodic hard rock songs, driven by captivating guitars, grooving rhythms and haunting vocal melodies. All the features that came together so perfectly on their most popular releases Fireworks (1987), Point Blank (1989) and Branded (2011) are present on their current release Temple Of Lies. Thanks to their new vocalist Alexx Stahl, who joined the fold two years ago, and a first-rate line-up on all instruments, the band’s creativity explodes on Temple Of Lies and is bound to wow a younger generation of rock music fans, too.
Mike Keane's first album in the Royal Family & the Poor guise was done only after plenty of ups and downs in Keane's own life as well as numerous personnel shifts and incarnations, but the end results were a sometimes delicate and often enthralling combination. It's actually a combination of several different sessions, though most were overseen by Peter Hook of New Order as producer, while the backing lineup of violinist John Neesham and synth player Lita Hira resulted in a distinct, not-rock-as-such sound. The album does very much reflect its time and place throughout. While it would be pushing it a touch to say it sounds exactly like a Factory record of the time "should," the combination of electronic drums, reverbed vocals, and aural mystery on songs like "Radio Egypt" and the particularly fine "The Dawn Song" is both familiar and slightly tweaked.
When Temple of the Dog released their lone album in the spring of 1991, it landed to little fanfare despite being a sterling example of how the Seattle scene could push itself. The end result of two songs Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell had written in memory of former roommate and friend, the late Mother Love Bone vocalist Andrew Wood, Temple of the Dog was populated by luminaries of Seattle's soon-to-be-grunge-explosion…
"The innovation, spirit and power of Jamaican music is a constant source of creative manna for us," explains Eric Hilton of DC-based electronic band THIEVERY CORPORATION about their new album THE TEMPLE OF I & I. "On the musical map, Jamaica is an entire continent. Frankly, we could have spent a year there, soaking up the vibes in the air and the strength and resilience resonating from the people. And for us, the only way to connect with this rich source of inspiration was to work in that environment - to feel the pulse of the place."
"The innovation, spirit and power of Jamaican music is a constant source of creative manna for us," explains Eric Hilton of DC-based electronic band THIEVERY CORPORATION about their new album THE TEMPLE OF I & I. "On the musical map, Jamaica is an entire continent. Frankly, we could have spent a year there, soaking up the vibes in the air and the strength and resilience resonating from the people. And for us, the only way to connect with this rich source of inspiration was to work in that environment - to feel the pulse of the place."