Review: Bonfire – ‘MMXXIII (Re-Recorded)’

AFM Records (September 22^nd, 2023)

Reviewer: Paul Nicholls

Fairly recently many bands have been re-recording classic albums, mainly for copyright or licencing reasons.

Some are valid and they bring something new, breathing life into perhaps a dusty forgotten album.

Bonfire are releasing three re-recorded albums, ‘Don’t Touch The Light‘, ‘Fireworks‘ & ‘Point Blank‘ under the title ‘MMXXIII (Re-Recorded)‘.

Having listened to this release , I have questions. Firstly, why??? Is it copyright driven, or do the band think they’ve brought something new to the table?

I know the band now is a different beast to the one that recorded these classics, but honestly the short answer is they haven’t…on listening I’m constantly drawn back to those original recordings, mostly because while there is nothing musically wrong with the new releases, I’m missing Claus’s voice, for me the take away is that the new vocals just remind me of how good the originals were, and the new intro to ‘Hard On Me‘ just really doesn’t work .

I wanted to hear these records as I’m a big fan of Bonfire, and also of the bands that some of the new members hail from, but disappointment is what I’ve taken away.

For you, the listener, it may be a different story, but for me….Meh!