'
Branded' unfolds in a tantalisingly suspenseful way. Less turns out to be more on this slow-growing but powerful set of songs.
The glory days are gone now, as they are for almost every melodic rock band who hit it big in the eighties, but class outfits like
Bonfire have a hard core of fans for whom '
Branded' will resonate loudly, sweetly.
Opener
'Deadly Contradiction's patiently driving riff builds gradually, shadowed by a ringing, chiming acoustic strum, adding layers and nuance. If you listen hard you'll hear the sound of seasoned musicians carving new shapes out of old ideas.
Conversely '
Save Me' is satisfyingly economic with string and drum, spinning on Ziller's full blooded guitar arpeggios and a rhythm section that needs only to underwrite the song with a sound percussive thump.
As is
Bonfire's wont, the epic anti-war song
'Let It Grow' flirts with twangy, swampy Southern Rock. They've done this sound so often now it comes as no great surprise.
But to the band's great credit, this approach, gilded by a pithy lyric and a darker mood still has great impact. Lessman's voice, which has audibly coarsened over the years, never falters in volume or clarity. It's that been-round-the-block-a-few-times timbre that brands songs like this with an indelible stamp of conviction.
Ziller's guitar cuts looser and bites harder on
'Follow The Rainbow'. Not an ounce of bloat or bombast to be seen or heard. The band's reconfigured sonics, echoing past achievements without stooping to either self plagiarism or sellout, really dazzle here.
If anything the sound is even bigger, epic without getting blustery. In fact, throughout the album, despite what will undoubtedly be a bootstring budget, the musical arrangements have greater depth, atmosphere and texture than your average melodic rock release.
Elsewhere, with its heart beating loudly, the six minute
'Do Or Die' quickly breaks into an adrenaline pumping, race winning sprint; the balladic "melodic rock shanty", '
Better Days' adds a vaguely eastern, Beatlish tone as it sways to and fro on its way to an undulating chorus, while the anthemic '
Close To Edge' cranks up into stadium straddling action.
Curiously, the album closes out with two bonus tracks, both perfectly passable "private versions" of
'I Need You' (originally from 'Strike Ten') and '
Rivers Of Glory' (from 'Knockout'). Each reveals a silvery, sinuous melody, hitherto masked by a heavyweight eighties' rock production.
These older songs emphasise the fact that, 25 years down the line, this band are still writing and recording gorgeous, relevant, memorably melodic songs. Great melodic rock never went out of style, it only went out of fashion.
Written by
Brian Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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