BW&BK; has received the following press release:

BONFIRE, the German Rock institution from Ingolstadt, belongs to the top bands of the melodic hard rock genre and is one of Germany's most successful music exports ever. The five-piece around singer Claus Lessmann and guitarist Hans Ziller now can look back on a career spinning more than two decades, several world-tours and chart albums as well as millions of sound carriers sold world-wide.

After the most recent studio album Double X (2006), the time was ready for something new. Classical drama has never been Claus Lessmann's and Hans Ziller's thing. When director Pierre Walter Politz proposed to work on a project for the stage of the theatre in Bonfire's hometown Ingolstadt together, they answered in unison: “We hate the theatre!” But Politz had a clear idea, which material he wanted to work on with the famous melodic rock band: Friedrich Schiller's Storm and Stress drama “Die Räuber”. If you take a closer look at Schiller's play, you will realize that it deals with a very German theme in a truly radical and fascinating way. Then, the Bonfire musicians started a creative process aimed with the original Schiller transcript and an English translation. They came up with twelve songs in a “wild hybrid” of German and English.

“Good melodic hard rock with hot ballads”, that's how guitarist Hans Ziller describes the final result himself. During the shows at the theatre, the band will perform live on stage. What does the music sound like? As singer Claus Lessmann puts it: “Just like Bonfire.”

The new Bonfire studio album The Räuber will be released on February 15 and include - next to the 12 songs performed at the rock opera - some extra material such as the bonus tracks 'Love Don't Lie' (Acoustic Mix), 'Do You Still Love Me' (Acoustic Mix) and 'Hip Hip Hurray' (German Version).

Tracklist: 'The Räuber', 'Bells of Freedom', 'Refugee Of Fate', 'The Oath', 'Blut und Tod', 'Love Don't Lie', 'Black Night', 'Hip Hip Hurray', 'Do You Still Love Me', 'Let Me Be Your Water', 'Lass die Toten schlafen', 'The Good Die Young', 'Time', 'Father's Return', 'Love Don't Lie (Acoustic Mix)', 'Do You Still Love Me (Acoustic Mix)', 'Hip Hip Hurray (dt. Version).

Line-Up: Claus Lessmann - lead vocals, Hans Ziller - lead guitar, Jürgen “Bam Bam“ Wiehler – drums, Uwe Köhler - bass, Chris “Yps“ Limburg - rhythm guitar.

For more info click here.