Album Review: "Vonken & Vuur" - Clouseau

It’s hard to believe that Belgium’s most popular band have been going for 20 years, yet the prolific Wauters brothers have managed to deliver yet again with their latest album.

Since the release of "En Dans" in 2001, Koen and Kris would appear to have had a musical rebirth, going back to their uptempo roots. The ballad hell of "Adrenaline" (IMHO their lowest point) is long gone. "Vanbinnen" proved that they were still alive and kicking, and "Vonken..." proves that the boys haven’t lost it.
Clouseau’s formula is of course big bouncy anthemic songs with hands-in-the-air choruses.

It all kicks off with "Oogcontact" which, in typical Clouseau style, starts off low-key and builds into a big singalong chorus. Likewise the title track (first single from the album) and the follow-up, the very similar sounding "De Tegenpartij".
"Casanova" is a more mid tempo traditional Clouseau number, the melody is very reminiscent of "I Ain’t Missing You". "Onvolmaakt" finds Koen and Kris in close harmony on an acoustic flavoured number with yet another big chorus. "Erop Los" is very catchy, danceable and dare we say, funky! "Hoe Lang" (not to be confused with another old Clouseau song "How Lang Nog" starts off slowly but soon rocks.

Clouseau being Clouseau of course, there are a couple of typical swaying ballads - "Houvast" and "De Ware".

"Voltooid Verleden Tijd" (not to be confused with another old Clouseau song "Voltooid Verleden" - are K & K running out of song titles??? :-)) is the most rocky song on the album. "Dansvloertherapie" is another nice slice of catchy pop-rock.

"Vonken and Vuur" may not reach the heights of the classic "Oker" and "En Dans", but it’s yet another good effort from the ever-popular Koen and Kris Wauters which has already sold by the bucketload in their native Flanders and will guarantee that they will continue to sell out their legendary end-of-year Sportpaleis concerts for a long time to come.