Search - Kmfdm :: Krieg

Bring back the old KMFDM!

M. Krueger | 06/12/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"KMFDM's new remix album Krieg, the companion to their 2009 album Blitz (Get it? Blitzkrieg. The originality is astounding), is only the latest shortfall for the once great industrial rock band. Krieg is just the same tired gimmick of releasing a mediocre album and following it up with remixes of songs we are ashamed were released under the name KMFDM. We had Hau Ruck which was followed by Ruck Zuck, Touhovabou followed by Brimborium, and finally Blitz and Krieg. It was kind of cool the first time but knock it the hell off. At least Ruck Zuck had an exclusive cover of Der Mussolini. Brimborium and Krieg are forgettable at best and absolutely unlistenable at worst. If one takes bad music and has it remixed by even worse musicians nothing good can come out of it. In a way these remix albums make up for the lack of KMFDM singles being released (which always contained remixes of their songs), but those remixes were actually good and brought a unique take on KMFDM's music from other artists. Plus, they weren't expecting us to pay the price of a full-length album. Singles were cheap. KMFDM's new remix albums are not.



Of course, I wouldn't be complaining as much if the albums that were being remixed were actually good. I can forgive the shortcomings of Attak since it was their first album after MDFMK and sans Esch and Schultz. WWIII was a decent album despite being filled with sophomoric and uninspired anti-Bush lyrics. We get it Sascha, you don't like George Bush. Join the crowd. But after WWIII things just got worse. Raymond Watts was gone and Sascha was the lone KMFDM alumnus left. Once song-writing was left to Lucia and Sascha forgot how to construct a good song, everything went downhill fast. Hau Ruck has some pretty good songs but the rest of the album (the songs with Lucia fronting) was an insult to music. Touhouvabou was the first time I ever popped in a KMFDM CD and literally listened to it once through and tossed it in the trash. It was that bad. I thought for sure nothing could be worse than that monstrosity but then I heard Blitz. I can't even comment on just how bad this CD is. It's pathetic. Nay, it's an abomination to the ear. It is unmitigated crap. I would rather listen to the "Mating Sounds of Helicopters" for ten hours straight than even one tedious second of Blitz or Krieg.



Just think back to all of the great music KMFDM recorded from 1984 to 1999. We're talking a decade and a half of some of the greatest industrial music ever recorded. It was innovative, well-written, and just plain amazing. Then listen to Nu-KMFDM and the huge gulf between what KMFDM was and what it has become is readily apparent. Gone is everything that made KMFDM great. The beats, the guitars, the lyrics, everything is gone. Krieg is completely forgettable and will only make you hark back to the days when KMFDM ruled the industrial scene. If you want to hear where all of KMFDM's former creativity and brilliance has gone, check out En Esch and Guenter Schultz's band Slick Idiot.

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