The 1990s--particularly the mid-'90s--were the Golden Age of Industrial Music. Nine Inch Nails was registering industrial on the pop-music charts with Pretty Hate Machine and its more metallic, but still amazingly accessible, follow-up Broken. Skinny Puppy offered up their monumental "swang song" The Process. Ministry was riding high on the popular success of their breakthrough album Psalm 69. Bill Leeb & Rhys Fulber released tons of new music every year, either under their primary moniker, Front Line Assembly, or as Delerium or any one of a hundred other names. Even as legendary Wax Trax! Records were being bought out by TVT, acts like My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult were still touring and putting out tremendous albums like Sexplosion. Klaus Larsen's Leaether Strip helped launch the West Coast Gothic/Industrial label Cleopatra Records, who eventually became one of the decade's primary purveyors of scene releases. On the East Coast, Mentallo & The Fixer helped establish Philadelphia's Metropolis Records as a major player as well. And, of course, there were hundreds of indie acts--like Fektion Fekler, Alien Faktor, Pounce International, and Terminal Sect--cranking out harsh little masterpieces on hundreds of small labels throughout the United States and Europe.
One of the forerunners firmly entrenched in the industrial assault's frontline were KMFDM (MySpace). Formed by Sascha Konietzko in 1984 in Germany, KMFDM eventually moved to Chicago, where they became one of Wax Trax!'s pre-eminent industrial bands by combining fist-pumping, system-ripping metal guitar grind with sparkly synths and nuclear dance beats. Now centered in Hamburg, again, after a brief period in Seattle, KMFDM are celebrating their 24th anniversary this year with a whole slew of new releases: twenty-four 7" vinyl single featuring classic cuts and new material, remastered editions of all their classic albums (now available through their new indie label KMFDM Records, distributed domestically here in the states by Metropolis Records), as well as an album of brand-new material, Tohuvabohu (which actually came out last year, in 2007, though somehow I missed out on it until now--my bad!), and a related remix album, Brimborium. Since Tohuvabohu is their newest collection of never-before-heard material, I'm going to focus on that album alone, and hopefully explain to readers how it has single-handedly revived my hope in the industrial genre.
Simply put, the industrial music genre completely and utterly collapsed in the late-'90s/early-2000s thanks to the overwhelming influx of "EBM" and "futurepop" artists like Apoptygma Berzerk, VNV Nation, and a horde of indistinguishable others. This crap was not industrial music: it was bad trance, at best, and completely untalented, repetitive nonsense at worst. It seemed like any jackass who could combine a steady 120bpm thurd-thud-thud beat with some crunchy or bleepy synth loops and some inane lyrics about humping machines or losing faith in humanity could get an industrial club hit. What had happened to industrial music that stood for something? That dared to challenge "the system" while smacking you upside the head with join-in-the-chant choruses and stomping beats? When it became apparent that the genre's leading lights were abysmal groups like Icon of Coil and Funker Vogt, I was finally forced to admit that industrial music--oldskool industrial full of rage and machinery and creativity--was dead. When KMFDM released the thoroughly boring WWIII in 2003, I heaved a sigh of depression and shed a single tear of rust and mercury, for even one of the most consistent industrial acts of all time--one of the very founders of the genre itself--had succumbed to the plague of mediocrity, as well.
But then, only a year later, Skinny Puppy returned with their comeback album, The Greater Wrong of The Right, which proved that real industrial music was still being made...at least by the biomechanical gods who had created the sound. Front Line Assembly, too, proved that they were still going strong with 2004's Civilization and 2006's Artificial Soldier, both of which his listeners with wicked rhythms and corroded synth melodies from the wastelands of post-nuclear Canada. Hell, even Insekt returned in 2006 with Teenmachine, an album so packed with meateating industrial mayhem that listening to it literally left you with the taste of burning metal in your mouth. Could it be? Was industrial not dead? At least the old soldiers of the genre still seemed to be capable of busting out the jams as always!
Well, KMFDM was still carrying the torch as well, even though I'd lost track of them. Which is why I'm damn grateful to have stumbled upon Sascha K and Friends' newest album, Tohuvabohu, just the other day. Industrial is not dead. And KMFDM have released an album that embodies all the sonic and lyrical ideals that made such titanic albums like Naive and Adios rock so goddamned hard.
"Tohuvabohu" in Hebrew means "waste and void," which--at least in terms of album names--is about as industrial as you can possibly get. No, it's not a particularly original concept. And neither is any of the music on Tohuvabohu. But so friggin' what? KMFDM have maintained a loyal fanbase for 24 years by being an incredibly consistent band with a very personalized, trademark sound. Now, that whole disco-beats-meets-metal sound could become tedious and repetitive in the wrong hands, but Kap'n K and Krew have always realized that there are many ways to remain tonally consistent without becoming bogged down in recycled sounds and motives. One of the easiest ways to do this is to explore melody and arrangements, and though you usually don't find the terms "melody" and "industrial" mentioned in the same context, you simply have to admit: one of KMFDM's greatest strengths are their melodies. Classic tracks like "Virus" and "Juke Joint Jezebel" have irresistible choruses that will always get dancefloor crowds singing along. They also have the capability of writing ultrafast speed-metal assaults just as well as they write ominous dirges and straightforward dance jams. Another of KMFDM's tricks is self-referential: songs like "Light," "Sucks," "A Drug Against War," and "Superpower," the opening track of Tohuvabohu, all mention KMFDM. It takes balls, but also a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek humor, to write lyrics like "Stronger than ever, ever before! / KMFDM is a drug against war!" But you've got to admit, those lyrics will implant themselves in your head and live there forever!
In all these aspects, the band are back at the top of their game with Tohuvabohu. "Superpower" is a self-referential celebration of KMFDM's quarter-century of experience, mixing a straight-up funkay bassline with a perfect sing-along chorus--"Superpower! / A force in its own! / Superpower! / We're going it alone!"--headbangin' guitars, and samples of phone messages left by fans explaining what they really like about KMFDM's music. Egotistical? Yeah...but its inspiring. In this one song, KMFDM is not only acknowledging its faithful fans, but explaining why they've told the record industry to kiss their asses and go 100% independent at last. In an age when so many bands are blowing off record deals in favor of going totally D.I.Y., KMFDM in this one single song have justified themselves and their longtime fans adoration. Oh, and it's got a killer sax solo, to boot! This one track is a text-book study in one of KMFDM's favorite subjects: ripping the system--bucking the majority trend for doing your own damn thing and loving the freedom of it.
The rest of the album, even when dealing with much darker subjects like political chaos and violence (subjects that KMFDM have loved to write about since Day One), is still full of jubilant, high-energy synthlines, disco diva vocals, and scalding-hot guitar licks. "Tohuvabohu" will have you screaming along with its chorus as you clean up your M-16 to get it ready for the battle against world imperialism. Not only is the music clearly packed full of love for its art, but Sascha Konietzko's lyrics exhibit a keen awareness of sociopolitical problems around the world. Whether denouncing any and all holy wars in the blistering "Not In My Name" or damning the slack-jawed, sheeplike masses who blindly follow leaders (political, social, artistic, and so forth) in title-track "Tohuvabohu," Konietzko is writing lyrics--in English, German, French, Spanish, Latin, and even Hebrew (I think)!--that aim to inspire listeners to educate themselves in what is happening around them and take action. Here in the United States, with a presidential election coming up in a scant two-and-a-half months, KMFDM's message to get off your ass and take fixing the system into your own hands is extremely timely and necessary.
So, OK...KMFDM kinda suffered a bit of a slowdown earlier in the decade. But they are back, folks. Whereas young punks may be wiping their butts with the dregs of industrial music, the Good Ol' Boys--Skinny Puppy, FLA, Insekt, even Ministry--are still Out There keeping the battleflags flying and providing anthems for the culture wars. KMFDM, we salute you for again doing what you do so damned well!
Links: www.kmfdm.net myspace.com/officialkmfdm
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