KMFDM - Kunst (2013)

KMFDM - Kunst (2013)



INFO:

Let's get this out of the way – KMFDM have basically become a covers band. The only band they cover is KMFDM. On title track Kunst, they recycle lyrics from their back catalogue in a cut-and-paste fashion, including an exhortation for us to Kill Motherfucking Depeche Mode. It's a lyrical Jive Bunny megamix of their greatest hits, set to a pounding kick drum and chugging guitars. Although devoid of inspiration, its laurel-resting has the comforting familiarity of a well-worn jacket.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album is let down by sub-par production values, predictable industrial drum and guitar patterns, and a flattened, monotonous set of vocal filters. True, you do always know what you're getting with KMFDM – they haven't switched up the formula in years despite multiple lineup changes, and it doesn't look like they're about to. But even forgiving mainstay Sascha Konietzko's latter day lack of experimentation, Kunst still feels a little phoned in.

It’s safe to say that KMFDM is the most successful and longest running industrial music group that doesn’t take themselves seriously. While all their other contemporaries made the genre known for overt angst and horror-themed theatrics, KMFDM have spent their nearly thirty year career keeping a frequent output-rate of industrial music made with the raves in mind above all else. The same scene their music is made for may be taking a dive in popularity in even the underground as of late, but these German pioneers have still been as consistent in their new releases as ever in recent years.

For their eighteenth album Kunst, it’s a no brainer to any fan that KMFDM doesn’t stray too far from the formula they’ve been comfortable with for years. However, what’s accomplished on Kunst is a satisfying mix of their tried and true formula that fans will come to expect and desire, and some new ingredients thrown into the mix to keep things interesting. As for the familiar elements, the hulking industrial metal guitars chug and churn just as much as they had on the group’s most metal-oriented release Nihil; prepared to take no prisoners on a charged-assault on the dance-floor. The usual supply of ridiculous samples and audio clips add a good layer of humor to a few of the songs, especially the opening title track in which frontman Sascha Konietzko once again proclaims to “Kill-Mother-***ing-Depeche-Mode” just as he did on the group’s 1993 single “Sucks”.

While the staple aspects of the group’s sound are here in top form, the real treat about Kunst are the synth beats themselves. They don’t feel as linear as they have on many KMFDM releases, being much more glitchy, and having a more crunching groove to them as opposed to a lunging pace. Influences from other UK electronic dance scenes such as big beat, breakbeat, and synthpunk are strongly showcased through the stomping quality these infectious beats bring Kunst as a whole.

The elements that fans will except are present and accounted for on Kunst, which keeps it from being more original than it could be, but the electro-industrial anthems these elements come to form are much more invigorating than they have been on past releases. While they may not be bringing a lot of invention to the industrial genre after thirty years, and although Kunst is just as over the top but not as diverse as their preceding effort WTF?!, KMFDM certainly haven’t started lacking in bringing variety to their sound based around just plain fun industrial music.

TRACKLIST:

01. Kunst
02. Ave Maria
03. Quake
04. Hello
05. Next Big Thing
06. Pussy Riot
07. Pseudocide
08. Animal Out
09. The Mess You Made
10. I <3 Not

Genre: Industrial
Bitrate: 320 k
Size: 108.72 MB

Credit Goes To orgasmatron Of Rockbox