KMFDM – Hell Yeah!

Dark, delightful, and very danceable…

Released on 18 August 2017 through earMUSIC

Words by Jason Guest

20 albums in, I think I’d call my album Hell Yeah! too, if only because I’d reached the 20-album mark. But not only have KMFDM crossed the threshold, they’ve crossed the threshold in style with another exceptional release. Merging industrial with techno, dance and metal has long been the band’s forte and again, they have stuck to their guns, simultaneously retaining their inimitable sound, remaining diverse in their approach, and pushing further out into more darkly delightful – and humorous – territories.

A couple of tracks that tread familiar KMFDM territory to warm us up, ‘Hell Yeah’ is one for the crowds united under the individuality that their ‘Freak Flag’ celebrates. Then, sandwiched between the dub-tinged ‘Oppression’ parts 1 and 2, comes the anti-political message of ‘Total State Machine’, a defiant and dancing middle finger to authority dressed in loud guitars, loud synths and loud beats. Lovely. From the riots on the street, we are quickly back on the dance floor with the sing-a-long, dance-a-long ‘Murder My Heart’, Lucia Cifarelli’s vocals sensual, seductive and sinister. ‘Rip The System v.2.0’ reinterprets the 1989 track of the same name for a tongue-in-cheek postmodern slice of self-reflexivity. Such fun.

Where to next but mid-tempo ambience with the slower but no less groovier ‘Shock’, Cifarelli again bringing the seductive in to its Goth atmospherics before ‘Fake News’, with its samples of Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” bullshit, stampedes in with angry beats and cynical lyrics. With Cifarelli letting loose and delivering a savage performance comes ‘Rx 4 The Damned’, a bit of tasty slap bass provided by Doug Wimbish of Living Colour no less colouring the rhythms and dense and dancebale layers. ‘Burning Brain’ and closer ‘Glam Glitz Guts & Gore’, both as heavy and hard-hitting as they guaranteed to get the dance floor bouncing, bookend the distortion-laden darkness of the melodic and warped and wonderful ‘Only Lovers’.

13 tracks and not one of them a filler. 20 albums in and still delivering material like this, Hell Yeah is the only title this could have been given. This is an album for fans old and new. And given their “message”, if this is what the revolution looks like – danceable beats, tongue-in-cheek anti-political lyrics, sex and monster riffs – we’ll soon be dancing our way in to Utopia under the Freak Flag…

KMFDM – Hell YeahTrack list:

  1. Hell Yeah
  2. Freak Flag
  3. Oppression 1/2
  4. Total State Machine
  5. Oppression 2/2
  6. Murder My Heart
  7. Rip The System v.2.0
  8. Shock
  9. Fake News
  10. Rx 4 The Damned
  11. Burning Brain
  12. Only Lovers
  13. Glam Glitz Guts & Gore

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RECOMMENDED FESTIVALS

LATEST LIVE PHOTOS

Most Popular

Recent Comments