Customer Reviews

ATTAK

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have been looking forward to the new KMFDM for the past couple of months now. I immediately bought "Attak" the same day it was released. It was definitely well worth the wait. Unlike "Symbols" and "Nihil", I had to listen to "Attak" a few times before the music started to sink into my head. I noticed on the first listen that "Attak" had a slightly different sound, particularly on songs such as "Superhero" and "Sleep". I got the impression that Sascha Konietzko had been listening to drum & bass during the band's alleged break up and after the tour with MDFMK. The drum and bass influences is quite evident in "Superhero" and "Sleep" but not necessarily in a bad way, just interesting that drum and bass would be incorporated into the band's abrasive, caustic industrial sound. Definitely light on the metal this time around. My two personal favorite songs on this album are "Save Me" and "Risen". "Save Me" in some weird way sounds as if it would have been perfect for the "Symbols" album. It reminded me a bit like my personal favorite KMFDM song "Anarchy" with Skold's vocals. "Risen" is just a killer song with that loud thunderous industrial beats that needs to be played at top volume. Now while I can't say "Attak" is better than "Nihil" or "Symbols", I definitely have to rank "Attak" next to those two albums as my favorite KMFDM album of all time.

For me it started with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. Their song on the Crow soundtrack made me branch off and try other groups in the industrial scene. Hey, I'm honest, no matter how candy ass that sounds. I picked up this KMFDM CD because it was the only one they had at the local record store, besides WWIII. The reason I chose Attak over the other because of the date of release. I figure some bands start to go downhill as they get closer to the present. I was not only impressed but amazed by the selection of tracks. "Risen," is incredible. I'm broke so I can only listen to tapes in my car instead of CD's I listen to that song over and over again. That song and another excellent piece is, 'Save Me.' The two songs are almost on different sides of the spectrum, night and day. So there's much variations throughout the disc. For those of you who are new to the industrial scene, and since it's 2004 you're gonna have to look back in the 90's for the most part, I also recommend, Excessive Force and Haloblack.

This is the first KMFDM album I've bought since Symbols which I didn't really get into. I definitely think ATTAK is an improvement, and I think that if it wasn't for the Tim Skold songs it'd rank highly in their history. I just can't get into the songs where Skold sings. His lyrics do not change much from song to song and he sings with an annoying Peter Murphy-goth style.

The good.. Attak/Reload is a great way to start off an album. Lucia's vocals grab you, great KMFDM guitars, and big beats. What you'd expect for the first song on a KMFDM album.

Dirty is the latest song about, well, themselves. "Heaven can't take me, Hell don't care, KMFDM, gonna take me there!" Great loud and heavy guitars with Raymond Watts aka Pig on vocals. At times it almost sounds like AC/DC industrialized, but it's a good song.

My favorite song on the album is "Urban Monkey Warfare." It probably has the most in common with KMFDM's sound from the early 1990s. The biggest thing I miss about KMFDM's older albums is their great sense of humor. I rarely see it anymore, but this song has some. More crushing guitars, which there's a lot of on this album. The synths are also great on this song. Vocals courtesy of Lucia and Sascha. The album is worth is for this song.

Yohoho. A lot of people don't seem to like this song, but I think it works real well and it's a little more experimental. It goes at a slower pace and is mostly synth-driven (the guitars take a break). The song showcases Pig's twisted lyrics and unique singing.

There are a few other good songs on the album. "Sturm and Drang" is the best song with Skold. "Sleep" is a nice album closer reminiscent of "The Problem" from the album _Angst_.

Overall, a good album. I recommend it for the strong songs, but there might not be enough to win back the old fans. Give it a shot.

KMFDM's back with a heavier sound, just like they promised. Still, its the KMFDM we've all grow to love. The sound has again morphed into something new, but it still has remnants of older days, giving it a rounded sound. There is a lot of the newer, more techno friendly MDFMK hiding inside the songs, plus other, harder to put my finger on, elements that meet with widespread hands. All I can say about it is Yummy.
Raymond's back, Lucia still doing tracks (which is a far cry from her Drill days), and Skold is also on board for this go around, making the album a bit more versatile than the previous release (not to say that the last release was less than spectacular). Personally, I was glad to find Raymond on board again, since I had missed him on MDFMK and had hoped he would return. Still, the prayers were only half answered, with silence on En Esch's side of the court. That said, it is definitely worth buying, and if you have any doubts, I'm sure you can get some clippy clips to listen to. But don't! Buy it and make sweet love to it now!

If you're new to KMFDM the question you want answered is either 'should I bother?' or 'if I do bother, where should I start?'.

Here is as good a place as any. Attak is a very tight album musically, perhaps moreso than any before it, so if you're a fan of techno industrial experimentation with a thumping rock and roll guitar for a heart, you won't be disappointed in that respect.

What will get you is the KMFDM sense of humour.

What you have to undertsand about KMFDM is that they are serious about their music and their opinions, but don't believe they should be taken seriously. They are not System Of A Down, nor are they Tool (not that I'm opposed to either of those bands). Simply put, they acknowledge they are a band, and you are there to listen to music. As such, songs like Urban Monkey Warfare and Yohoho may seem like they are 'ruining' the album, but if you heard Itchy Bitchy from way back in the 80's, or one of the three iterations of Virus, you would understand this is merely a progression of what has come before. It is, in fact, somewhat understated.

For KMFDM fans, think MDFMK and a smattering of Symbols, but harder. More cultish and anthemic than a sonic bombardment. You'll find yourself shouting along, shaking your fist in the air, smiling. You know, the usual.

...because it appropriately describes KMFDM's new album, ATTAK. It seems that when Sascha and Company ran out of real five-letter words (Attak?), they ran out of ideas for good music as well. What used to be a staple of the industrial music genre is now nothing more than contrived mush with few noteworthy highlights. Overall, ATTAK seems to suffer from Michael Jordan Syndrome: go out with a bang and retire (KMFDM with ADIOS, Jordan with his third championship), decide to play baseball for a few years (or start up a sub-par side-project called MDFMK), then come back to much overly-hyped fanfare only to disappoint (the Bulls were eliminated in the playoffs the first year Jordan came back, in much the same manner that this album stumbles). Perhaps it's a poor analogy, but ATTAK truly is a lack-luster album, even for someone who has been a huge fan of the band since the early nineties.

The main problems with this album, in no particular order:

1) Tim Skold. I really don't like this guy's voice or his lyrics. I know that some people do, but I have never felt like he really fit in with KMFDM. He's whiney, annoying, and ALL of the songs he sings have cliched lyrics. If there is any publisher that makes a Cliche Dictionary, I'm sure that Skold has already purchased it. Granted, much of KMFDM's lyrics have never been THAT original, but this guy truly takes the cake for lame songs.

2) No Gunter Schulz or En Esch. Pivitol members of the old KMFDM, and without them, this album clearly suffers. Skold and Sascha seem to be desperately trying to make up for the lack of Schulz's distinctive guitar work, to no avail. And without En Esch on background vocals and adding his talents to the songs, there's not much to work with here.

3) Overall unoriginality. Everything on this album feels like a rehash of a retread: nothing new or exciting. "Attak/Reload" sounds like a leftover MDFMK song that never made it on that album, "Skurk" makes me yawn with Skold's complaining about how people make him mad, "Dirty", even though it features Raymond Watts, can't be saved because all it is is another KMFDM anthem; "Save Me" is a pathetic Skold whine-fest that made me cry crocodile tears before I switched to the next track, and the list goes on. The album ends with "Sleep", a song that has an overall feeling of being so rushed and thrown together that you wonder why it exists at all.

But for all its problems, there are a few songs that are worthwhile. The clear-cut best song on the album is "Preach/Pervert", which is ironically written and sung by Raymond Watts, not KMFDM's oringal founder (the song reminds one of NIHIL, probably the band's best album). Unfortunately, the bad far outweigh the good, making this album a true disappointment. It's the only KMFDM album that I have ever played through only a few times and then placed on the shelf. And the worst part is that I had to force myself to play it a third, fourth, fifth time just to see if I could make anything grow on me. It didn't.

Maybe like Michael Jordan's first comeback, this is only a test-run before another Three-Peat. But I tend to doubt it. As long as Skold is a member of the band, they aren't going anywhere but down. Raymond Watts should distance himself from this tripe and focus on Pig, because he seems to be the only one in the group left with any talent for music-making. Do yourself a favor: pick up the far superior album by Slick Idiot ..., the new band formed by the aformentioned En Esch and Gunter Schulz. That release doesn't disappoint at all, and its superiority makes you wonder where the REAL talent in KMFDM probably was during all the great albums of the nineties.

This was the first full KMFDM album I heard when it was released, and have since gone back and forth from listening to their older work up to their newer releases. I have to say, Attak is by no means a disappointment or a let-down; it shows an evolution of sound and interesting progress for an equally intriguing band. Most of the songs on the record are powerful, begging to be blasted as loud as your stereo and ears can stand, and even the lyrics compliment the heavy music style. I love it and highly recommend it--there's something about this album that gives me chills.

Sascha and En Esch were definitely pioneers with NIAVE. But the recent addition of Lucia seems to have expanded the musical and lyrical dynamic of this industrial pioneer. She is a great song writter and obvious compliment to Sasch's style and original technique. HIGHLY suggest this album, NIAVE, MONEY, and NIHIL.

Any band that has been around for 20 years is bound to have a wide group of listeners, unless their style went stale (Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, etc.)

I personally like the GUITAR HEAVY stuff. Some people want more SYNTH.

I started out with ANGST, XTORT, and NIHIL. All excellent, as most agree. To me, these albums had great guitar, and appearently, good synth stuff as well. Both worlds were happy.

I then got SYMOBLS and don't like it as much. They moved away from the guitar too much for my tastes.

I then went back and got MONEY. Same deal, only they hadn't quite discovered the good guitars yet. One great guitar track (Money) and another song with a recycled Jimi Hendrix riff. Their even earlier stuff is mostly electronic and not my taste.

ATTAK is a return to the heavier GUITAR sound that I love. Great stuff includes URBAN MONKEY WARFARE and SAVE ME. I love this album, and think it's one of their best.

SO: if you love good guitar, this album did it for me. If you're more of an early KMFDM fan, or big on the SYMOBLS album, you probably won't like it as much.

i bought this cd about a month ago, and i love it, i listen to it all the time. a must have for any KMFDM fan. the first cd i heard from KMFDM was MDFMK. i am more of a classic metal/industrial/techno kinda guy and ATTAK is much better than most of the stuff i have heard over the years.