Tohuvabohu

KMFDM

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2007)
• Original Release Date: August 21, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Metropolis Records
• ASIN: B000SO7OD4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #83,965 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Tohuvabohu starts with a boisterous, tongue-in-cheek hymn to the power of KMFDM, replete with phone messages from fans extolling the band's virtues, and then tries to live up to it over the course of 51 head-slamming minutes. Longtime fans will immediately recognize the mix of aggressive storm-trooper grooves with lacerating scrawls of electronic noise multiplied across sequencer patterns and Steve White's distorted slabs of guitar. Sascha Koneitzko remains the frontman for the group, shouting his lyrics in that Skinny Puppy yowl from hell. Lucia Cifarelli, on the other hand, exults in a dominatrix vocal style. Her tunes sometimes make KMFDM sound like they want to be Shirley Manson and Garbage--and "Looking for Strange" and "Fait Accompli" almost succeed--but they just can't commit to the hook or a vocal approach that isn't shouting in your face. They take lyrical cliché to extremes on the title track and "Headcase," altering stock phrases like "Ask no questions, hear no lies" as cartoon political sloganeering. In Hebrew, "tohu va bohu" means "formless and empty," referring to the world before creation (Genesis 1:2). But KMFDM is all about form and structure and the idolatry of the beat. If nothing else, Tohuvabohu shows KMFDM's continued commitment, after nearly a quarter century, to their mutant marriage of heavy dance beats for metalheads. --John Diliberto

Product Description

KMFDM, now in their 23rd year, remain a musical entity to be reckoned with. Through relentless experimentation and reinvention they have continued to unleash a barrage of songs that allow their fans to dance with abandon, bang their heads or dissect the band’s cuttingly cunning lyrics sometimes all at once! KMFDM’s new album on Metropolis Records, Tohuvabohu, is no exception. ‘Tohuvabohu,’ an Old Testament word meaning wild and chaotic, perfectly captures the spirit and energy behind the tracks contained therein. Sascha Konietzko, the band’s founder and leader, conducts his army of analog synths and wields his razor sharp lyrics and vocals. Chanteuse Lucia infuses her tracks with a fiercely powered urgency alternating with soft beauty. The KMFDM core remains solid as ever with Jules Hodgson, Andy Selway and Steve White providing the cranking guitars and forceful beats that KMFDM is known for.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listening to it for first time right now..., August 24, 2007

By	Daisy Lou "jickweez" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Great sound, great use of Lucia and hooks we've come to love by this band ... agreed this is kind of old school KMFDM (more funky than heavy industrial) but I do love it - love it much more than any new music being churned out right now. Long live KMFDM and industrial music (just happy that Skinny Puppy, RevCo, Slick Idiot and TKK are still making new tunes). It's all about the "small" pleasures, folks ... btw, "I am what I am" is sublime.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heavier Beats With Less Guitars!, August 25, 2007

By	Bruno Prikler "Bruno" (Bratislava, Europe Slovakia) - See all my reviews

Tohuvabohu is a great new album surely best since Symbols. The direction KMFDM was going to last years wasn't very optimistic. It was a hard-rock crossover with lots of guitars trying to be harder and harder with every release, reminded me ministry evolution. Hopefully KMFDM finally realized where's their potential and focused more on industrial genre that we all love (don't we?).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Album Since Reunion, August 23, 2007

By	M. Dinslage (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I can see how a lot of newer KMFDM fans may not like this album, but being a fan since 1993 I have personally not really like the direction that Sascha has taken KMFDM since the reunion... until I heard Tohuvabohu. If you like albums like Nihil and Symbols then this album is for you. Definitely check it out at the very least.