Customer Reviews

Xtort (+ 1 Bonus Track)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

... not exactly the words I would typically describe Industrial music, a genre that sometimes gets weighed down by taking itself too seriously at times. KMFDM is band that knows how to liven Industrial up, making their songs closer to party anthems than gothic dirges.

Xtort sports an impressive list of guest participants in addition to the core duo of Sascha and En Esch. The flow of the album is very impressive considering the variety of contributors and the changes in tempo and mood from song to song. Some tracks lean heavier on the guitar riffs, some on crazy beats and tempos, while others distinguish themselves by the person handling the vocals.

There are no weak tracks on this album, but if I had to highlight a few for listening I would include "Rules" (a great beat coupled with having one of the best chorus in KMFDM's history), "Inane" (faster paced, with boastful lyrics that reference older titles from their past), "Son of a Gun" (intense, zooms at breakneck speed while remaining tuneful throughout), and "Wrath" (it sounds solemn but if you listen to the lyrics it's actually quite humorous, nice contrasts between verse sections and chorus).

Xtort also sports my favorite Brute cover art. I intend to pick up the remastered CD real soon, so I might update this review to contrast the new version with the older one I already own.

UPDATE (10/03/07): I now have the remastered version for this CD to comment on. The sound does improve from the original a bit (the bass seems deeper on this one). The band photos that were in the original booklet are still there, plus ones that weren't.

For those who are new to Xtort when picking up this remastered version might be interested to know that the "bonus" track ("Fairy") is not a unique addition. It was a hidden track at the end of the original CD, now it can be accessed by its own track number

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Having been tentative about the band at first, only to eventually become a rabid collector, I understand how hard it is to recommend a starting point. This isn't my favorite album, but it offers the best mix of KMFDM's ever-changing but always driving marriage of humanism and egotism, action and pretention.

If you end up favoring the beat, look to ADIOS and MONEY.
If you end up favoring the ultra heavy, see WWIII and ANGST.

If you still aren't convinced, remember that if it seems corny it isn't an accident. If that fails, find how HAU RUCK provides the most perfectly blended sound to date.

KMFDM's Nihil was and is one of the greatest albums ever, in any genre. Naturally, the band wanted to follow up with something similar, but like always they did things to make it feel new. It has more guests than any other KMFDM album, and that does a great deal to add to the variety. Yet, it still has the classic KMFDM feel. It's not quite as good as Nihil, but it's a worthy successor.

1. Power - 5/5
What we've come to expect of the band. Lyrically it's a reworking of the Excessive Force song Violent Peace, but musically it feels like a Juke Joint Jezebel part two, complete with the female vocals on the chorus.

2. Apathy - 5/5
Probably one of the heaviest songs KMFDM has done. Sounds a bit like Flesh, from Nihil, but with Sascha on vocals instead of Raymond.

3. Rules - 5/5
This one's a bit more laid back, and has Chris Connelly, of Ministry fame, on vocals.

4. Craze - 4/5
Another one with Connelly. Not quite as good as Rules, but still a good song.

5. Dogma - 5/5
A cool political song with spoken word artist Nicole Blackman on vocals. She seems to be a great lyricist, and they are the standout feature on this track.

6. Inane - 5/5
A classic kind of KMFDM song with a bunch of old lyrics inserted. Nostalgic for longtime fans; perhaps a bit annoying for newcomers. Luckily, this was the fourth album I purchased by them. It also features the album's only performance by En Esch on the guitar solo.

7. Blame - 5/5
The intro will throw you off thinking it's a ballad, but it ends up being a cool song with horns. I think Disobedience had better use of them, but it still sounds cool here. It has Connelly on vocals.

8. Son of a Gun - 4/5
Not one of my favorites, but it's still pretty good and the music video was pretty cool. Lyrics are kind of weak, though.

9. Ikons - 4/5
This is another song with Connelly. Again not one of my favorites, but it is another solid track.

10. Wrath - 5/5
The album ends on a high note. Probably the darkest track on the album.

11. Secret Track - 3/5
This isn't really part of the album, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. After a while on Wrath, Gunter Shulz will start playing piano, and some one starts telling some weird fairy story. It's a bit ammusing(it's a dark comedy about a fairy), but it wasn't really worth putting on the CD.

Overall, I'm torn between whether or not to give this 4 or 5 stars. As good as this album is, is Nihil is better, and this album could've used some help from Raymond Watts and En Esch(one guitar solo doesn't cut it). However the addition of Chris Connelly mostly makes up for the lack of Watts, and there's enough original stuff here to make it worth buying for any KMFDM fan. I'd give it a 4.5, if given the option.

"Ask NOT what you can do for your country. Ask what your country DID to you."

Here we are, with KMFDM "the player." They've kicked out quite a few hits that rocked the public by this time in their career, have established themselves as Dogma when it comes to industrial music, and they've done it with quality. By now they've perfected a sound that they want to go with as well, pushing themselves toward a heavier flow that is more politically-oriented, and they've gotten good at it. This falls in right after the powerhouse release Nihil, and following that up was a hard task to accomplish. Still, Xtort did it pretty well.

I'll go on record as saying that Xtort wasn't one of my favorites in the beginning because it lacked Raymond Watts, but that wore off after a while because the album is good. I actually like how Sasha changed up the vocals a bit on this, making them a little gruffer, and I like having Cheryl Wilson/ Dorona Alberti/ Nicole Blackman on board as a back-up vocalist. I also like the fact that these were the En Esch days and that Gunter Schulz was on board, making a solid stable of players. and, yes, Chris Connelly was present a little, as was Mark Durante and a few others. And then there was the album itself.

I really liked the spoken word rant of Dogma, because it was quality stuff. "We don't live, we just scratch on day to day with nothing but matchbooks and sarcasm in our pockets." Yeah. It has a nice beat, damn good vocals, and a great message that keeps the mind breathing. "Desire is not an occupation." Rules is an addictive song as well, because it has a nice beat that flows, quality construction, and a change-up in the vocal style that gives them a less refined style. Couple that with lyrical quality and you have a nice track. I also like Power, with the barrage of political sounds meshing well with the change-up in vocals, because it reminds me of a staple KMFDM song. Lead vocals, female chorus = great work. Blame is an odd track for KMFDM but its also catchy, with alot of KMFDM flavor and yet a little beat switch, and Son of a Gun also has to be noted because its probably the most widely-recognized track on the album.

Over-all the album is a change of pace for KMFDM, but it still continues with the style that it was getting going on Nihil. Its still driven, heavily-En Esch oriented in the guitar realm, and a nice treat when given some spinning time.
"Industrial Soundtrack to the Holy Wars!"

After the heavy guitar driven Nihil - on which half the songs would have appealed to metalheads as much as fans of industrial - KMFDM are back with a more dancy album. Right from the opening dancy guitar riff of "Power", this is immediately obvious. Sacha's vocals are the same shouts, and the chorus is 3 beautiful (vocally that is) female voices in the style of "Juke Joint Jezebel".

Though it is a departure from the more metal influenced Nihil, it does not leave metal completely. The song "Apathy" would have fit in perfectly on Ministry's Psalm 69, and the thrash guitars are still there, and at the front of the mix. KMFDM would not move them to the back of the mix until 1997's Symbols.

So how does this album do song for song (which is really the only way to judge KMFDM, as their classic ultra heavy beat and tongue-in-cheek vocals remain constant throughout)? It does great! From the extremely catchy "Power" you are thrown into the extremely vicious guitars and overwhelming shouts of "Apathy". Then the group of 3 amazing female vocalists are back for "Rules", with the three of them singing in the background for the verse - which adds amazing depth to the song. "Craze" is oddly monotonous and repetitive, but, unlike KMFDM's earlier material, actually makes that style strangely interesting. "Dogma" is a high point on the album, a twisted rank about the life style of the united states over thrash guitars and a chorus of "Sex! Drugs! Lies! ... America!".

After that you get the second climax of the album, the glorious "Inane", which has them making references to all of their previous albums and singles. Then you get the return of a brass section to the KMFDM sound on "Blame", as well as Oger's (of Skinny Puppy fame) rasping vocals. "Son of a Gun" falls back onto thrash guitars and extremely distorted and fast vocals (seen a second time on Symbols's "Megalomaniac). Oger returns for the much slower "Ikons" before Sacha's near-chanting on the closer "Wrath".

Overall Xtort is scarce of a weak song - something that classifies all of KMFDM's 'big three' albums. Along with Nihil and Symbols, Xtort is a *must have* for any fans of KMFDM or industrial in general.

Band founder Sascha K said the idea with this album was to contrast the previous album, Nihil, by being less poppy and less perfected, less endlessly rearranged and rewritten. The result is a record of signature KMFDM mid-90's brand of industrial rock infused with a bit more of a sense of fun, daring and experimentation.

Despite the lack of the irreplacable Raymond Watts, the line up on this album is great. Chris Connelly (the guy singing in Ministry's "Cannibal Song"), several great female vocalists, various programmers, and NO Skold! XTORT has more musicians involved than any other KMFDM album.

There's also plenty of the elements that make KMFDM unique and more than just industrial / EBM music- horns, organ sounds, bluesy rhythms and guitar, etc. The songs themselves-

"Power" has a great high end main riff reminiscient of stuff on Angst like "Blood (Evil Mix)" that's subtely dark while still managing to totally rock, but the chorus consists of a simple "We've got the power!" repeated ad nauseum. Thus, the song is pretty cheesy.

"Apathy" has a lot of totally awesome riffs, and is much darker than usual for this band. Stands in their catelogue as one of their most furious tracks and unusually serious.

"Rules" is one of KMFDM's best ever tracks, a bluesy rocker with Chris Connelly doing some unforgetable and strange monotone vocals. The female singers join in for the chorus. "I'm lying on the ground but I'm moving".

"Crazy" is a bizarre, frantic song with a kind of horror vibe. Nothing else like it in their whole discography. Chris Connelly again takes center stage. I personally like it, but I could understand people who don't. A good experiment.

"Dogma" is a rant by guest spoken word artist Nicole Blackman that strikes me as being particularly angsty and not backed up by any real fact. Example- "We don't run Washington and no one really does" "We don't live we just scratch on day to day" "Someone's writing down your mistakes" and so on and so forth. Paranoia and punk rock attitude. My response is "speak for yourself". While I find the words kind of immature and comical, the background music is very dense and creates a sense of being surrounded by it. It also samples early industrial group SPK's "Napalm (Terminal Patient)".

"Inane" begins with some dissonant synth noodlings and becomes an attempt to fit as many references to past albums and singles into one song as possible. Fortunately, it also totally rocks. It's also great live... fun to sing along to.

"Blame" is my favorite song on here. A classic rock vibe with horns, some unusually pretty guitar harmonizations, horn interludes and an anthemic chorus. Chris Connelly again. Surprisingly uplifting.

"Son of a Gun" in the grand tradition of "A Drug Against War" is a super-fast thrashy number with a great chorus. Very little melody and no particularly interesting riffs, but the energy makes up for it. The production is interesting- the vocals have a strange filter on them that sounds as if they're glitching. Also good live.

"Ikons" has a weird, ominous guitar hook and a march like rhythm but a pretty boring chorus with one chord repeated over and over and monotone distorted Sascha chanting. The 'solo' in the bridge also has so much distortion on it as to be practically earsplitting and disrupting. An ok song.

"Wrath" is catchy and has some interesting tympani and orchestral breaks, whether or not they're sampled I don't know. Has a lack of interesting riffs.

Overally XTORT is a good album but as consistent or special as Nihil that came before or the more electronic Symbols that came after. If you've already picked up those, this is a good choice.

KMFDM's whole catelogue up to Adios is out of print, but XTORT is one of the ones easier to find for a reasonable price. For this reason it might be a good place to start. However, this won't matter for long since KMFDM is rereleasing them all on their online store.

Metropolis records now owns the distrubutor rights to KMFDM (they were formerly the biggest band on the Wax Trax label), and to spice up the new relationship, Metropolis has digittally remastered all of their classic albums and released them two at a time from season to season. This is the best KMFDM album IMO. I love the hell out of it. Most KMFDM fans that I have met consider either "XTORT", or "SYMBOLS" to be thier favorite album. The KMFDM line up for this album is Chris Connelly (Ministry, Revco.), Raymond Watts (Pig), Sacscha, and the guy from Eiensterezende Neaubauten. Great album...industrial metal at it's best.

thats what goes through my mind whenever i put this cd on. while nihil was the breakthrough album that everybody LOVES to death, this one further nihil into a more of a techno based album. while i hear that their cd "symbols" is their most techno to date, this album is very techno and riff oriented. picture a whole album inspired by juke joint jezebel. that is what i would compare "xtort" too. it doesn't really matter what order you buy your kmfdm cds in. they all are awesome. i think this one is on par with nihil. great dancing tunes! with this being out of print, it is even more awesome!

A great, stunning, amazingly recorded album. Features many contributors, and including some of KMFDM's best songs. The album fits really well as a whole, so listen to the entire CD if you have the chance.

1. Power - A great opening, and a real catchy song. A bit repetitive after a while, but what song isn't? Features lyrics from Excessive Force, and overall a well done song. 8/10
2. Apathy - Great guitars, and good lyrics. 7/10
3. Rules - One of KMFDM's greatest tunes. 10/10
4. Craze - Real grungy. Good use of Horns and good lyrics. 7/10
5. Dogma - A spoken, political song. Really great. 9/10
6. Inane - A look back at KMFDM's past. Also a great song with awesome synths and guitars. 8/10
7. Blame - Starts soft, and then goes into that "Power" melody KMFDM has. Real good. 8/10
8. Son of a Gun - One of my top three KMFDM songs. Simply, hard and amazing. 10/10
9. Ikons - I like this one a lot. Love the hard guitars, and synths/noise. 9/10
10. A great way to end the album. Great synths, lyrics, and drums/beats. 9/10

Overall, a great album for anyones KMFDM collection. Some fantastic tunes on here, deffinatley classics.

this is one of the best/most defining albums that KMFDM has ever produced. when i think of KMFDM i think of XTORT. it is my opinion that most everything they have put out, including MDFMK, between the years of 1990 and 2002 is industrial gold. the only one that i have come to enjoy post 2002 has been their ep RUCK ZUCK and as skeptical as i was about TOHUVABOHU it actually has some good stuff to offer.

XTORT:
nothing comes close to the nihilistic spoken word of nicole blackman in the track "dogma". at that time nothing else rivaled the proliferating twists of "inane". no other song stood out as strangely as "craze" with it's trumpets followed by electric screams. as a driving beat, in the background, "ikons" uses machine guns! who does that?!

KMFDM has so many varieties of sound -to truely get a feel for their best overall counterpoints you'd need to buy five albums for sure. a summerized evolution of good KMFDM for me would be -MONEY, XTORT, ADIOS, ATTAK and RUCK ZUCK.