REVIEWS

Skold vs. KMFDM
Skold vs. KMFDM

KMFDM Records

Posted: Friday, February 20, 2009
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko and Tim Skold have enjoyed a unique musical partnership over the years, beginning with Skold's guest appearance on the band's 1997 *Symbols* album, and culminating in his becoming a primary member for the two following albums, Adios and Attak, and the MDFMK project. After seven years apart, during which time KMFDM found new life as a steady lineup and Skold found further infamy and fortune in Marilyn Manson, the two musicians have joined forces yet again to churn out the Ultra Heavy Beat as only they can. Recorded during a break in the sessions for the upcoming KMFDM album, Blitz, Skold vs. KMFDM presents 11 songs with corresponding interludes of brutal beats, eccentric electronics, and virulent vocals - i.e., everything we've come to expect and love from this demonic duo.

Beginning with "Why Me?," we are immediately treated to Konietzko's operatic bravado complemented by Skold's almost deathly refrains, with a repetitive but infectious bass line that just beckons the listener to run for the dance floor. Slowing the pace a bit is "Antigeist," though it certainly doesn't lower the intensity as Skold's vocals take on an even more tortured quality than ever before, meshing rather well with the oppressively haunting atmosphere not dissimilar to Android Lust's latter work. However, the album really starts to gain momentum with "Bloodsport," an anthemic and raucously powerful track that would play the perfect soundtrack to a certain film of the same name (or others of its ilk), bringing to mind the very images that Konietzko describes in the lyrics. There are certain songs on the album that may cause the listener to discern that the only thing keeping this from being an MDFMK album is the absence of Lucia Cifarelli, for tracks like "It's Not What" with its robotic vocal treatments and sparse atmospheres recall the off-kilter arrangements of a song like "Be Like Me," while "Love is Like" with its gritty marches and aggressive melodies could easily be a musical sequel to "Torpedoes." And then you have a song like "Error 404," on which Skold sings with a vocoder-treated melody that could bring to mind his more introspective solo moments, and then you have the kitschy tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek ode to inebriated abandon in "Alkohol," which is sure to make its way to several DJs' set lists, although at the risk of inciting barroom violence with lyrics like "We don't need a fucking reason to start a fight." Throw in the slow and haunting industrial grooves of "Porn, Kitsch, & Firearms" and the grating pomp of "Gromky," and you have what is perhaps the most diverse yet cohesive set of songs Konietzko and Skold have ever produced together.

The interludes strewn across every other track are rather interesting in that they provide yet another facet to the duo's musical abilities. With each interlude corresponding to a full track on the album, some are little more than remixed excerpts from their respective songs, such as with "Antigeist" and "Gromky," while "Love is Like" is more of a marching orchestral version of the song. Others like "Bloodsport" and "Alkohol" bear little if any resemblance to their originals, the former being little more than a dark ambient procession that could easily be an intro to the leather clad legionnaires making their way to the arena, and the latter sounding like an alcoholic's lament on an acoustic guitar. Bringing us full circle by ending with the interlude for "Why Me?," Skold vs. KMFDM may not quite be a conceptual album in the way something by Pink Floyd would be, but it does at least demonstrate the musicians' attention to detail and conceptual continuity that KMFDM has carried on for a quarter of a century.

Strangely enough, there is a notably minimal amount of guitars on the album, appearing only as brief touchups to allow Konietzko and Skold to focus on the deep, organic analog tones employed and the actual songs. And yet, despite this, Skold vs. KMFDM is perhaps one of the hardest hitting albums either has ever released. It is too early to say whether this is a sign of things to come or if it's to be yet another of the many one-off side projects in the KMFDM catalog, but for those with an appreciation for the five-year-period that was the Konietzko/Skold-era of KMFDM, Skold vs. KMFDM will not only appeal to their nostalgia but will also more than adequately sate their need for an album of some danceable and brutal industrial rock.