KMFDM – “Hell Yeah” [Album Review]

The legendary KMFDM are back with their 20th studio album, Hell Yeah. Over the course of their 30-plus year history, the band has evolved from performance art project to industrial-dance pioneers to even being called industrial-metal in the mid-90’s. You can broadly lump them into the alternative category, but no matter where you pigeonhole them, the group has a sound that is immediately recognizable and solely their own. Over the years KMFDM has seen members come and go, but founding member Sascha Konietzko is determined to continue the band’s legacy.

Hell Yeah, in typical KMFDM fashion, is political, sensual, and throbbing with dance-able rhythms. In fact, this album definitely lies closer to the industrial-dance end of the spectrum than industrial-rock/metal. Indeed, tracks like “Freak Flag,” “Murder My Heart,” and the title track are unequivocal hip-shakers. Don’t be mistaken, there are plenty of rockers here, such as the timely “Fake News,” the unhinged “Rx 4 the Damned,” and the full-blown head banger “Burning Brain.”

What would KMFDM be if there weren’t politically-charged lyrics? For example, on “Total State Machine,” Konietzko sings “Your government hates you” with an infernal chant and the band also re-works “Rip the System” – from the 1989 album UAIOE – resuscitating its message, re-wiring its instrumentation, and perhaps sadly proving that this world is still a mess. Juxtaposing the political vitriol, vocalist Lucia Cifarelli provides lush and hypnotizing vocals to the tracks “Shock” and “Only Lovers.” These two songs standout as songs for lovers and dancers. They’re quintessential KMFDM. Sexy, pulsing, and drenched in desire.

The band also wrangles in a few notable guest appearances. Ministry guitarist Sin Quirin adds guitars to the excellent album closer “Glam Glitz Guts & Gore” and Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish appears on “Rx 4 the Damned.” Both musicians add their own flavor to these tracks while retaining the patented KMFDM sound.

At times, the album is redundant. There are splashes of experimentation that aren’t fully fleshed out and this is a little frustrating. For instance, “Oppression 2/2” opens with a really cool dub sequence, but soon transitions into typical KMFDM. A full-on dub track would have provided a nice change of pace. Overall, a lot of these songs sound the same. In an effort to be objective and critical, with a sober state of mind, this can’t go unsaid. However, a night out at a club with this album blaring through the speakers would undeniably be a shit-ton of fun. If you want a classic KMFDM album, Hell Yeah has everything you want. If you’re expecting them to do something different, you might be disappointed.

Hell Yeah Track Listing:

01. Hell Yeah
02. Freak Flag
03. Oppression 1/2
04. Total State Machine
05. Oppression 2/2
06. Murder My Heart
07. Rip the System V. 2.0
08. Shock
09. Fake News
10. Rx 4 the Damned
11. Burning Brain
12. Only Lovers
13. Glam Glitz Guts & Gore

Run Time: 51:14
Release Date: August 18, 2017

Check out the lyric video for the band’s song “Hell Yeah”