RESISTANCE, RESILIENCE & RETALIATION: An in-depth analysis of KMFDM's new record 'ENEMY'
issue #02
investigate further at kmfdm.net and industrialhiphop.com
Feature by artist/producer Crossworm
My knee-jerk reaction to hearing that someone is unfamiliar with KMFDM's work is well... gobsmacked, but I feel it necessary to neither shame nor scoff. Instead, I intend to welcome those unfamiliar and welcome back those who are.
When we throw around words like "Industrial", there are a few undeniable forerunners, pioneers, and innovators that have given the genre its reputation of "resistance." If I had to choose one word to define this band as a whole, I think it would always default to that, especially with their newest release, 'ENEMY'.
KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, or No Sympathy for the Majority) in its own name points out the very essence of resistance, alluding to a small sect of people overcoming the status quo. It always seems to be about an unstoppable awakening.
Many creatives, and even many entrepreneurs, have the spirit for startups. New beginnings are always the most passionate and invigorating part, which is why you see so many, so often. The truth of the matter is, not many people have what it takes to persevere when the glamour wears off. I mention this not only in reference to KMFDM's time in the music industry but also to the unrelenting fight in their lyrics. Anyone can rebel. Anyone can throw a brick. For me, there is absolute majesty in the ability and the willingness to keep fighting and to keep innovating.
KMFDM has always had the ability to lay down catchy music that can be danced to with your attention turned down, but if you're looking for depth, it is always there in spades. This is a talent. It's intentional and calculated. Creating without alienating the audience can't necessarily be taught.
The album jumps off with the title track, ENEMY. It immediately feels like the opening credits of a film. To me, this feels very much like a modern version of the vibe found in Pink Floyd's The Wall. The anti-systemic monotony is clear and present. Lead man Sascha Konietzko breaks it down lyrically with "If you can't fly; run. If you can't run; walk. If you can't walk; crawl. But by all means keep moving." Personally, I hear the message loud and clear: "persevere, and never stop moving."
OUBLIETTE immediately makes me want to kick a door off its hinges. It went on my commute playlist immediately, and I'm sure I will get a speeding ticket, and I don't even drive. Frontwoman Lucia Cifarelli's vocals in the hook immediately made me go inward with "Totality. Golden age oblivion. Oubliette." Still reeling from the pace and the energy of the music itself, the lyrical content counters it and reminds me of the world I'm living in. Totalitarianism re-branded and laid into every institution. Remembering that an Oubliette is a medieval French invention where prisoners were cast into a dungeon hole and forgotten about. It seems to be a battle cry for those of us who are controlled just to be thrown away.
L'ETAT kicks off with a very Pantera's "Walk"-esque rhythm and tempo. Having grown up in a bilingual country (Canada) and with French family, I'm familiar with the basics. L'état means The State. The main lyric "L'état c'est moi" of course is a historical reference to King Louis XIV, who was famously quoted for saying exactly that. In his context, he was saying "I AM the state." The final say. The law. The Judge, Jury, and the Executioner. This, of course, is again directly pointing towards fascist totalitarianism, albeit from a dictator monarch's perspective. The rest of the lyrics translate roughly to "I am the law. The right. The king. I am the uncontested king. I am the doctrine. Kiss the ring and shut your mouth. The judge, the jury, and the guillotine." Oftentimes, an artist will both point out the gross nature of history, while at the same time using it to express their own pomp and attitude separate from the reference without cosigning it. I do this quite a bit myself. It's not a direct glorification, it's using the world around us to express a feeling in the same way we now use memes. (You see kids, back in the 1900's we did the same things you do but with our voice) * ok, let's get grampa to bed *
VAMPYR brings back a classic KMFDM sound with a hunter versus prey vibe. It has been said that the literary vampire is an allegory of the elite generationally wealthy class of people preying on the poor. Most vampire stories involve a forbidden and taboo love dynamic that is shunned by the vampire community. The lyrics "turn you into something new" reinforce this dynamic for me personally. I've always interpreted the vampire story as a promise, a manipulation, and a desire. Sometimes it's difficult for me to just enjoy a great song for what it is when I know the writers possess depth and intellect.
YOÜ features the debut of Lucia and Sascha's daughter, Annabella Konietzko, on vocals and in the writing. At the time of this review, she will be 18 this week (as per Lucia's Instagram post). I started my solo career as Crossworm at 17 years old, and I can't help but recognize how deeply mature her writing is. Having spent her life touring with her parents in KMFDM, I have to assume she has absorbed more life experience in her formative years than most people do in their entire lives. The first line in the chorus is "Jealousy doesn't taste like sugar," and this is a clear indication she's already felt bitterness take over and is choosing to overcome it. I definitely didn't, and I think it became the backbone of my writing. Or maybe that is indeed how we overcome bitterness. Direct or indirect creative catharsis. Annabella has a tongue in cheek feel in her lyrics that seems like it’s going to refine itself into something lethal and blunt, and I want more.
OUTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION kicks off reminiscent of a modern "Jesus Built My Hotrod" vibe. Splicing in an old-school and heavily modulated synth line with all the deliciousness of Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes." I know that could be a wild stretch and a weird reference, but this song's musicality is brilliant to me. I'm in love with the old-school horror vibe of that lead. The lyrics in the fifth verse are "Superior technology, Mankind's eulogy, Outside of time and space, Defeat the human race," coupled with the chorus's lines "Illegal Alien, Stay Illegal." It has a very invasion/colonization/eradication nod that I can't help but feel tickled by as someone who was once an alien in the United States. Despite my own personal experience, this doesn't feel so much like a statement on immigration or colonization, as it feels like an untold experience felt through the filter of psychedelic science fiction.
A OKAY comes in like a mid-80's alt-pop fever dream that for some reason reminds me of Cameo's "Word Up," but Lucia's lyrics tell the story of being stuck in place, seemingly paralyzed by fear and anxiety. Her vocals are super playful despite the content, which to me adds a kind of playful sarcasm to the mood.
STRAY BULLET 2.0 takes the record 90 degrees in another direction with its heavy dubplate style, and I'm not mad at it at all. It feels like Copeland's drums on "Walking on the Moon" meets something out of the Fifth Element score. But one thing that caught my interest was the final lines of the chorus, "From the Heavens above, Stray Bullet." It feels like there are bigger things happening above our heads, and the verses bring it down to earth in plain sight for everyone to look in the face. These days, we’re all catching someone else’s strays.
CATCH AND KILL feels like a play on the term catch and release. There's a lot happening lyrically, and there are time changes and lead solos that completely stir this song up. The lyrics "clickbait graveyard" punched me in the face. I felt like I had just heard the abridged state of the entire internet in the current era.
Where the album kicked off sounding like the opening credits, GUN QUARTER SUE kicks off as an instrumental song that feels like a violent high-action chase in this story.
'ENEMY' closes the album with THE SECOND COMING, and this song for me personally shows us that Sascha is extremely aware of what he is doing sonically. I say this because, on each album, you'll hear a moment where KMFDM throws down something so modern, it borders on way ahead of its time. I first felt that way with "Waste" on Symbols, and this song does it again. The super downtempo direction reinforces the rest of this album and solidifies the fact it sounds the way it does with absolute intention and precision. When Käpt'n K says, "the Falcon cannot hear the Falconer," he's telling the audience that the way things are supposed to work is now broken. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Holy shit, if that doesn't say it all.
I myself, am a musician, vocalist and producer since the 90's, and I wanted to attack this review from that angle. I'm a production nerd, especially where it pertains to dark electronic-based genres. But I mostly focused on the lyrical content in this review. Having said that, there was so much ear candy for me that I once again came out of my first two plays through, both inspired and ready to move.
KMFDM is the unchallenged prototype of resistance, resilience, and retaliation with ENEMY planting their feet firmly in a line that most don’t have the guts or the stamina to cross. If you're already a KMFDM fan, I'm positive you love this record as much as I do. For me personally, Enemy and Oubliette are staying in rotation for a very long time. If there's a Detroit show on the next US tour, I will definitely be there.
