KMFDM - Money

KMFDM- MONEY

I could have sworn that these guys broke up! After seeing their last performance with Pigface, where frontman Sasha came out at the end, cursed out the audience, and said they were breaking up, I thought it was splitsville. But, KMFDM has surprised me once again.

Hot on the heels of their ultra-successful Naive album, and the popular “Naive,” “Godlike,” and “Split” singles, comes their new release Money. Money is, and I don not say this lightly, KMFDM’s best album yet. Everything about this tape is sheer perfection. Unlike Naive, which had a couple of sub par songs that you could tell were put there to fill up space, Money is consistently strong throughout. Every song on the tape could be released as a single and enjoy success on the forward-thinking dance floor.

The tape opens with the title track. “Money”, a streetwise song that sarcastically extols the virtues of selling drugs for quick and easy cash. It the goes into “Vogue”, the first single and fast rising chart success. (I thought it was going to be a cover version of the Madonna hit, but it’s not). The third song, “Help Us, Save Us, Take Us Away”,  is a bluesy tune dominated by the female vocals. The side ends with “Bargeld”, a heavy dance song with an ingratiating hook. 

Side two opens with the chanted “Spiritual House”, which I think is meant to be listened to rather than danced to, Then comes my favorite song “Sex On The Flag”, which has enjoyed considerable airplay on WDRE. Next is a revamped, remixed version of “Godlike” called “I Will Pray”, It has the same lyrics as “Godlike” but with different, more danceable music. The tape ends with “We Must Awaken”, a command to rise up, consisting of sampled evangelical preachers over a mellow, hypnotic dance groove. It is very effective. 

The tape overall, like their earlier AEIOU album is saturated with samples of guitar riffs from metal gods Slayer (of which Sasha and En Esch are huge fans of) and clever drum beats. Lyrically, it has some major religious overtones, wether pro or against,  I haven’t been able to decide yet. Whatever their position on the issie of religion, I can hear that it is an original, sarcastic and tortured position.

KMFDM have come a long way from their first album What Do You Know, Deutschland? and hopefully they will go even further along in the years to come. That is if they don’t break up, of course. I Will Pray!