|
|
|
Straight into the music then – it is worth noting that KMFDM are masters at starting off tracks – throughout the album the way the tracks build up at the beginning are nigh on genius, a rather great example on this album being the reversed vinyl scratching intro to "Los Ninos Del Parque". Unfortunately, sometimes the momentum built up from these wonderful openings is lost through the course of some of the tracks – but more about that later. The opener "Super Power" is quite literally incredible, it is very heavy, very funky, and laced with a lethal cocktail of KMFDM related samples. The excitement is notched up a grade higher with the track "Looking for Strange" – for me the best track on the album. The track builds into a real mover of a track, with exceptional vocal work. "Tohuvabohu", the title track, completes a trilogy of exceptional tracks, this one being rather psychedelic at the start, yet it remains relentlessly hard, driven by pulsing beats throughout. Of the rest then, "Saft und Kraft" is an earthshaking monster of a track, while the hyped "Los Ninos Del Parque" did nothing much for me. "Fait Accompli" also proved to be a solid track, with enough changes throughout its length to keep it moving along nicely. Only one minor gripe then, a few of the tracks on the album seem to suffer from a loss of impetus, seeming to get overly swamped with heavy guitars and distortion, to the detriment of some of the nicely built up work in the beginnings (which I mentioned earlier). Sometimes I think it could be equally as powerful to strip away some of the layers that are built up – some of the tracks here I can imagine might be more powerful in a more stripped-down state. All in all then, a decent album, with a few great songs, a few solid tracks, and a couple of average ones. Undoubtedly fans of the band will lap this up, and I think this album could be a good entry point for non-regular listeners too. There is enough invention through the course of the album to keep it interesting, while the experimentation is of a more structured kind, staying within the spectrum of the albums musical remit – so then, a solid, if not a wholly awe-inspiring offering. MIKE WHYTE |
|
