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The Symbol Album
09/23/1997 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Janiss Garza
KMFDM's 10th album is their most adventuresome, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's their best. Their usual sense for marvelous hooks is often forgotten amidst the snappy electronic noodlings. Although this disc lacks that grab-you-by-the-ears catchiness, it does have a lot of aural candy to offer--the infamous KMFDM sense of humor, for one. Take these lyrics from the opener "Megalomaniac," one of the better tracks here: group mastermind Sascha Konietzko dryly boasts, "KMFDM, better than the best/ megalomaniacal and harder than the rest!" "Stray Bullet," in which Konietzko claims "I'm the illegitimate son of God," contains more sarcastic black humor, as does "Down And Out," in which Konietzko, partner-in-crime EnEsch and Abby Travis play mad electronic scientists. "Waste" sounds like nothing more than the band having a wonderfully snotty techno tantrum. In fact, the title itself--a series of five symbols--is obviously meant to gleefully dismay and annoy. The contributions by the group's friends pale next to such scintillating lyricism. Tim Skold, of the band Skold, sounds awfully sincere in his musings of pain, while Pig's Raymond Watts (who was once a member of KMFDM and still pops in every so often) has a more malevolent, jaded approach. Such attitudes are pretty typical in the world of electronica. "Mercy," however, for which Watts wrote the lyrics, does contain a spooky groove and great guitar crunch. That's another thing that's missing for a good portion of KMFDM's latest--the blend of metallic attack with machines that initially brought them strong cult appeal. But the change is understandable; that industrial sound is awfully early '90s, and now is the right time for the group to bring it up to date. And the aggression is there when appropriate. Now, if only they can bring those hooks back...maybe next time around.
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