Review by Chris Van Etten for KMFDM - Nihil (1995)

So this is the first I’ve delved into  KMFDM in a long time. I bought “Angst” back in 1993 since I liked the track “A Drug Against War,” but was disappointed because the rest of the album wasn’t as fast or aggressive. “Nihil” is closer to what I was expecting, but it still doesn’t grab me. I think the problem (or one of the problems) is that it leans a little to close to techno/house/rave music. I have nothing against music being danceable, and it’s really par for the course for everything on this end of the Industrial spectrum. But at times it’s just straight dance music without any heaviness, as opposed to late 80s/early 90s Ministry, which works in the disco AND the pit. There are a lot of clean female backing vocals, sometimes they blend well, but at other times they contribute a lot to the music just being too poppy: I do not like “Juke Joint Jezebel,” for example. Thing is, if the songs were catchier, I’d be fine with the pop element, but the whole thing is kind of bland. “Flesh” and “Search and Destroy” are okay, thrashier and more uptempo, kind of what I was pursuing to begin with, but nothing special. On the plus side, I do kind of like “Revolution” and “ Trust” towards the end of the album (this is where I think the femme vocals blend well - still really poppy though). Overall, I’ll pass.