KMFDM are certainly survivors. Who would have possibly predicted on their emergence in 1984 that they’d still be here forty years later, still cranking out hi-NRG industrial disco tunes housed in those distinctive cartoonish sleeves? They may have undergone numerous lineup changes (only Sascha Konietzko has been a constant member from inception) and taken a short break around the turn of the millennium, but to anyone who isn’t an ultrafan who can discern the minutest differences, fundamentally, KMFDM have spent their career conducting business as usual, and ‘Let Go’ is, to all intents and purposes, more of the same.
‘No fuss no frills, balls to the wall’, they promise on lead single and title track, ‘Let Go’ which also opens the album and sets their stall out for what follows: eleven nonstop back-to-back uptempo bangers brimming with self-referential brags and boasts about how they’re ‘ready to rock’. This one does sit at the poppier end of their technoindustrial spectrum and as such, it’s got more in common with Pet Shop Boys or Frankie Goes To Hollywood than anything overtly rock, and the sheen is very late 80s, with synths ranging from krunky grit to cheap horn voices.
‘Push!’ has the quintessential industrial grind groove and hints of Revolting Cocks about it – and so by the same token, sounds so much like quintessential KMFDM.
‘Next Move’ stands out for being slower, darker, and does a decent job of doing the whole threatening, menacing thing, and sit in the exploratory industrial / dance crossover territory alumni Raymond Watts went with PIG, only it’s more overtly electro and lobs in a questionable rap break too. ‘Airhead’ is a straight-up pop tune and might have scored mainstream radio play if they’d released it in the early 90s, when Garbage were all the rage. The second half of the album is largely given to snaking synth grooves with the occasional crunching guitar (‘Totem E Eggs’, mostly), and while it’s solid, it doesn’t really feel especially exciting or exhilarating.
I guess after this long, whatever they do, they’ll always come out sounding like KMFDM, with either the guitars or the synths more prominent. ‘Let Go’ is very much in the latter department, leaning heavily towards 80s pop and occasionally flavouring it with a peppering of jazz.
‘Let Go’ certainly dials down the aggro for an album that’s strong on bounce and melody – not necessarily things you turn to a KMFDM album for – but it’s listenable and who knows, may score them some new fans with its accessibility.
