KMFDM includes: Mark Durantula, Gunter Schulz (guitar); En Esch, Sascha Konietzko, Raymond "Pig" Watts.
Composer: Sascha Konietzko.
Lyricist: Sascha Konietzko.
KMFDM: Fritz Whitney (baritone saxophone); Jim Christiansen (trombone); Gnter Schulz, Raymond Watts, Sascha Konietzko (bass instrument); Dorona Alberti (background vocals); Jennifer Ginsberg, En Esch, Jeff Olson, Mark Durante, Bill Rieflin.
Personnel: En Esch (vocals, guitar, harmonica, drums); Sascha Konietzko (vocals, synthesizer, drums, programming); Raymond Watts (vocals, programming); Gnter Schulz, Mark Durante (guitar); Jeff Olson (trumpet); Bill Rieflin (drums); Jennifer Ginsberg (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Chris Shepard; Sascha Konietzko.
Audio Remasterer: Brian Gardner .
Recording information: Bad Animals, Seattle, WA.
Editor: Sascha Konietzko.
Photographer: Trisha Leeper.
KMFDM's seventh album, Nihil, finds the band sitting comfortably in the groove it started with 1990s Nave. At this point, the German outfit has become an industrial musical collective, with various contributing vocalists and musicians coming in and out of the fold, while the nerve center of the group continues to be founders En Esch and Sasha Konietzko. Additionally, the group's ingenious marketing/merchandising skills (using the bold-faced KMFDM logo, idealistic sloganeering, and appropriately simplistic comic book artwork of Brute) have given the band a powerful, iconic image. The anthemic "Juke Joint Jezebel," with its disco-diva vocals (courtesy of Jennifer Ginsberg), remains the band's biggest "hit" to date; it is an enduring and indispensable dancefloor favorite at goth/industrial clubs around the world. Other high points include the politically charged "Terror" and "Disobedience." Throughout the album, there is a core of intelligence which lifts KMFDM above many of their contemporaries. Significant contributions by growling vocalist Raymond Watts and super-tight guitarist Gunter Shulz add new colors to the KMFDM palette, and the overall production skills on Nihil are state of the art. While industrial music has a reputation for being abrasive, KMFDM's sound is actually quite polished and tight, with any real "noise" expertly airbrushed out of the mix. Which doesn't diminish the impact of the material; it merely streamlines the band's attack. ~ Andy Hinds
Professional Reviews
Alternative Press (8/95, p.112) - "KMFDM spend most of NIHIL blending their savage guitar attack with a hard base of electronic rhythms--the sound that has become their trademark....the line between the two arenas has been getting thinner, and KMFDM have always played tantalizingly close to the boundary....both sides of this record work....Kick in and enjoy."
Option (7-8/95, p.115) - "...NIHIL is filled with a molten swill of industrio-techno-aggro-dance-metal, forcing KMFDM's sound to exist somewhere in the nether void between the worlds of Nine Inch Nails, Consolidated and Sisters Of Mercy..."
