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Money

KMFDM - Money Audio CD

A fair review of the KMFDM "Money" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all KMFDM reviews here, or go back to the KMFDM tabs.

Band: KMFDM
Title: Money
Rating:

Release Date: 1993-04-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Money 2: Vogue 3: Help Us Save Us Take Us Away 4: Bargeld 5: Spiritual House 6: Sex on the Flag [Jezebeelzebuttfunk Mix][Mix] 7: I Will Pray 8: We Must Awaken 9: Under Satan [Dub] 10: Vogue [2000] 11: Money [DeUtschmark Mix]

Money is a gem in the middle of the KMFDM discography
This is balanced out well with some hard, intense vocals as well as soothing female vocals. By now, the metal/industrial band KMFDM had found a way to mix wit, war and words with a techno/synth/pop direction. With MONEY, released in the fall of 1992, KMFDM was continuing to put their stamp on the niche they had themselves filled in the alternative metal market, while still maintaining a unique style that bucked the trend.

Money starts off with the title track, a groovy, dark dance sound that has some uplifting synth, which is reminiscent of a scary movie where dark clowns rule evil circus grounds. Money is a well-structured song that has a great beat to it. This then leads us straight into a driving rocker called "Vogue" that starts out with a simple voice announcing "hello, teenage America". The beats and overall pop-rhythm of this song carries along at a fast pace, and is only slowed down by segments of a churning cascade of drumbeats that build up for the next chorus. By far still to this day, it is one of my favorite KMFDM songs. The signature female vocals as well as background vocals and atmospheric tones only add to the creativity that makes MONEY a great album.

Track three is "Help us, save us, Take us away" and is another gem all its own. This one rollicks along with a lackadaisical beat and a fun and flirtatious message. This changes throughout the song as we break into the haunting chorus of "Help us save us take us away". This song's structure is also great because it breaks into a couple different segments where the guitars and various synth solos get a little feature time.

Bargled is another awesome track, and by now there is no question this album is tight, cohesive, and strong. Bargled starts off with a little ditty of electronic drums before starting in on a laymen's chorus that eventually erupts with several of the greatest riffs and beats that I've ever heard. I play this song while I am driving. . . all the time!

Sex on the Flag is another track that is similar to "help us/save us/take us away" in that it is rich in theme and lyrics and though is less in the driving power pop beat department, still stands on its own very well. If you are new to KMFDM or are looking for something with a Dance/Trance sound that is mixed with a dark, driving guitar and apolitical and societal issues as a backdrop, KMFDM's "Money" is a great place to start.

great album!
i think the main misconception people have about kmfdm is that they are a "heavy metal" band. this album seems to be the most underrated kmfdm album by most of the fans of kmfdm. i mean i can understand if you have only heard WWIII, Nihil, Angst, Xtort, and Hau Ruck, but they are soo much more! me, i would consider kmfdm a whole genre by themselves. i mean maybe "hardcore techno" will do, but they cover so much ground that it is nearly impossible to consider them one.

anyways, money is a great addition to any collection. this is a grand follow-up to Naive, but i wish they would have replaced the second half with the songs that en esch made(Cheesy) instead of those boring remixes. the remixes are the reason why they release a whole bunch of Ep's with their albums!

also, they could still have en esch and gunter schulz in the band. the story is that this is the album that started the whole downfall between the sascha, en esch, and schulz.

still, i say this ig good, but make sure you get en esch's cheesy with it to see what it should have been.

The Gates of Hell are Open For You!
If you want their bigger hits you can check out Nihil or Angst, and if you want later sounds then you can check out Symbols or Adios (or MDFMK - if you want). Before I begin, I have to say that I'm not sure if alot of people carry my outlook on this album and that KMFDM has other albums for the casual user to plug into. They offer what KMFDM is known for, but they aren't KMFDM. To me, all of it is KMFDM and hard to distinguish.

That clarified, I have to say that I really like this work. Perhaps growing up on this stuff changes one's views on it and perhaps it has aged with time and the evolution of electronics, but I remember when it dropped and how refreshing it all was. I know the whole Splits story and how it was a Sasha accepted/ En Esch rejected half-and-half album (that would later spawn En Esch's Cheesy), but that doesn't diminish it as a work. It was dropped during a time when KMFDM was still young (and, yes, they'd been around a while but they were still developing) and was still tinkering with their sound, when everyone was still developing their music in Industrial as a sound, and when KMFDM was doing what they wanted to do and still trying to find themselves. That meant that tracks would still have social commentary but they weren't the out-and-out political messages that KMFDM would perfect. And that was interesting.

I'm a fan of specific songs off of this album right off the bat, and when I think of Money I think of Help Us/Save Us/ Take Us Away. It has a catchy theme to it, tasty in its own right, and I like the dichotomy of Sasha to female vocals. Mesh that with lyrics on the good side of great and you have something flavorful. Bargeld is also a great track, with the German vocals I've come to expect from KMFDM, with KMFDM's best stuff arguably always been partially-German. Money has a nice taste to it, catchy in the old-school taste it has, and in the story it tells. Ah, the tale of America and the quest for the dollar. Vogue is actually pretty catchy as well, and has a nice little theme going with the base and the vocals that would become Sasha's mainstay.
And then there are an army of remixes of songs comprising the rest of the album, collecting nice mixes of songs like Godlike.

"We can Govern Your Soul!"
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Not their greatest album, but one of the most important
When KMFDM started working on this album, it was called Splits, because half of the album was being made by Sascha Konietzko, and the other half was being made by En Esch and Gunter Shulz. Before I get to the review, I'd like to give some background info on this album and why it's a very important album in the history of the band. Wax Trax(their record company at the time) liked Sascha's half, but rejected the other half, saying it sounded nothing like KMFDM. This explains why there's really only 6 completely new songs on this album. En Esch and Gunter were pretty angry, but their work was eventually released as the En Esch solo album, "Cheesy". This event is also what caused all of the tensions between the two sides, and it eventually led to the break up of the band in 1999.

Now for the review. This album is a huge departure from Naive and it almost feels like a side project from KMFDM. Unlike most of their albums around this time, it's mostly keyboards with little guitar. It's still pretty good, though, and the first six songs are all classics and some of the best songs the band has released.

Money(one of the album's singles) is a very catchy song, and it's one of my favorite songs by them. It opens with an orchestration, but then switches to a more Godlike track. Vogue(the other single), Help Us Save Us Take Us Away, Bargeld(which is German for Cash), and Spiritual House are dance/house tracks which don't sound much like KMFDM, but are still very solid. The remix of Sex on the Flag is a bit more guitar oriented, though, and with it's catchy chorus, it could be the best song on the album.

I'm not particularly fond of the rest of the album. I guess Sascha didn't have any more new material, because the rest of the songs are either remixes or sample-fests. I Will Pray is a remix of Godlike which doesn't hold a candle to any of the other versions. We Must Awaken is a religious satire which features many samples. Under Satan is just recycled KMFDM lyrics(there's even some that were already used on this album) which are resung over a remix of More and Faster. The Vogue remix is actually pretty good, but I'd rather see a new song, and the same goes for the instrumental version of Money. These songs aren't necessarily bad, but they feel out of place here, and probably would've been better off on the singles for the album.

So overall, I'd say you should get this if you want some Techno-ish KMFDM or if you just want anything by the band. You'll probably be disappointed by the second half, but the first half makes it worth buying. It's also getting to be kind of rare, so if you see it for very cheap you should definitely get it.

Classic Album
Money finds the band having a lot of fun while making a point, namely on the song "Money," with dancy beats, metal-slick guitars (but not the fast death metal types found on NIHIL or ATTAK), and Sascha rapping about "selling drugs on the street/cause that's what pays/I make a coupla hundred/in just one day. This is one of KMFDM's best albums, next to Naive and Angst. " The band had really honed its synth/electronic capabilities at this point, which is also evident on their previous album Naive. Songs like "Vogue" and the classic club fave "Sex on the Flag" rely heavily on synth-driven structures, pulling from both Techno and House-dance influences. And the wonderful "Help Us, Save Us, Take Us Away," which takes a slide guitar over a slow funky beat, makes industrial blues a reality. The other songs are good as well, but some of the remixes are a little much. Also, "I Will Pray" and "Under Satan" are decent remixes or revamps of "Godlike" and "Die Now, Live Later" from Naive.

On Money, the band did what it still does very well: Taking current styles and blending them into the KMFDM sound. This would be their last real dance-friendly album, as Angst would lead the charge for the more aggressive sounds we know today. Not that this is a bad thing (or that you still can't dance to it). Fans of Naive or UAIOE will definitely get a kick out of Money. But if you're a fan of the heavy sounds of NIHIL, Angst or XTORT, you might want to approach this release with caution.

You can see a complete list of all KMFDM discography, or go back to the KMFDM tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.