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Adios

KMFDM - Adios Audio CD

A fair review of the KMFDM "Adios" 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: Adios
Rating:

Release Date: 1999-04-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Adios 2: Sycophant 3: D.I.Y. 4: Today 5: Witness 6: R.U. OK? 7: That's All 8: Full Worm Garden 9: Rubicon 10: Bereit

great album, i love it!
anyways, i will not go too in depth because i really do not feel like typing it all again, but it seriously angers me having my nice in depth review deleted and what not. i wrote a nice long descriptive reivew for this great album and it is no longer here. as kmfdm would say, "we live in USSA. "

in short, great album! it is up there with symbols, nihil and xtort.

tim skold is actually a great singer for a change instead of ray watts' and sascha's grunty voices.

i have yet to hear attak, but hopefully i am not as disappointed as i was with hau ruck and ww3.

great songs are adios, DIY, Today, and the one about aliens with the female vocals always has a cool vibe to me.

all in all great album!!! if this were their last, i would be content, but yet again, i havent listened to attak and the studio version of ww3 yet.

wonderful last cd
KMFDM was renowned for a new sound every album, but adios is amazingly unique. ADIOS was a wonderful last album for a pioneering band with an illustrious history. There is a much heavier emphasis on electronics that gives the music a smooth, quiet, and groovy feel. The song Sycophant is an example of the fruition of their flirtations with reggae, although its lyrics could have been more well-thought out. Skold worked very hard to ruin this album, but ogre stepped in with 'thats all' and 'full worm garden' to save the day. With cds like this, it breaks my heart that kmfdm broke up.

Oh well, that's life. Could be worse. Kmfdm could have reformed without Esch and Schulz, as a conventional american metal band, and Skold could use kmfdm as a stepping stone to get into a pop group. Thank god that didn't happen.

"Adios" to Mediocrity
A typical KMFDM album consists of one or two great singles, one or two "OK" tracks and 8 tracks of forgettable experiments. Although they've always been prolific, KMFDM has suffered from inconsistancies throughout their career. "Adios," KMFDM's last album EVER (or so we thought), is no different.

To quote Sascha from the (. . . )Web site: "Skold and I were hell bent on not compromising and instead make `ADIOS' the best KMFDM album ever, the crowning glory of an era. . . " ADIOS is NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, the best KMFDM album ever. It cannot touch the rock and metal thunder of NIHIL, the dance floor perfection of NAIVE or the tasty genre defying experimentation of AEIOU. ADIOS is, however, the QUINTESSENTIAL KMFDM album. All the KMFDM ingredients we've come to expect are here: the squeaky-clean production, metallic guitars, orchestral accents, groovy chick vocals and, of course, distorted chants of "KMFDM" sprinkled liberally throughout the album.

The album begins with "Adios," a fast paced techno number and a bitter goodbye song. You'll never say, "I gotta hear that again. " "Sycophant," the second track, is boring dub, recalling their earlier moments - another forgettable track.
"D. I. Y. ," the third track, is KMFDM at their best: bouncy electronic beats, orchestral keys and horns, chants of "KMFDM will never stop," thrash metal guitars, etc. Killer track number one.

"Today," track four, is an embarrassment. . . it sounds just like New Order. 10 years ago KMFDM would have never stooped to cheese like this. They might have stepped in it accidentally, but they never stooped to pick it up.

Much of the music on Adios sounds like video game music - just like Mark Mothersbaugh's work on video games like Crash Bandicoot, Adios is an onslaught of ultra clean 303 sounds, bleeps, burps, belches, and "robot farts. " R. U. O. K. features plenty of "robot farts" and "sexy industrial dude vocals. " "Witness" features 80's sex-pot new wave diva Nina Hagen. She's nuts and so is the song, about aliens and abductions. Growled evil alien chick vocals - I like it.

"That's All" is the other killer song on the album. The track starts as inane house and then Ogre's vocals kick in. The song breaks into the trademark thrash guitar, chants and sexy chick vocals that made KMFDM, well, legendary. Ogre's vocal appearance makes the song. You will, without a doubt, have a fun time jumping around a dance floor to this song. Definitely worth picking up the single. I've already sung it in the shower, so you know it's good.

"Full Worm Garden" sounds like a remix of something off of Skinny Puppy's "Too Dark Park" remixed by the Pet Shop Boys. Some nice harsh moments, but it's the closest Ogre has come to singing a theme to a game show. Kind of embarrassing. "Rubicon" is like a Cop Shoot Cop rip off in vocal style, lyric subject and chord progression.

Conclusion: KMFDM calls it quits (?) releasing the quintessential KMFDM album. If you've bought every other KMFDM album, pick this one up. If you're a DJ, pick it up. If you're a casual listener, wait to see if DIY and That's All come out as singles, and pick them up. If you're like me, and haven't bought a KMFDM album since SYMBOLS, save your cash and spend it on booze. Adios is like bad sex, it's bad; but hey, it's still sex. . . "and that's all!"
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Comprehend and Understand
All of _Adios_' songs are good strong efforts, including 'Witness' (please stop ranting on Nina's vocals, it's just a song where Sascha was having fun) and excluding the travesty of a song that was "R. This is most certainly one of Sascha's more (if not most) esoteric albums; however, the constant denouncing of these songs as "unimaginative" and "nothing special" smacks of the elistist labeling that Sascha has fought so hard to destroy. U. OK?" (which sounded like a techno version of "Herzeleid"). The beauty of the lyrics, most especially of "That's All" and "Full Worm Garden," compensates for the lessened use of actual playing on the album-just listen to "FWG" three times in a row, letting the meaning of "lay me out full worm garden" sink in. This album is not meant to be life-changing, best-selling, or all that sensational. This was meant to be a signature KMFDM album---either take it too seriously, or just allow it to wash over you, passing through and around you, letting you *experience* the album rather than *listen* to it. The heavy electronics dominate all but "That's All," which features a remorseful (weary, maybe?) riff within the choruses, yet the sheer feelings behind the lyrics should make this a favorite, if not treasured, album.

Skip it. Lick it. Come back for more.
It may not exclusively keep your blood in the mosh pits, or your cool on the dance floor, but it will tempt speeding tickets and dramatic hand gestures. I'll admit 'Rubicon' to the pure filler pile, and I'll recognize 'Witness' as too weirdo euro dance club for many, but the rest collects some of the greatest KMFDM of all time.

Don't let the guitar-nuts intimidate, and don't let the tech-fairies castrate; this is everything you hate about popular music given back with a beating.
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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.