KMFDM - Bring powerful women to the UK to take over your venues!

***1/2

KMFDM bring pure F**kin Industrial and powerful women to London!!!

KMFDM ***1/2 are a band at the top of their genre and with new album 'Kunst' they could be catapulted into the mainstream. 'Kunst' is their most commercial album to date and brings their traditional Industrial old school sound into a new box where they mix it with the sounds of artists like Rob Zombie or maybe even Rammstein.

Their stage presence is really good with singer Sascha Koniezko coming on in futuristic armour looking like a cross between Till Lindemann (Rammstein) and Maynard James Keenan (Tool) he stands by his keyboard / microphone stand, blasting out the lyrics like nobodies business. He is joined on vocal and keyboard duties by Lucia Cifarelli a busty Dominatrix type character that towers over the audience in her spiky high heels.

Opening up the set with 'D.I.Y' of the album 'Adios' which was an album that showed KMFDM were still alive and kickin' and making good industrial music with great powerful vocals by Sascha. Lucia takes over main vocal duties on 'Amnesia' and you can see she has a great voice as well and a way of getting every photographer in the venue to just take photo's of her, as she shakes her stuff on stage.

Check Out! the Music Video for 'Amnesia' Below...

The title track of the album 'Kunst' which is one of my favourite of the bands new songs is a play on the bands name... KMFDM (Kill, Mutha, Fuckin, Depeche, Mode) which is what some people think their name means, but nobody other than the band actually know. Or maybe it means many things but I guess the fans will never know, personally I like the mystery behind it and don't want to know because it would ruin it.

The new album has so many great songs on it like the Synth Pop Esq. 'Ave Maria' which has a great Dance vibe too it with clashy guitar sounds to back it up, this song see's great use of their guitarist Jules Hodgson.  Lucia commands the stage as she sings this and you can see everyone boppin' up and down.

I don't know if the next song is inspired by the computer game or includes samples from the game... but it's called 'Quake' and has a great guitar riff to it. Sascha sounds great on this track and it has some great lines in it like "Rumble in the Jungle" which makes me laugh every time I hear it. This is one of the new songs that goes down the best and gets everyone moving like a good Industrial song should do.

You hear a lot of good tracks tonight from different albums like 'Free your Hate' off' Hau Ruck' and 'Son of a Gun' off 'Xtort' but the band are really promoting the new songs on 'Kunst' and they sound equally as good in the set. Like their tribute to Russian jailed band 'Pussy Riot' again sung by Lucia which is very topical to the news that is happening at the moment. This is a band that has never been shy of showing their political views and put a lot of them into their music and they are still doing that now, unlike other bands that just did it to be fashionable. So this gives me a lot of respect for KMFDM for speaking out for what they think is right.

If your a fan of KMFDM you cannot forget the track 'Krank' off the album 'WTF?!'which I think is meant to stand for 'What the F**k?!' which is a great title for an album. This song really explores elements of different Dance genres done the KMFDM with repetitive guitars and is a great live track and really comes across well in the London Islington o2 Academy.

They end their set with some of the bands most commercial and successful material 'World War III, Meglomaniac' and 'A drug against War' all three tracks that everyone has been looking forward to. I think this is a good set by KMFDM but I think it was a little long and sometimes some of the stage show was just a little too similar. It would have been nice to see them mix it up a little bit more onstage and maybe have a few more gimmicks... but you have to respect a band that puts out a full on show. Which is just their material with two added weapons of mass destruction into the mix. If you like Industrial music you can't ignore KMFDM they are one of the most influential bands in this genre. It was a good night in London for all.

KMFDM – Setlist
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D.I.Y
Amnesia
Kunst
Ave Maria
Quake
Free your Hate
Son of a Gun
Rebels in Kontrol
Pote Blite
Pussy Riot
Krank
Animal Out
Tohuvabohu
Hau Ruck
World War III
Megalomaniac
A drug against War

Review and Photo's by Dan Devour

Check Out! the Video for ‘Krank‘ Below...