20 years on from the release of ‘HAU RUCK’, KMFDM mark the anniversary of their fourteenth album – and the first since 1998s’s ‘Don't Blow Your Top’ to deviate from the five-letter word theme – with a remixed edition.
The accompanying blurbage revisits the original backstory, which goes thus: ‘After waging a slaughterous industrial/metal campaign with 2003’s ‘WWIII’, KMFDM was a unified and solidified unit ready for new musical challenges. “What we can all agree on, and I’m not saying we disagree on any other things, but everybody was pointing out that it should be really different,” band leader Sascha Konietzko had stated as KMFDM mapped out the creative strategy. Naturally, the military acronym of FUBAR – ‘Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair’ – seemed appropriate as the band sought to create an album that was “more noisy, more dance-y, more electronic, and less butt rock.”
That working title was ultimately ditched in favour of ‘HAU RUCK’, which is perhaps the most different thing about it. Y’see, while I’m quite partial to a bit of KMFDM, it does seem to be the case that any ‘differences’ from album to album are pretty minor, and whatever they do, they always sound like KMFDM, which makes them The Wedding Present of the Industrial scene – or something.
By KMFDM standards, ‘HAU RUCK’ tones down the pace and aggression, offering more mid-tempo melodic efforts: ‘Real Thing’ even goes a bit soulful, a bit pop, a bit anthem. It’s not entirely successful, in that it sounds like a Garbage outtake, 10 years too late. It’s not terrible, it’s just… a bit average, and suggests that the band’s attempt to make a shift wasn’t necessarily their best move. It’s not as if they were going to suddenly attain commercial success with this. Anyway.
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The remixes on ‘HAU RUCK 2025’ are clearly different from the original versions, but they’re not radical in the way remix albums often are. This time around, things are beefed up, lounder – and at the same time, perhaps with more dynamic range. Are they better? Worse? As good but different? No doubt fans will be picking over the details in forums somewhere, and ultimately, this release is for them rather than the casuals or the curious: being more diverse, it’s probably not the worst introduction to the band, but it’s maybe not the most representative, either.
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