Xtort

Excellent album and one of the most important of the band Loaded with blunt riffs and an atmosphere of perfect samplers

Great album!

Good album, some songs suck but I just skip those

**Intro** This album was produced in 1996, in what is generally agreed to be KMFDM's most successful period (1994-1999). Their popularity was definitely warranted back in the 90s, very few bands had similar sound. KMFDM was among the first ever to make Industrial music, and to this day, I think their average tempo is around the fastest in their genre, making their music punk-like, a sound that Rammstein, for example, usually doesn't do. **The Songs** I'm going to go through the songs one-by-one, since I feel like there's decent variety here, and I like some better than others. 1. Power - Begins with recordings of people talking over the phone and phone dialing sound effects. A guitar starts first and other instruments are added in one-by-one, and then vocals, making this an excellent introduction song. The band probably used it when they came onto stage. Chorus vocals in spots with males and females singing together, some singing and some shouting the lyrics. 2. Apathy - Noisy and a bit too muddy. Huge walls of sound, almost too much. Slows down and clears the haze of sound occasionally, which I appreciate. 3. Rules - I really like the vocals in this one. Again, I love the female vocals mixed with the male vocals - that is something that most Industrial bands don't do, because most of the other bands are all males. 4. Good, but some of the same disadvantages of Apathy. The vocals are better though, less muddy. 5. Dogma - Really weird synth parts in the beginning, worthy of announcing "the aliens have landed." Spoken word vocals are done by...I think Nicole Blackman. The subject matter of the lyrics is similar to the messages delivered by Devo about Devolution. 6. Inane - Kaptain K does distorted vocals that are much like on later KMFDM albums. The chord progressions rise sequentially, building up the sound in intervals. They sing about themselves (KMFDM) and how great they are, which is something that KMFDM is known for!!! Spoken word samples promoting German engineering are also used!!!! Strangely enough, there are also twangy guitar parts that would be almost country-western by themselves. 7. Blame - Intro in this song is slow and melodic, but then quickly gets shattered by hardcore guitar and percussion. Instrumental break outs occur between the vocals that could stand alone. Brass instruments are used too! 8. Son Of A Gun - Remarkably masculine distorted vocals (I think to suggest The Son Of A Gun). Chorus vocals of several people singing in harmony together, male and female. Imaginative synth parts and unusual sound effects. Very explorative with the synthesizer in between rounds of vocals. 9. Ikons - Machine sound effects similar to slamming down weight lifting weights with echo, vocals with different levels of distortion. Difficult to hear and understand the vocals in some spots. I'm not as excited about this song as some of the others. 10. Wrath - **A really strong finish**. Yelling vocals that are well balanced with the accompaniment. Alternates between the muddy sound in Apathy and moments of sounding clear, wet, and simple. Lyrics can be clearly heard and understood despite the voice distortion. The instrumental breaks between the vocals are unusual and contain a lot of creative synthesized sounds. The end of the song finishes out with some very abstract spacey synthesizer work which is reminiscent of very early KMFDM, and something that they did less and less of later in their career. Finally, there is a strange hidden track at the end where piano accompaniment comes in and a freaky male voice starts reading some poetry. Not kidding. Check it out. Very unusual, even for KMFDM. **Summary** If you like KMFDM, make sure to make this album part of your collection. It was made during their prime, and they did some stuff on it that was unusual at the time, and still pretty unusual now. This is really hardcore music. It would be appropriate to play in your tank while you are taking over the world or at least cruising in your car and wanting to pretend that. If you want to look at getting a few of the songs of this album first to get a taste, I recommend Power, Wrath, and Inane over the others. Also, KMFDM's work that followed this album was really good too, so explore the ultra heavy beat!!! **Just because this is a KMFDM album** KMFDM Sucks!!!

i got this as a present for my husband this is one of his favorite bands to listen to i love amazon

Good album

"Ask NOT what you can do for your country. Ask what your country DID to you." Here we are, with KMFDM "the player." They've kicked out quite a few hits that rocked the public by this time in their career, have established themselves as Dogma when it comes to industrial music, and they've done it with quality. By now they've perfected a sound that they want to go with as well, pushing themselves toward a heavier flow that is more politically-oriented, and they've gotten good at it. This falls in right after the powerhouse release Nihil, and following that up was a hard task to accomplish. Still, Xtort did it pretty well. I'll go on record as saying that Xtort wasn't one of my favorites in the beginning because it lacked Raymond Watts, but that wore off after a while because the album is good. I actually like how Sasha changed up the vocals a bit on this, making them a little gruffer, and I like having Cheryl Wilson/ Dorona Alberti/ Nicole Blackman on board as a back-up vocalist. I also like the fact that these were the En Esch days and that Gunter Schulz was on board, making a solid stable of players. and, yes, Chris Connelly was present a little, as was Mark Durante and a few others. And then there was the album itself. I really liked the spoken word rant of Dogma, because it was quality stuff. "We don't live, we just scratch on day to day with nothing but matchbooks and sarcasm in our pockets." Yeah. It has a nice beat, damn good vocals, and a great message that keeps the mind breathing. "Desire is not an occupation." Rules is an addictive song as well, because it has a nice beat that flows, quality construction, and a change-up in the vocal style that gives them a less refined style. Couple that with lyrical quality and you have a nice track. I also like Power, with the barrage of political sounds meshing well with the change-up in vocals, because it reminds me of a staple KMFDM song. Lead vocals, female chorus = great work. Blame is an odd track for KMFDM but its also catchy, with alot of KMFDM flavor and yet a little beat switch, and Son of a Gun also has to be noted because its probably the most widely-recognized track on the album. Over-all the album is a change of pace for KMFDM, but it still continues with the style that it was getting going on Nihil. Its still driven, heavily-En Esch oriented in the guitar realm, and a nice treat when given some spinning time. "Industrial Soundtrack to the Holy Wars!"