Many bands are labelled as “pioneering”, but in reality very few are, yet when it comes to KMFDM, it’s a pretty apt description. Formed in Hamburg in 1984 as a performance art project, this multinational industrial rock act have assaulted eyes and ears with a succession of groundbreaking albums, each more daring and sonically challenging to that which came before. Originally released in 2005, the band’s fourteenth album, Hau Rock, is considered a highlight by fans and critics alike, and now it gets a twenty year service in the shape of this remastered reissue.
If proof were ever needed to the explosive, destructive power of KMFDM, then you need look no further than opening shot ‘Free Your Hate’. It’s a blistering, bombastic bruiser, and one that leaps directly for the listener’s throat. With a stuttering, staccato guitar riff and an unrelenting drum beat, ‘Free Your Hate’ becomes an unstoppable force and when you factor in some robotic, unhuman vocals, you have a marriage made in hades. Apparently, Hau Ruck was recorded completely on analogue equipment, and that makes its surgical strike all the more impressive. And there is a surgical feel to this album; cuts such as the title-track and ‘Professional Killer’ are delivered with such razor shape precision that you fear they might cut your fingers. While the remaster hasn’t altered the album’s feel too much, it has enhanced the synthesizers and given them a more prominent place in the mix, and it is from here that the album derives much of its power. It also gives the album a unified feel, Hau Ruck still has a diverse feel and incorporates everything from heavy metal to hard house, yet it now hangs together as a cohesive whole in a way that the original album almost didn’t.
By 2005, industrial music had gained more than a modicum of mainstream success with artists such as Marilyn Manson, Rammstein and Orgy coming to steal KMFDM’s crown, and Hau Ruck was a clear statement of intent. This was an album that was viable proof that KMFDM were still relevant and tracks such as ‘Every Day’s A Good Day’ acted as warning shots across the music industry, and thanks to this reissue Hau Ruck still sounds vital and dangerous.
- Hau Ruck (reissue) is released on 23rd May 2025 (available here).
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Track List:
- Free Your Hate
- Hau Ruck
- You’re No Good
- New American Century
- Real Thing
- Every Day’s A Good Day
- Mini Mini Mini
- Professional Killer
- Feed Our Fame
- Ready To Blow
- Auf Wiederseh’n
