Unitron
Xtort is the ninth studio album from industrial metal band KMFDM. After the band's groundbreaking and successful Nihil in 1995, frontman Sascha Konietzko felt the band got as close to mainstream popularity as he wanted and quickly wanted to have no more of it. Konietzko's friend Jim Nash, founder of the band's label Wax Trax!, was dying of AIDS. Adding on the lack of involvement of core band member En Esch, you can figure that Xtort would be a pretty different and darker release.
As guessed, Xtort certainly is a different and darker album from the previous releases. The band still retains their industrial thrash/industrial dance combo, but there is quite a bit of unique experimentation here. This experimentation is on the electronic/industrial end especially, such as the elements of glitch techno on the politically charged "Dogma". These unsettling glitched out electronics mesh well with the guitar crunch of the chorus and spoken word. "Craze" is another quite experimental track, with more glitching electronics and one of the catchiest and best damn choruses I've ever heard.
The industrial speed/thrash metal of "Apathy" is probably my favorite on the album, and some of the riffing would not sound out of place on a Motorhead album. That combined with the gruff barks of Koniestzko makes this killer track rank up with the band's best. "Rules" is another favorite, and may very well be the band's best dance track. Along with the catchy as hell beat, it's blended with shredding and serene guitar, the two styles of guitar playing creating quite a nice contrast. Also there's some swingin' organ that really adds to the song.
Xtort marks the end of KMFDM's string of masterpieces that began with 1992's Money. Xtort also marked the beginning of a phase where the band would experiment with their electronic side more, whose results varied. While the band would keep going on to release great albums (and another masterpiece later on), Money, Angst, Nihil, and Xtort are some of the best industrial metal albums you'll find. If you want an industrial thrashing, you can't do much better than these. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!