Review Summary: A reassuring album which makes us realise how much we had lost faith in the band.
It is sometimes hard to have a definitive opinion about the most recent album of a band because it can be tricky to discriminate between the feelings inspired by the actual quality of the album and those inspired by the general evolution of the band. "Blitz" was in a very bad position from this point of view.
It had been a long time since “KMFDM” hadn’t released an album that felt superior to the previous one and the band gave the impression that it was doomed to suffocate and release something terrible sooner or later. Moreover, although “Blitz” was surprisingly not patchy, the smoother, closer-to-pop approach more resembled a desperate try of the band to easily sound fresh than a true artistic choice. That is why today “Blitz” benefits from a listen to “WTF?!” because the latter remove the “KMFDM is in agony” feeling that a long period of stagnation had set and allows us to hear the album with a renewed trust.
“WTF?!” offers the listener the pleasure of wondering which album it is superior to. Not that it is exceptionally good, but good it sure is and superior to a couple of previous releases. Somehow, “WTF?!” succeeds in keeping its predecessor’s evenness in quality. It doesn’t call for a “skip” button. A few tracks are more average than others but they all have enjoyable melodies, vocals, guitar riffs and beats. And Enjoyable is nearly an insult for some of them are deliciously heady.
It should be said that Sasha Konietzko’s work is, as often, terribly efficient. His vocals are top notch, synths and electronics relentlessly call upon the listener’s attention and the melodies do rarely less than stand out.
The guitar work is so similar to the one found on “Blitz” or “Tohuvabohu” that it is surprising that Jules Hodgson still could find nice riffs. But he did. Moreover, the sound is crunchier than on “Blitz” and makes “WTF?!” much more energetic without any effort. The guitar feels present and lively which increases the quality of the album noticeably.
Lucia’s voice might divide people again but no one will dare say that she doesn’t bring anything to the band. She might not be as good on every register she tackles but delivers some very good parts on songs like “Rebels in Kontrol”, “Amnesia” or “Take it like a man” (On which she is very relevantly accompanied by Free Dominguez).
It is a real pleasure to hear William Wilson on “Spectre”, his voice totally fits the ominous atmosphere of the song and doesn’t clash with KMFDM’s style. Moreover, it is always a bit disappointing when there’s only one male singer on a KMFDM album.
As usual, the variety of styles tackled is large and, as usual, nothing seems out of place. Every song has a strong identity and all of them are quite distinguishable which somewhat gives the feeling that the album is short and leaves the listener craving for more.
Indeed, the lack of material is the principal flaw of “WTF?!”. Not that the album is short, just above fifty minutes as usual, it simply could have done with more parts in each songs, more complex structures. Each second “Panzerfaust” has to offer is nastily great but everything is heard half way through. The same thing can be said for “Death & Burial of C. R.” or “Come On - Go Off”. There are too few missteps not to realize that their work is ruthlessly precise and that they perfectly know what they are doing. The lack of complexity thus seems deliberate. From that point of view, “WTF?!” reminds of “Xtort” the follower to the too-complex-and-too-rigorous-for-Sasha-Konietzko “Nihil”.
Also, after so many albums, a great part of each of them is filled with "we know that you want that kind of song" tracks and not much space is left for experimentation.
The unexpected rise in quality showed by “WTF?!” is an opportunity to look back and realize that the “new” KMFDM, the KMFDM of “Attack”, “WWIII”, “Hau Ruck”, “Ruck Zuck”, “Tohuvabohu”, “Brimborium”, “Blitz” and “Krieg” though not as ambitious as the one before, has qualities of its own and something to offer. It is hard to imagine the impact this album would have on a person who's never listened to the band but thinking about it can remind us of how unique KMFDM is and of how much it would be a disappointment to see them stop.
