Pop Music Review : KMFDM Strikes a Jackhammer Note

The German industrial band KMFDM has been making synthesized rock for more than 10 years, and it’s considered influential and high-ranking in a genre dominated by Nine Inch Nails and Ministry.

On its albums the group mixes hard-core thrash and occasionally danceable beats with driving guitar. But at Glam Slam on Saturday, KMFDM sounded like Judas Priest backed by a jackhammer. The repetitive songs quickly lost depth, and the show didn’t feel much different from amped, ‘80s-style metal.

KMFDM played its anthemic numbers on two to three live guitars, bass and a drum pad, with a few sampled voices in German and English tucked inside the thumping mix.

Six-foot-plus skinhead singer Sascha Konietzko wore a polka-dot miniskirt, purple satin blouse, snagged tights and combat boots, and he swayed his big hips slowly and off the beat while growling in deep, sinister tones. He was occasionally accompanied by sampled chants of what sounded like football crowds.

KMFDM smothered its creativity in a sea of generic riffs, catering to fist-pumpers like Wayne and Garth rather than an adventure-seeking audience.