KMFDM

How to make a KMFDM album: Pair sexy-girl vocals with a frog-throated male lead spitting angry, Euro-style slow-paced raps (à la Trent Reznor on “Down in It”), synthesize every beat to the max and then cover it all up with iconic Brute! artwork. Stick the group’s acronym in a chorus and — voilà! — you’ve got a Sascha Konietzko-stamped industrial masterpiece. And don’t forget the follow-up remix record — that’s a given. But let’s not be too harsh with Konietzko’s musical baby. Despite its cheap parlor tricks, KMFDM has proved that the formula works. The band has the resilience of a post-nuclear-war cockroach, and its brand of dark-wave electronica has been a dance-floor hit since before “goth” was even an acceptable mainstream term. Black has always been the new black for KMFDM, and its legions have been eerily faithful (even during those awful MDFMK days). Keeping the kids amped through two decades of nearly the same material is a secret recipe that this band won’t ever give up.