What I got was a total electro-thrash-noise symphony that you can dance your ass off to. I totally fell in love with KMFDM and bought their other albums after this. "Nihil" stands as KMFDM's hardest album, with more guitars, sampling, kling-klangs, noise, and screams than you can shake a stick at.

I lost my KMFDM virginity to the opening track, "Ultra." It stands as an orchestra of angst and screams, with hardcore electronic composition, ultra heavy beats, and sick, seeping lyrics. "Juke Joint Jezebel" is perhaps the most intelligent track on this record, with blazing female choruses and industrial percussions galore. "Flesh" and "Brute" are most excellent performances by Raymond Watts, with gutsy metal guitars by Gunther Schulz and Mark Durante. "Beast" is a spooky club-worthy track with violent lyrics, smart electronics, and one hell of a chorus. "Revolution" is a thrash-fest with the classic industrial beats, with a notable performance by my man En Esch. "Disobedience" is a brilliant crossover track that mixes the heavy industrial beats with metal and ska...must love those trumpets! The album is closed off with the speedy joy-gasm "Trust."

This KMFDM record stands out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the KMFDM albums. It is the most original, beautifully crafted piece of work that KMFDM had to offer to the industrial community. Do yourself a favor and buy this masterpiece. You surely won't regret it!


I never dreamed it would come to this...   July 16, 2005
Nails in My Head
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

*sigh*
It is truly depressing to see this staple of industrial and 90's rock in such bad shape. Out of print for 7 years, and going for 30 bucks a pop...
But, inflated price aside, this album is the most important in the KMFDM catalouge. In the industrial catalouge. In the 90's music catalouge. Because it proved that electronic rock could be something other than "The Downward Spiral". It could actually ROCK as well as mope.
The entire album is amsterfully produced, with the guitar drifting in and out seamlessly. It manages to be poundingly heavy without a single organic instrument. And the vocals range from growls to moans to groans to shreiks to wails to serenades all in one song. The are more hooks in JJJ alone than China could hang all of its coats on. And every track is perfect. Ultra is a brilliant intro, JJJ is just soo catchy, Flesh is a downright thrsh-fest, Beast has great lyrics and a fun guitar solo/conversation, Terror uses perfect sampling, and it goes on, with such ingenuity...

Buy it.


A dark turn for KMFDM   May 2, 2003
E. Woods (Here, there and everywhere)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Another CD to add to your collection, 'Nihil' has a dark tone to it, yet succeeds in many ways. The choruses are great, the lyrics are awesome, and the instruments are cool. Raymond 'Pig' Watts take over most of the album with such songs as 'Brute' and 'Juke-Joint Jezebel'. 'Juke-Joint Jezebel' is supposedly one of their most known songs, and is really great. 'Disobedience' is also great and surprisingly enough, there are Saxophones and Trombones in the song! But these instruments fit perfectly well with the song. 'Brute' is a song I'm pretty sure I've heard on the radio, and is so great. 'Terror' is about terrosits, and their wrong doings. This song has a great beat,too. 'Trust' is a great end song (which KMFDM is good at) with vocals by Sascha K. and Dorona Alberti. The song has a great rythym to it, and is fast paced, and get ready for the blaring sound of the beginning of the hidden track near the end. 'Nihil' is KMFDM's darkest, most tormented sounding album, and is one of their best yet.


The Best of the Best   April 26, 2004
A. Brown (New York)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

KMFDM has had several incarnations, with the coming and going of various band members and contributors keeping its style from stagnating over the years. But for that classic "KMFDM sound" of ultra-heavy beats, monster guitar riffs and raging vocals, NIHIL is the band's truly standout album and should be required listening for any fan.

"Juke Joint Jezebel" is the best-loved song from NIHIL (and the first KMFDM song I ever heard... must be 6 years ago now). Other than that and perhaps "Brute," I wouldn't name any of these songs as my particular favorites, but as a whole the album is unbeatable - you won't find any filler here.

For people who are new to KMFDM and not sure which album to buy first: This is it!


Blistering!   August 14, 2001
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is probably KMFDM's best release as well as it's most accessible work to date. With it's buzzsaw guitars and bass heavy beats, Nihil opens doors to the metal crowd. Sure, Light had A Drug Against War, which is probably one of their heaviest and most insanely fast songs, but Nihil features better production and overall better songs with less annoying self-parody (thanks to Raymond Watts).

One of the most recognizable songs is the club hit 'Juke Joint Jezebel'. This is a good tune in it's own right, but there are much better songs here than JJJ. 'Flesh' is a brutally heavy song with some truly evil vocals. 'Beast' is another evil song with a very dancable beat. 'Brute' starts out with some metallic clanging, moving to some heavy bass then to a killer guitar riff with heavy tone. One of the best songs is the album opener, 'Ultra'... a fast paced tune with some great guitar work.

If you get the chance to buy this CD, don't pass it up. It is some of the best work by KMFDM.