Angst [Original recording remastered]

Also, be sure to check out the Light single, with 9 (that's right, 9) remixes of the song, including a "house" mix and one from the dark prince himself, Trent Reznor.

The first track, Light, founds and establishes the KMFDM sound for the years to come : crunchy guitar, awesome electronics, En Esch rasping in German, Sascha's mechanical voice and sultry female vocals - it's all here. Light begins as an industrial-rock song with a mid tempo, yet spirals into a surprising energetic chorus. In comparison to the verse, each chorus is like a mini climax. The fantastic vocals really add to this effect. The song is built on contrasts; Sascha's gruff voice and Dorona Alberti's beautiful singing as they sing back and forth to each other. For few precious seconds during a chorus in the latter half of Light, they sing together resulting in the climax of the song.

After Light is the much celebrated A Drug Against War, one of KMFDM's most famous songs along with Nihil's Juke Joint Jezebel. ADAW, KMFDM's fastest and heaviest song ever, is a blistering frenzy featuring political lyrics and creepy samples including the infamous "bomb the bejeepers out of those forces."

Blood (evil mix) follows ADAW (the original can be found on the ADAW single). Much like its predecessor, it's heavy and packed with metal guitar and solos. The chorus is awesome, as are Christine Siewart's vocals. A severely underrated track.

Lust, surprisingly titled in English, is an all-German track. Unlike Blood and ADAW, lust is heavy on the electronics rather than the guitars. Another demented love song of En Esch, we have the pleasure of hearing him growl in German, appropriately accompanied at times by Alberti. For fans of Lust, pick up pick up the Glory single which features a remix of this track by Chemlab. It's at least as good as good as the original.

Glory features one of KMFDM's most awesome guitar riffs. It's so awesome, in fact, that it inspired "The Only Good One's a Dead One" from Pig's masterpiece, Wrecked. Glory has the same intro as ADAW, and much like ADAW it has smart, politically charged lyrics.

Move On is probably the slowest and quietest track of the album, yet it still manages to incorporate heavy guitar and even some solos. Dark and bleak, melancholic and dreary, Move On is perhaps the only KMFDM song I'd describe as atmospheric.

No Peace is the album's most adventurous and eccentric track with a funky, fun and fresh sound. This is the best En Esch fronted track on the album as well as one of Angst's highlights.

A Hole in the Wall is an English metalicized version of En Esch's most famous love song, Liebeslied. Sascha does the majority of the vocals but En Esch contributes his bone chilling vocals to the chorus. A Hole in the Wall is a fine track , on par with the Infringement mix on Naive/Hell to Go, but nothing touches the original Liebeslied.

Track 9, Sucks, ironically Sucks. However, Sucks is a fan favorite regardless, not so much for the music but for the humorous lyrics and the playfulness of the band.

The album ends with The Problem, a slow and electronic track discordant with the rest of the album. The Problem is a stunning piece of work due to its main singer, the then 16 year old Dorona Alberti : KMFDM's finest and most talented female singer.

While Angst is not on par with later efforts Nihil, Xtort, and Symbols, it is regardless one of the band's most notable efforts and is recommended to all those who enjoy industrial metal of the highest quality.

Now Angst starts to show its weak points on the second half of the album. Pretty much the rest of the songs are bland and mediocre at best. The lyrics to "Sucks" are just flat out annoying and embarrassing to listen to. The "self irony" (if that's what you call it) is just so old, and I really don't understand why Kmfdm feels the need to do this. After listening to it, you just feel like telling them..."Ok, its over....finished...just stop now...you're not even funny."

The only thing that saves the second half of Angst is the last track "The problem" which features the beautiful voice of a female vocalist. I don't remember her name. Anyway, it's a decent album, but in my opinion not kmfdm's best. But by all means, buy it. You don't want to leave this one out of your collection. The overall mood of this album seems to fit the comic book style cover art perfectly. It's a keeper.