Gritty, Messy, Oddity.: KMFDM'S Unknown 'Opium'

KMFDM: OPIUM

SCORE: 79/100

Opium is without a doubt the greatest think piece in KMFDM's discography. An oddity in it's own right, Opium is the band's very first demo, which is much more rooted in "traditional" industrial music rather than metal music, blending their original performance art style with what would become their signature sound in the roots that would blueprint their astounding career. 

It's a project that is completely raw. It's the "gross" and gritty industrial music that emerged starting in the 70's before developments in the 80's - and despite being notorious in the 90's and 2000's, KMFDM started out as one of the founding pioneers of industrial music in Germany.

This isn't an album for the faint of heart - and if you're a fan of albums like Symbols, this album is sure to be an absolute shock to your system with the underground, basement-esque sound of this album that sounds completely rough and gritty. It's a filthy album when it comes to the non-polished sonic elements and clanging industrial soundscapes, and the result is one of the purest forms of industrial music, before it was mixed with polished electronic metal sounds; when it was something new and exciting, and when it was something that very few people were doing, let alone aware of. 

Opium was something of a lost album for a very long period of time. It was made into very few cassette copies, and it was distributed throughout the club scene before being lost to time. The original tape masters had been salvaged after barely surviving in a house fire, leading to the version of the album that die-hard fans know of not being what is considered the "true" version of the album; as that has been known as entirely lost due to damages. The band worked to recreate and remaster the tracks to fill in the gap for fans to learn where the band originated from and how they got their start - and the project is something completely unexpected if you go in unprepared. It's harsh, it's relentless, and it isn't full of the catchy songs that the band became known for; not at all. 

Despite the most commonly known story of the album being the 80's cassette run and the lost master tapes, a feud between Sascha Konietzko and Raymond Watts in more recent years has warped the story of the album even further, with Watts claiming that the fire stories are false and that the album was recorded in the mid-90's, which would place it between albums like Angst and NIHIL if the claims made by Watts are ever proven true. Which side of the story is chosen to be believed is up to interpretation - but the most likely story is that of Konietzko, as Opium sounds almost nothing like what the band was doing in the 90's; this is not to say that a band cannot change their style and create something new and gritty many albums in, but it seems implausible to have something so dark and rooted in 80's industrial be recorded in the 90's, especially with the established sound the band had created and been polishing on every album. If it had been recorded when Watts claimed it was, it seems impossible that the band would not have released it then and there - especially since they have never been shy of releasing a large quantity of music back-to-back. 

Whether or not the album was made as a stylized story or a true demo is forever unknown.

This album utilizes ominous reversed vocals as well as deep, snarling instrumentals and some sung tracks that use the same deep vocal caliber to create something hauntingly heavy. It's one of the darkest, most pure industrial albums that has been made by a big name in the scene, and the album is much more influential than many would give it credit for. It helps to outline and memorialize a more gritty era of industrial music when it was still deeply part of an underground club scene, and it helps to showcase the growth and mainstream modernization that the band went through while gaining breakout success and major hits later into their career - they're a band that never gave up, and it paid off heavily in the long run with the iconic career run they have gone on to claim for decades. 

Take everything you know and love about KMFDM and forget about all of it. 

Opium is not an album you can go into with expectations based around the usual sound of KMFDM. It's something entirely different and completely dark, and it isn't something that fans of purely dance-heavy hybrid industrial will love. It's something for those who adore experimental music, those who find fascination in the gritty, grimy, and loud music that other people would be offput by. It's for those with an acquired taste, and it's an album that casual fans of the band would not be served well by.

The album is completely infectious and of exceptionally high quality, especially for a demo. Die-hard industrial junkies and KMFDMaholics are sure to adore this project, and it's one of their most complexly interesting bodies of work that is a complete diversion from the sound that they are recognized for. 

Many of the songs on the album are instrumental-only, and the manner in which the album was recorded in is something that will never truly be known. It's something entirely mysterious that manages to be one of the band's most interesting projects to date, and it's something that fans of heavy, traditional industrial music are sure to love. The album has a deeply slow and rugged atmosphere that is best taken in and enjoyed artistically - and it isn't a KMFDM album that will make you want to get up and move, it's an album that will rope you in and drag you through muddy trenches before leaving you disgruntled and taken aback by the rough, underground sound that the band once had.