KMFDM

In an age where most industrial-rock bands have dropped the anvil and turned in their Craftsman wrenches for "As Seen on TV" tools, the newly reformed KMFDM returns with Attak, the band's 11th studio effort in its 18-year existence. After disbanding KMFDM following 1999's Adios to form the short-lived MDFMK project, frontman Sascha Konietzko reintroduces the sound that helped propel the obscure band from its strange Teutonic roots to become one of the strongest machines in the industrial foundry during the late '80s and early '90s. This comeback effort will likely put KMFDM back on the map it had a hand in drafting.

But not before Attakbuilds on the territory the more electronic-experimental MDFMK set out to explore. Pumping up big, meaty beats-per-minute are tracks like "Urban Monkey Warfare" and "Superhero," propelling frenetic tempos over Lucia Cifarelli's ghostly yet sexy vocals. But that doesn't mean glowsticks are required. The totalitarian menace of "Sturm and Drang" and "Skurk" returns to the clamor of 1993's Extort,while "Dirty" draws its strength from the unbendable alloy forged by sandpaper guitar riffs and haunting synths. Eighteen years after KMFDM's cassette-only Opium debut (which the band will rerelease this year on CD), this angle of Attak will keep the tradition going.