''Opium'' is the debut studio album by German

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

band

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art project. ...

, released in 1984 by Firstworld. It is one of only two KMFDM studio albums (the other being ''

Nihil ''Nihil'' is the eighth studio album by German industrial band KMFDM, released on April 4, 1995, by Wax Trax! Records. The album marked the return of former band member Raymond Watts and the first appearance of journeyman drummer Bill Rief ...

'') that does not feature cover artwork by pop artist

Brute! Aidan Hughes is a commercial artist. He was born in 1956 in Merseyside, England, and was trained as an artist by his father, himself a landscape painter. In the 1980s, Hughes published a pulp-style magazine called ''BRUTE!''. ''Brute!'' has bec ...

. There were only a handful of

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

copies of the album that were made.

Re-release

''Opium'' was originally released in a limited run of cassettes and distributed through the Hamburg club scene. In the early 2000s, the original 8-track tapes were salvaged from a house, after surviving a fire and years of sitting in damp boxes. This had left them in a damaged state.

Sascha Konietzko Sascha Kegel Konietzko (born 21 June 1961), also known as Sascha K and Käpt'n K, is a German musician and record producer. He is the founder, frontman and "anchor" of the industrial band KMFDM. Konietzko jokingly purports himself to be the fat ...

salvaged what information was still intact on the tapes, and then set about re-creating the tracks. This included reprogramming drums on some tracks with the original sounds, or sounds close to the original. Sascha said that ''Opium'' would be the "missing link to 'Where did KMFDM even come from in the first place?'," which he said would be missed out if a listener began with ''

What Do You Know, Deutschland? ''What Do You Know, Deutschland?'' is the second studio album by German industrial band KMFDM, released in December 1986 by Z and Skysaw Records. Background ''What Do You Know, Deutschland?'' was recorded from 1983–86, with some tracks recorde ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

*Sascha Konietzko – bass,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, synths, programming *Raymond Watts – vocals, programming *Ton Geist – additional guitars

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Opium (Album) 1984 debut albums KMFDM albums Metropolis Records albums