''Tohuvabohu'' is

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...

group

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. ...

's fifteenth studio album, released on August 21, 2007, on the band's record label

KMFDM Records 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. ...

and

Metropolis Records Metropolis Records is a record label founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1993 by the late Dave Heckman. The label's all-electronic format closely tracked with European contemporaries, such as Off Beat, and, since 1995, has been instrumenta ...

. It was recorded in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. The word "tohuvabohu" is derived from the

biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...

phrase "

tohu va bohu ''Tohu wa-bohu'' or ''Tohu va-Vohu'' ( ) is a Biblical Hebrew phrase found in the Genesis creation narrative ( Genesis 1:2) that describes the condition of the earth () immediately before the creation of light in Genesis 1:3. Numerous inte ...

", meaning "without form and void" or "chaos and utter confusion", which was used to describe the state of the earth before creation. The band describes its usage of the term as meaning "wild and chaotic". "Superpower" uses samples taken from phone calls made by fans to a phone line set up by the band. Additional samples from these phone calls were compiled on the track "What We Do For You" on '' Brimborium'', a companion remix album.

Cover art conflict

Shortly after the cover artwork for ''Tohuvabohu'' was revealed on the KMFDM website, longtime cover 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 ...

made a posting to his personal blog indicating his displeasure at the fact that the band had altered his original artwork submission. In the final version used on the album, in order to follow preexisting themes, the original red color palette had been switched to orange, and several stylized buildings and cranes in the background had been replaced with a starburst pattern.

Track listing

Personnel

Lucia Cifarelli Lucia Cifarelli (born September 23, 1970) is an American musician, best known for her work with industrial band KMFDM. She was formerly the vocalist for the band Drill and also performed in KMFDM offshoots MDFMK, KGC, and Schwein. Career Cifar ...

– vocals *

Jules Hodgson Jules Hodgson, also credited as Joolz or J. Hogstorm, is an English musician, record producer and former member of KMFDM and The Spittin' Cobras (along with KMFDM bandmate Andy Selway). He is a former member of PIG and Lodestar. In 2006, Hodgso ...

– guitar, bass, programming *

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 fath ...

– vocals, analogue synthesizers, bass, programming *

Andy Selway Andy Selway is an English drummer, well known for his work with KMFDM. Selway spent his early years in Luton, England, but moved to Kirton near Felixstowe, Suffolk, where he remained until his early 20s. From a musical family, he is the eldest ...

– drums, programming * Steve White – guitar, programming * Army Denio – alto saxophone (1) * Jin Kninja – Paris Selmer 'radial' trumpet (1)

References

{{Authority control 2007 albums KMFDM albums Metropolis Records albums Albums produced by Sascha Konietzko