Opium (KMFDM album)

Opium
Demo album by KMFDM
Released	1984 (demo), 2002
Recorded	1984 [1] [ dubious – discuss ]
Studio	Pft Brd, Blankenese
Genre	Industrial experimental
Length	43:49
Label	Firstworld
KMFDM chronology
Opium (1984) What Do You Know, Deutschland? (1986)

Opium is a demo album by German industrial band KMFDM released as a cassette in 1984, and officially released as a CD in 2002 by Firstworld. It is one of only two KMFDM studio albums (the other being Nihil ) that does not feature cover artwork by pop artist Brute!.

Release

Sascha Konietzko has stated that Opium was originally released in a limited run of cassettes and distributed through the Hamburg club scene in 1984. ^[2] 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. ^[3] Konietzko further said that he 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. ^[3]

In a 2007 interview with Outburn Magazine , Konietzko said the Opium remaster "...is going to provide the missing link to 'Where did KMFDM even come from in the first place?'. If you begin with What Do You Know, Deutschland? you kind of skip the first part." ^[3]

In 2022 During an online feud between Konietzko and Raymond Watts, Watts claimed that "contrary to bullshit myth making stories about fires and lost tapes, Opium was recorded in the mid 90s by Bill Rieflin, Konietzko and me." ^[4] Konietzko did not answer to these allegations.

Track listing

All tracks are written by KMFDM ^[5]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Fix Me Up"	3:40
2.	"Splatter"	3:51
3.	"The Smell"	4:06
4.	"Helmut Mein Helmut"	4:44
5.	"Warp'd"	2:35
6.	"Penetration"	4:10
7.	"Entschuldigung"	3:43
8.	"Cuntboy"	6:09
9.	"RAF OK"	4:25
10.	"Mating Sounds of Helicopters"	6:26
Total length:		43:49

Personnel

• Sascha Konietzko – bass, vocals, guitar, synths, programming
• Raymond Watts – vocals, programming
• Ton Geist – additional guitars

References

1. Curry, Chris (November 1, 2003). "MK Magazine Interviews: KMFDM". MK Magazine. Archived from the original on April 19, 2004. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
2. "KMFDM History". KMFDM Inc. Archived from the original on April 8, 1997. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
3. Daniel Hinds. "KMFDM - interview Feb 2002". The-plague.net. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
4. Watts, Raymond (November 12, 2022). "OPIUM was great and should have got a 1984 release" (PNG). Facebook (Facebook comment in a private group). Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. Alt URL
5. "Discography: Opium". KMFDM Enterprises. Archived from the original on April 2, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2010.