''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 Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

group

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

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

Metropolis Records Metropolis Records is a record label that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania ...

. It was recorded in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. 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 languages, Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Isra ...

phrase " tohu va bohu", 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! 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 singer, 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 ...

– vocals * Jules Hodgson – guitar, bass,

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

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 ...

– vocals, analogue synthesizers, bass, programming *

Andy Selway Andy Selway (born 3 September 1970) is an English drummer, well known for his work with KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial rock ...

– 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