Xtort (stylized as XTOЯT) is the eighth studio album by German industrial band KMFDM, released on June 25, 1996, by Wax Trax! Records. It was recorded from the end of 1995 through early 1996, shortly after the death of Wax Trax! co-founder and band friend Jim Nash. Xtort features a variety of guest artists from the industrial music scene and studio musicians from other genres, but includes limited participation from core member En Esch.
The album was massively promoted by KMFDM's American label TVT Records, which pressed tens of thousands of copies of its lead single "Power". Frontman Sascha Konietzko created his own form of promotion, issuing a press release that both disparaged and lauded the coming set. Xtort was generally well-received by critics and is the band's highest-charting album to date. After the original release went out of print, a remastered version was released in 2007.
Background
In late 1995, KMFDM had completed the "Beat by Beat" and "In Your Face" tours in support of their last album, Nihil. KMFDM frontman and founder Sascha Konietzko described Nihil as "the crown", and said the band had come as close to mainstream popularity as he wanted. He felt the band needed to move away from its success. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic was less enthusiastic, saying, "it would be nice to hear [KMFDM] branch out and start to experiment a little bit more", and commenting that while Xtort did not sound much different from previous releases, "KMFDM sounds as good as they ever have, and several tracks rank among their best." while MacDonald described it as "blistering"
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