Critical Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Chicago Tribune | favorable |
| CMJ New Music Monthly | favorable |
| Guitar Player | favorable |
| Keyboard | favorable |
| Washington Post | favorable |
Nihil received very favorable reviews from music critics. Heidi MacDonald of CMJ New Music Monthly called Nihil "a superb album that takes no prisoners from beginning to end," saying that the first three tracks are "nearly flawless" and calling "Disobedience" a "real standout." Andy Hinds of Allmusic also praised the album, calling "Juke-Joint Jezebel" "an enduring and indispensable dancefloor favorite at goth/industrial clubs around the world." He further said that the production on Nihil was "state of the art" and that KMFDM's sound was "quite polished and tight." Mark Jenkins of the Washington Post said the album "manages to stay fresh through the use of assorted sonic spices," adding that the album has "some canny accents."
Keyboard praised the album, describing "milky organ pads" on "Disobedience" and "snarling guitars in spiky synth barbed wire" on "Juke Joint Jezebel", and saying of band leader Konietzko, "You won't find a more imaginative or effective keyboardist on the hard-core scene." Chris Gill of Guitar Player, conversely, said "the most interesting parts are Durante's steel guitar lines, which howl like revving engines". Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune said that "Juke Joint Jezebel" "swaggers like a Bourbon Street hooker, with crunching guitars and a swooping, gospelish chorus" at the time of the album's release, and in 2011, said the album put "a polished pop spin on industrial’s characteristic harshness". Gill had similar praise, saying "few have succeeded in making the combination sound as natural as this".
Nihil was Wax Trax!'s best-selling album to date by the end of 1995, and went on to sell over 120,000 copies by August 1996. Nihil reached No. 16 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, and was later labelled one of Wax Trax!'s commercial high points.
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