I'm visiting friends and family in Athens, where I am originally from. We were having dinner with friends, when one of them (also called Kostas) said he was going to leave early to go to a concert. I asked who's playing and he replied "Laibach" who I knew were one of his favorite bands. I'm not as big a fan as he is, but I think they're a very original and interesting band, and so I tagged along. The band was supposed to tour behind their classic Opus Dei LP, which I also happen to like a lot. It's become quite a trend for bands to perform a classic album in its entirety, followed by an encore featuring hits from the rest of their discography. I've been to such concerts by U2, The Who, Opeth, Arthur Lee and Love, etc. Laibach opted for something else: after an endlessly repeated drum loop that went on for an hour, they opened with some rather experimental, often discordant, songs, which I didn't recognize. As it turns out, these were early album cuts beloved by the fans, but not very likely to win over new ones. The presentation was nevertheless flawless: Milan Fras was half singing - half reciting slogans mimicking the language used by totalitarian regimes, while the screen presented black & white film excerpts ranging from propaganda videos to news reel snippets to enigmatic weird stuff. After maybe 45' of this I was impressed but not won over, yet. It was the introduction of the second (female) singer that elevated the concert for me. Not only she added a more melodic semi-operatic element, but from that point on the discordant noise was toned way down and songs took on a more conventional structure while keeping all the typical Laibach traits: marching drums, Wagnerian keyboards, sharp riffs etc. A radical reworking of Dylan's "Ballad Of A Thin Man" gave way to their post punk cover of DAF's "Alle Gegen Alle". After a short intermission they continued with the songs from Opus Dei, followed by two remarkably beautiful ballads and an ironic but highly entertaining sing-along version of Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is" - at that point they had been playing for more than 2 hours without losing steam, having frontloaded their setlist with the "difficult" stuff at the start, and ending with the crowd pleasers. For the 2nd encore, they treated us to "Strange Fruit"; a menacing Billy Holiday cover that removed the melody and hit you hard with the lyrics while images of a bombed-out city (Berlin? Gaza? Mariupol?) played at the background. All in all, not a performance one is likely to forget any time soon.
I guess I should start with a short introduction: Laibach is art collective rather than just a rock band. Their music, interviews, performances, and record artwork, form an aesthetic that both simulates and satirizes the art favored by totalitarian regimes, drawing comparisons between pop culture and fascism without ever being explicit about it - indeed they embrace that esthetic with a straight face, leaving the listener to decide whether they're seriously influenced by fascism or mocking it; "We are fascists as much as Hitler was a painter" they've declared. The band was formed in Slovenia, then part of communist Yugoslavia, around 1980 - Laibach is the name Germans used for Slovenian capital Ljubljana during its occupation by the Nazis. The use of the German language and Nazi-style artwork must have been a red flag (pun unintended) to the commissars, but somehow they managed to overcome censorship. In the beginning their music was more experimental, but by the release of Opus Dei in 1987 they had hit the right balance, as evidenced by the two covers opening this CD: "Leben Heißt Leben" is a German language cover of pop hit "Live is Life" by Austrian band Opus. It features martial drumming and trumpets, operatic vocals, and heavy metal guitar soloing. The same elements, including the use of German, are employed for "Geburt Einer Nation", their infectious cover of Queen's "One Vision". Those two represent the most commercial/entertaining side of Laibach, but the rest of the album is also quite accessible: the industrial metal "Leben - Tod" reveals Laibach as the prototype for future successes by Rammstein, while "F.I.A.T." is more cinematic/orchestral. This is followed by "Opus Dei", which is basically the second cover of Opus' "Live Is Life". This one is sung in English; compared to the German version this is more epic, less dark and oppressive. "Trans-National" is more experimental and atonal, focusing on drums and electronics. "The Great Seal" is an orchestral piece evoking the more heroic moments of Hollywood soundtracks, culminating in a recitation of Churchill's famous "We shall fight them on the beaches" speech. The CD version of the album adds 4, then still unreleased, tracks written for the stage: Krst pod Triglavom: Baptism was a play about the defeat of pagan Slovenian Slavs in the hands of Christian Germans, and their subsequent forced mass Christianization. These tunes are much more experimental, featuring martial drumming, orchestral parts, and excessive use of samples. I'm not one to complain for free extras, but I have the feeling that these bonus tracks deduct rather than add to one's listening pleasure; they may be interesting, but way too different and less accessible than the vinyl version of Opus Dei. Only the last track ("Krst [Baptism]"), which basically mostly consists of slow and super loud drumming, blends well with the rest of the album. Interestingly, the band has just released a re-recorded version, featuring the current touring band with the dual vocal talents of Milan Fras and Marina Mårtensson. It was on sale during the concert, but I decided against buying it. Much as I liked the new singer, I can't imagine them improving on this. Opus Dei is a classic, hugely influential, album in the intersection of Goth, Industrial, Classical, and Metal genres, as well as a perfectly accessible introduction to a highly original, albeit "difficult" group. 5* for the LP version, 4* for the CD.
***** for Leben Heißt Leben, Geburt Einer Nation, Opus Dei
**** for Leben - Tod, F.I.A.T., The Great Seal
*** for Trans-National, How The West Was Won, Herz-Felde, Koža (Skin), Krst (Baptism)
** for Jägerspiel
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