603. Laibach - Opus Dei (1987)
















Track Listing

1. Leben Heist Leben
2. Geburt Einer Nation
3. Leben Tod
4. F I A T
5. Opus Dei
6. Trans National
7. How The West Was Won
8. Great Seal

Review

Laibach is a fascinating band, alternatively accused of being far-right or far-left they are really putting everybody on with a great display of detournement. That is particularly obvious in this album, taking songs from other people, in this case crap Austrian band Opus and crappy UK band Queen and making them into what they were never intended to be: slightly nazified epic martial anthems.

And if that was all they did this would be a great album, but their own tracks stand up nicely, with a Wagnerian feel and a sense of humour making this one of the funnest albums to come across our paths in a while. They are prefiguring Rammstein's brand of martial stomp metal 10 years before its time.

Of course this album ruffled a lot of feathers, the band's name is the German name for Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, occupied by the Nazis. That had them in hot water in their own country, their uniforms and singing style in the rest of the world. But in the end there is a criticism, the artistic concept of the album is a bit heavy handed making it sound like a novelty album at times. Still, a lot of fun.

Track Highlights

1. Geburt Einer Nation
2. Leben Heisst Leben
3. The Great Seal
4. Leben - Tod

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It features two cover versions - "Geburt einer Nation", a German cover of Queen's "One Vision" and two reworkings of Austrian band Opus' sole hit single "Live Is Life". The Opus song became the German language "Leben heißt Leben" and the English language "Opus Dei".

The attention this album received from MTV and others led to Laibach's first worldwide tour.

Geburt Einer Nation: