Ein Reich, Ein Folk, Ein Laibach

I "sort of enjoyed" Laibach in my younger days, mainly because their "funny" remakes of classic songs and "funny" hehehe-almost-nazi-but-you-can't-sue-us band image:



I even went to one of their Prague concerts during which the singer forgot the lyrics to "The Final Countdown" and saved the day by randomly reciting "Together... Forever... Together...".

It always seemed to me that their albums contained two or three "catchy tunes" plus large amount of hastily produced filler. For example, the last track of "Kapital" consists mainly of random samples from Alan Silvestri's "Back to the Future 2" soundtrack (uncredited, of course)!

However, I am very much intrigued by their latest album, Volk. This time, the underlying theme is "remakes of national anthems". However the original anthems are almost unrecognizable (and their lyrics are mostly in English). What struck me is originality, mixing vastly different musical styles, excellent attention to detail and production values. The instrumentation is very inventive, often reminiscent of Depeche Mode but mostly very original and not comparable to anything I know. Except, of course, that hellish voice, comparable to everything else from Laibach. :)

I actually wish the tracks were longer. Many of them start as solemn lyrical pieces, the beat starts later and it's over sooner than I wish.