Laibach - 'Anthems' (Mute) / 'The Videos' DVD (Mute)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Obviously, you're meant to concentrate on the music. But with some bands, especially come retrospective time, you've just got delve in to the history of things a little bit.
Laibach, then. Where to start? Dark Slovenian, anti-pop music - sounding something like Europe playing a gig at a Nuremburg rally (supported by Throbbing Gristle, naturally) - they've had more than their fair share of controversy. If somehow you find yourself in possession of this triple whammy of weirdness, start with the DVD. The documentary gives you a brief rundown of European history since the mid-1800s, really picking up with Laibach's endorsement of Yugoslavian communist dictator Tito, their later flirtations with neo-Nazi imagery and subsequent bans all over the continent, and a reputation firmly sealed as one of the most unique, bewildering, unsettling bands of the recent era. And that's before you've even reached the songs - never mind the videos.
'Become a citizen of the first global state of the universe, the state of NSK.' reads the DVD. That's the non-physically existent, all-encompassing commonwealth they set up, even issuing passports to fans. Or did we forget to mention that? There is music here, but as you'll have realised, the background is as important, if not more so. It's certainly more interesting - for such a formidable-looking bunch (skinheads in brown shirts, of course), they're prone to incredibly poppy moments. Laibach are cover version fanatics, probably as some joke on the plasticity of the mainstream, we don't know, but this collection of what is meant to be their most anthemic work features perverse euro-disco-Wagernian-industrial-metal takes on the likes of 'The Final Countdown', Queen, The Beatles' 'Get Back', The Stones' 'Sympathy For The Devil' and 'In The Army Now' - all done in ways you never thought possible, let alone tasteful.
Fun as these are (although maybe we've missed the point here), Laibach's self-penned moments are far more remarkable. 'Alle Gegen Alle' is a thumping piece of dark techno, 'God Is God' is somewhere between laughable and terrifying, but it's the uniqueness of something like 'Drzava' that stands out most. Parping trumpets, marching drums and the obligatory Deutschland rant, it also opens the DVD with a video that's somewhere between a military coup and a ballet performance.
If seven-minute, even more techno-based remixes of such affairs are your bag, you're in luck - as there's a whole 78-minute bonus CD of the stuff to get lost in. For the uninitiated, listening to both consecutively is not advised (it's a proper brain assault), but of the two, the remix CD is the less confrontational. It comes across as just very dark, perverted dance music; 'Wirtshaft's 'Hardcore Noise Mix' and the Zeta Reticula take on 'Wir Tanzen Ado Hynkel' being some of the bleakest and most disturbing.
The DVD brings the real stuff of intrigue, the make or break material that will either start a long-term interest in all things Laibachian (a term used seriously, believe it or not, in the documentary), or have you dismiss them as fascist-fixated, unsettling racists. It really could go either way, and to their discredit, little here does anything to clear up the grey areas - don't blame us for getting the wrong end of the stick.
The most interesting part, 'WAT EPK' is a hardly brief history of the band, not to mention the continent of Europe, as well as track-by-track commentaries on the new album. Hearing them speak and knowing background detail gives a whole new dimension to tunes amidst 'Anthems' you may now be tiring of. The videos themselves are either shockingly dated computer-animated pieces of nonsense ('The Final Countdown', 'In The Army Now') or highly entertaining, big budget mini epics involving nude women with bows and arrows on 'Opus Dei' - even more disturbingly - nude young girls on 'Sympathy for the Devil', lots more flesh and a healthy helping of burning crosses. The few live clips are the most thrilling - few things else in music could compare to the spectacle of 'Alle Gegen Alle' performed in front of your very eyes.
Musically, what are supposedly their most anthemic moments don't actually seem to be their most gripping. But visually, historically and philosophically, Laibach are as intriguing as they come - even if we truly can't figure out whether this is tongue-in-cheek, good-humoured mockery, or completely morally bankrupt.
Artists in this article: Laibach
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