Ljubo D.
Love, that Suprematistic sentiment, was hanging in the air during the nineteeneighties, it gave birth to this mystical document that identifies Europe, and particularly the Third Reich, with Shakespearian dilemmas as observed from the privileged perspective of heroes and martyrs = LAIBACH and NSK.
A soundtrack of truly mystical proportions, spiced with a touch of Dada-humour = see the design of the album where a parachuter is shown hanging in the air, thrown at the mercy of an unforgiving history that recycled him into a modern John the Baptist, his severed head prominently displayed on the background of a map that depicts the terrain of Europe, all this balanced with the enigmatic organism of LAIBACH that in this particular adventure outdid themselves, so pure is their take on Macbeth, so full of force, minimalistic yet titanic. Here LAIBACH invites history to be the artist, consequently we can hear the sounds of agony, of terror, of time behaving like a drunken executor, the madness of human mind is heard as well, the dying hope of human hearts but, most of all, the risen hands of LAIBACH descending on the the drum, beating in pure fanatical bliss the skin of fatum: AMA NESCIRI!
José Luis C.
Dark and haunting; beautiful and menacing; short but intense. Having seen the play is not a forced prerequisite to get lost in the nightmarish sonority of this maze-like release. But then again, hard to be surprised when such an album comes from (half) a collective that:
- had their first lead singer struck in the head with a bottle during a concert due to their controversial... (you know the story; you probably wouldn't be here if not...).
- kept a straight face when, in their home country, a journalist called them "enemies of the people" and asked, in front of them, for someone to come and stop them and their work.
- survived a car bomb in front of their hotel several years later.
- were "invited" into the very heart (at least geographically speaking) of one of the most mysterious, puzzling, and certainly dreaded "totalitarian" states in the (post)modern world and lived to (literally) tell the tale.
- made Hollywood kitsch and Western pop culture terrifying; or rather, brought out the terrifying traits of Western pop culture and Hollywood kitsch for all to see.
- shows our all-too-real fascination with the Real of Power.
It cannot get much more hard-hitting than that! Again, short (and not much Opus Dei vibe or Milan here, except for a sampled growl that pops on occasion), but highly recommended, specially if you like your industrial music cryptic, though-provoking and masterfully crafted.
