Laibach Album: “WAT”

Having been a fan of Laibach since the 1980s, I am glad to see them returning to form. While albums like Nato and Jesus Christ Superstars had their moments, Laibach seemed on the verge of turning themselves into a novelty act with their (usually superior to the original, but still ridiculous) cover songs and mediocre forays into techno. Whatever happened to them in the last 7 years is a good thing, because Wat is an even more successful return to the form that made them brilliant than Front 242's rather successful Raw & Pulse recordings. There are no silly or disposable tracks on Wat. If Laibach tours the US for Wat and releases 10 more albums in their pioneering vein (but now with better production!), they'll easily make up for the torture of the Jesus Christ Superstars tour, the Also Sprach Johann Paul II project, and their 7 year hiatus from releasing new Laibach albums.

I would consider this the best Laibach release since Opus Dei.

With the electronic nature of this album, one might want to make comparisons to Kapital or NATO. However, it seems that Laibach are drawing much more heavily from their earlier works and this album could be more easily associated with Rekapitulcaija or the self-titled Laibach.

WAT will make a good introduction to new listeners who have missed the last couple of decades of Laibachkunst.

I can only hope that with the vitality of this new work, Laibach and NSK end their period of hibernation and once again become more active on all fronts.

Mixed feelings about this one. The (important) downside is that Laibach has hardly done anything musically on this album on their own (look at the credits and see Umek et.al. most of the time+ Tanz Mit Laibach = DAF "Mussolini"+ does its really take like 7 years to make?). However, the overall impression is very strong and "zi meesidz iz klier". Many quotes/references to their previous work which leads to ask whether this is a goodbye or a synopsis or a lack of something new to say.(???)Keep wondering. I stick(sadly) with the goodbye. 4 stars nonethesless and a definite 5 on the background of everything else that is happening in contemporary music.

P.S. Please, no Rammstein comparisons. If you do compare, please just remember the following few things:

1) Laibach is not German and Laibach is not a nazi group (as opposed to Rammstein's all too obvious flirtations)

Monumental. Musically, a definite must-have for old school EBM fans, nuff said.

Industrial dance music is still very much alive opposed to recent music, under the term, claiming more influence from trance and techno.

[...]

The comparisons to stuff like Nitzer's 'That Total Age' I can see, except this is a much more interesting, stronger album. TTA wears thin after repeated run-throughs, it really shows its age. WAT manages to be both minimalistic yet modern, stripped down, but evolving. This is Laibach's strongest cd since Kapital, and a cd that buries the type of crap currently masquerading as electronic body music. Laibach has been marching to its own drum for decades now, since the guys in Rammstein were in summer camp. WAT is no different, except now Laibach is schooling all their contemporaries in the "scene" in obvious piss-takes...'Tanz mit Laibach' comes to mind. This cd is %90 golden good times, you'll either love it or hate it.