Opus Dei

Finally, something with a personality, with a distinct atmosphere. I was surprised how much better is their version of Life is life and the rest could be a perfect soundtrack for a dystopian movie.

Next time I am Conjuring up holy holy demons this is the album I'll listen to

JA, JA, JA, JA! GET ME A LIGHT BEER. derbysieger. pros; 1- one of the best album covers i've ever seen 2- that voice. 3- turning europop into a rally. 4- Yogoslavian avant garde. cons; 1- you have to be in to medieval trumpets to get the most out of this album. 2 -realistically its a 3 track album and some fuck around arty shit. from now on if anyone asks me what music i am in to it will be 'Nationalistic avante garde industrial music created by yugoslavian dissidents'.

The last 4 or 5 songs were really a drag to get though, but I found the A side to be more enjoyable. As a novice German-speaker, he's pretty easy to understand, found I could understand a good deal of it. So that was enjoyable. Not sure what I think of them though after reading about the group. Usage of Nazi iconography is pretty questionable, though I guess they were using it kind of subversively to point on the problems with state power under communism? Not sure that wears as well in 2021 post-Trump/alt-right era as it might have in 1987 behind the steel curtain.

Completely different from anything we've listened to so far. I wasn't completely unfamiliar with Laibach but, if I'd ever listened to this whole album, it was thirty years ago and I didn't remember all of it. I found it compelling, frightening, and funny, and spent the day falling down a Laibach rabbit hole. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm here for.

Feels at first like a very silly parody of a german metal album, but under the surface it's actually much more meaningful that you'd think. In perspective to how long they've come today, it's pretty amazing I've never heard of them before. Also the wagnerian influences are amazing. Actually a 4...

For the first three songs I thought this would be a nailed on five. There’s something stirring about the combination of a relentless marching beat and campy synths overseen by what can only be described as the voice of a coalmine turned animate. It’s surprisingly catchy and surprisingly playful and exactly the sort of album that should be here because it’s so cocobananas that you have to listen to it. It definitely loses some oomph as the doom/authoritarian cosplay wears thin. Still, worth the journey.

80s Rammstein w/cookie monster singing

WTF

Ironic fascism but questionable how much irony.

he sounds like kermit the frog

Uhhhhh… what am I listening to? More importantly, why am I enjoying it so much? This is utterly wackadoodle and I’m loving it! “Leben heißt Leben” seemed vaguely familiar. I did not expect the guitar solo, but it works well. The discordant ending is incredible! When “Geburt einer Nation” and “Opus Dei” came on I definitely knew the songs. Turns out a friend shared them with me on a mix tape many decades ago. I never followed up on the whole album. Queen’s “One Vision” works incredibly well sung by a Muppets-Animal sound-alike to a martial beat. The vocal delivery is delightful and the song quite danceable! Is this something I’ll listen to often? Who cares?! It’s unique. Crazy. Dramatic. Lumbering. Cinematic. Dark. It was strangely suited for listening to while I work… I really love this album!

Il s'agira sans doute de ma note la plus étonnante au sein de cette escroquerie de générateur, mais j'ai bel et bien passé un moment d'anthologie en compagnie de ces Slovènes germanophones. De l'arrivée des chars d'assaut à la plantation du drapeau sur le territoire ennemi, je me suis tout simplement régalé bien qu'étant de nature non-belligérante. La seule personne que j'avais tabassé dans ma vie jusqu'alors était Robert. Or, depuis cet album, je ne compte même plus le nombre de personnes laissées en knock-out sur ma route. Comme quoi…

Because I am a purist, I only listened through track 8 (The Great Seal) because that was where the original 1987 LP ended. As far as I am concerned, there is no longer any other music. This is the only music I will listen to forever and ever. This isn't sarcasm. It is a speech impediment. Especially when you read it out loud.

Well this is really not an album I was expecting from this list. Am I glad to have heard it? Yes. Can I see where it might have been influential? Also yes. Does it hold up as good music? Kinda. Sometimes. There are some highly repetitive noise tracks in this and they properly start to grate after a while. Not having read any user reviews yet, I'm almost entirely sure that there will be a swathe of 1-star "terrible"s, but there something here. The militarism is difficult to get past. I don't know if it's genuine or a pisstake, and am almost reluctant to look into it. Will I be listening to this again? Heck no. Though I do reserve the right to play people German language Queen covers from time to time.

My first album from the bottom ten. An album with such a status naturally generates apprehension, a fear that one is due for an hour of the absolutely unlistenable. It also naturally generates some pre-emptive affection, some desire to look kindly upon the underdog. Me, I like to think I've a steely spine and resilient eardrums, so I'm not phased by an album purporting to be tricky. Laibach are a Slovenian group associated with the Neue Slowenische Kunst, a Slovenian art collective formed in 1980 in what was Yugoslavia during the Cold War. Tending towards industrial and neoclassical music, Laibach frequently employs authoritarian, mechanistic and militaristic themes and imagery. This in turn has led to accusations of bad taste and dodgy political sentiments (it's not at all hard to find Laibach wearing ersatz SS uniforms minus the swastikas). I would say that it's pretty clear that Laibach belong with the firm left rather than anything right-wing (they have occasionally used works by the anti-Nazi dadaist John Heartfield on their record sleeves). I shall also mention that Laibach, as part of NSK, has formed their own country without borders, and issues passports to whoever requests them; during the breakup of Yugoslavia, some people managed to use these unofficial passports to escape the region and the violence. Anyway, on to Opus Dei. From the off, one can detect a dadaist leaning in their choice of songs they choose to adapt: Opus' Live is Life and Queen's One Vision (in Geburt einer Nation). Live is Life, that persistently naff 80s package holiday anthem beloved by mulleted Teutons and lobster-red tourists, occurs twice on the album as a harsh marching anthem with collectivist, dominative lyrics, but both times it just comes off as a comical cover of Live is Life, akin to a thrash metal take on Baby One More Time. Likewise, Geburt einer Nation just seems a suitably camp metal version of One Vision, despite the implications of an unsympathetic lyrical reading of the Queen song (one may draw an unpleasant parallel between "one man, one soul, one mission" and "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer"). The rest of the album (or rather, the rest of the vinyl edition of the album, more on that later) maintains this humorous, theatrical air and, for all its purported harshness, can be easily treated as an elaborate gag. Thus, your appreciation of the album may depend on how funny you find it. Personally, whereas it's not quite that I found the joke wearing thin, I wasn't bent double, gasping for air through the spasmic laughter. The CD version of Opus Dei featured a bonus of 4 tracks from their soundtrack album Baptism, and that's what I came here for. Devoid of Opus Dei's attempted satire, the uncompromising stamp of the last four mesmerises, successfully demonstrating the morbid, noisome allure of the despotic and warlike. With the bonus material, it appears that Laibach remembered that if you're going to be an industrial band, you shouldn't be coy about it. So, three stars for the album in total, the full five for the last four.

Sounds like music you play in an 80s movie when the Soviet’s are up to no good. Interesting if not really my thing. Enjoyed the queen cover. 2/5

I used to like this when I was younger. Haven't listened to it in a while, but I'm happy to say I still like it.

I was intimidated by the looks of this album, but I had a great time listening. I wonder if I missed the point, though, because I had a difficult time taking it seriously. Nonetheless, I totally dug it!

The tracks "Opus Dei" and "Geburt einer Nation" were in heavy rotation on my friends' and my college-era mixtapes. I loved the subversive take on pop music. There may have been some very exuberant sing-alongs with the former. Listening to this album for the first time, I was a bit surprised to hear "Leben Heißt Leben" since it's an entirely different version of the song I'd known. (By the way, I knew neither of those previously mentioned songs by their proper titles. Not everyone was good about writing proper song titles and artists on their mixtapes in the 80s, which was a pet peeve of mine.) But it was delightful, and the "proper" version of "Life is Life" was thankfully still there as well. I'd love to write a proper review of this and more specifically why I love it. Suffice it to say that I think it's magnificent. We needed this desperately in 1987.

Different - and crucially fun - it's almost like a pop record rather than the metal it's presented as. 4.6

Incredibly cinematic. I think this album is vital after listening to it, and I would argue that this obviously inspired several other projects (Rammstein feels like an obvious one, but stuff like Sigur Rós and other atmospheric projects definitely seem to have similar lineage musically). Either way, this is an album that I think everyone should digest at some point.

There have been just a very small handful amount of albums that has jarred me so hard in a good way. This was one of those albums. This album is so unique and very engaging. This gives me hope that one day Rammstein will pop up on this list. Laibach is fantastic and I am now a fan. 5! TBz 1. Leben Heist Leben 2. Opus Dei 3. Gebert Einer Nation 4. Leben - Tod 5. Herz-Felde

Cool album big sounds, catchy first song. 1st non English album on the list I've had and I'm impressed

I've enjoyed it. Some of them were fun, some really intense.

this feels like the soundtrack to some epic sci fi film where im the king of the world[s] and winning everything that is happening. an experience truly listening to this wow the amount of scenarios in my head is making little ideaist me happy

surprisingly good. Seemed also a bit like Duran Duran melodies

73. Oh, que majestosa criação, a da autoridade! Morra a anarquia, pim! MotA: Opus Dei "Leben heisst leben"

Beyond badass

"an avant-garde industrial parody on totalitarianism"...yea alright, why not

i hated the first few minutes.... but actually it really grew on me. then when i read more about the group i found myself liking it more and more. i went back after the day and listened to it again.

Oh my. This album is so preposterous and over the top. Militant German punk gospel just doesn’t get enough play, and I didn’t want this record to end. 4.5.

yeah this rules

Was not expecting the Queen cover

Interesting - can see where rammenstein got their chops. Wholly entertaining industrial - and makes sense given the bands history. Great dark humour too - but Milan Frans’ vocals are the standout here. Kind of starts petering out toward the end though

Great German rock, reminded me of Ramstein

would fashbait again

Never heard of this before or really heard anything like it. It's really fascinating. An odd mix of industrial and marching music or something. I'm digging it though.

Неожиданно хорошо

Strong 4, such a gripping and interesting album

I didn't know this band and this might be my favorite find on this list so far. It was unpredictable, but wow! I'm not a fan of this musical trend, but you can see that Laibach had a strong influence on industrial music. The album is both grandiose and humorous, with catchy songs, but with a rather severe tone. I like contrasts and there are a lot here.

Industrial is not a genre that I've ever really listened to having dismissed it as the soundtrack of every decadent, dark, bare brick nightclub, that's probably owned by a vampire. At times it could be Eurovision, and there's a definite 80's synth vibe. It's fun though, and the use of some John Heartfield art, along with some easy to understand German bumped it from a 3 to a 4.

This rules.

Okay I was skeptical but this was VERY cool

Sounds of rammstein before rammstein, enjoyable, but don't have time for a better description

Okay I have no idea what just happened but I absolutely loved it.

Crazy album, very interesting early industrial. Certainly worth a listen.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Opus dei, Herz-felde, Jagerspiel

Very German. Very angry. Very dark. Pretty good.

INT

4 stars for audacity. What works works, what doesn't work is terrifying. The album is unsettling, and I believe that was the goal. A great introduction to the neo-folk martial industrial genre! Raus!

Tämän olen kuunnellut aikaisemmin - oli silloin mielenkiintoinen hetki, nyt rentouttavampi kun tiesi mitä edessä. "Usage of Nazi iconography is pretty questionable" Subjektivistit keksimässä syitä antaa alempaa arvosanaa kun ei korvat riitä.. heh.. Kakkosta vois antaa ihan perustellustikin tästä. Huh.. Pelottaa.. Olin antamassa kakkosta.. Koska onko tämä nyt oikeesti niin kummonen.. Skaala unohtuu.. pelottaa.. tämä on neljää.. miksi.. järki lähtee... uskomatonta.. näen sen... kohta kaikki.. niin... mah..tavaa..

Ca ce veut con et drôle et ca l'est donc geande réussite, jamais de subtilités mais bcp d'énergie

Ridiculous and brilliant.

I hadn’t heard of Laibach before today. The album art made me think it might possibly be death metal, but Apple Music describes it as electronic. Not quite what I was expecting, but I’m very intrigued. Let’s listen! Songs I already knew: none Favourites: Geburt Einer Nation, The Great Seal This album was fantastic! I’ve some heavy guitars were thrown into the mix, you’d definitely be forgiven for thinking this was Rammstein, except this album was released seven years before Rammstein had even formed. There are a couple of covers here which are excellently done (Geburt Einer Nation in a very unique take on Queen’s One Vision), and plenty of brilliant originals too. I will say that I don’t speak any German so I don’t understand any of the lyrics, but from a completely musical point of view I found this to be very good. It does fizzle off into a few duller tracks towards the end, but overall I’m definitely glad to have heard this today.

Glorious nonsense. Tails off in quality but i had alot of fun throughout

I enjoyed this one. It felt like the birthplace of industrial goth genre

Lit af

Interesting album. Not an immense fan of the military genre, but I enjoyed some bits of the album!

has some interesting stuff not bad but there is a lot of weird shit too

Not something I would listen to for pleasure but interesting I suppose. It definitely hit a unique style/ aesthetic - especially for the time.

conceptually kinda enjoyable, weird as hell to listen to. fav track: opus dei

A captivating but unconventional listen - hard to pin down a genre on this one as it sways between anthemic orchestral tracks to spoken word to overdriven guitar solos. Definitely an album to be consumed in one sitting, as vocal and instrumental leitmotifs weave the LP into one continous narrative. Need to look at the German to see what the overall message is here, but still an enjoyable listen notwithstanding.

Trippy

Pretty odd, but interesting and atmospheric "industrial" music.

industrial pomp. two versions of life is life are a bonus

Semibängeri Intressant metal

Very sonically interesting, like the backstory behind the music and think it's a cool fusion of industrial sound with some more traditional aspects of music.

Wow, not sure I loved it but an interesting listen. They're like the Starship Troopers of music.

bijzonder maar ik ben er niet weg van

Intense and quite enjoyable. Don't think I'd listen again though.

7th July 2021 Listened on the way in to horse Guards for the first time in a while which was odd but good. Spent the day not doing much work with private office before going to Wembley to watch England Denmark in the euros! Absolutely hilarious, had no idea who they were and was caught off guard immediately as soon as it started. Although I guess the name should be a give away. I didn't mind it you know. I can see the tongue in cheek humour, the over the top Wagner drama, the politics. Not bad!

What a strange Album. It feels like they just learned some German words and thought "We can make an Album out of this".

Really mixed thoughts on this one. There were some cool grandiose bits mixed in with bizarre and extremely German bits.

Opus Dei is an iconic song I've heard before in an ironic context. I can't exactly place it

1987: Leben heisst leben, Geburt einer Nation

Gothic industrial fascist

Um álbum peculiar, inicialmente parecia um rock pesado devido ao facto de ser cantado em alemão, lembrando Rammstein (esta banda influenciou os Rammstein). Posteriormente parece que o álbum quer provar um ponto, um ponto que não compreendo. No fim termina com uma música em esloveno, julgo eu, com uma melancolia irradiante e imponente. Um álbum relativamente complexo e não julgo ter ido fundo o suficiente nele. Nota: 5/10

Heavy, dark, moody, gravelly, lotta anthems. Feels very German.

I don't know what I was expecting, but a weird industrial noise, marching cover of Opus' LIVE IS LIFE with a gnarly, shredding, garage-rock guitar solo in the middle was not what I was expecting. Then, while maybe I SHOULD have expected it I also wasn't expecting track 2 to be a weird, dark, doomy, industrial cover of Queen's ONE VISION. Is this whole album a prank? It's a pretty good one. Then... then they cover Life is Life AGAIN halfway through the album. This is either brilliant or a disaster, but I think it might be brilliant. I'm not certain I will listen to it again any time soon? But that was pretty cool and very different from what I've been listening to lately.

That was... interesting. Not terrible?

Na roba assurda

This was a very interesting experience. This group has personality and it's different from the majority of the things that I used to listen to and even when compared with the common songs from this list, they have a very distinctive sound. I understand some hate on it, based on the info from Wikipedia, cause they have some controversies in its history, but based only on the music aspects, this was a very nice experience.

A bit third-reichy, not to my taste at all but still head and shoulders above yesterdays terrible album (Manic Street Preachers) and so by comparison to that I've given it three stars.

Some good music in there

Surreal marching songs

I have always been confused by this musical project - band - paramilitary unit - ancient Greek chorus - dot dot dot. I only knew them from the staid and somber "Life Is Life" mantra. But I'm interested to see so much of this record is in German, and the title of said mantra was "Leben heisst Leben," which harkens to the extradimensional qualities of "Du.. Du hast.. Du hasst mich..." from Rammstein. You could interpret that as "living means to live." I'm not generally in the frame of mind to listen to this on a regular basis (that would be Beach House Depression Cherry on eternal continuous loop). For me 3 stars means I'm not angry at it. It's fine.

I liked it more than I was expecting to. The industrial edge was really cool though the synth horns did date the album a bit. The first half was definitely stronger than the first. It was like listening to proto-Rammstein

Holy shit, this is some of the weirdest crap I’ve ever heard; field recordings of military speeches, spoken word, harsh tones and dissonant noise. Had to go look these guys up, they’re from Slovenia and this is a type of industrial music I’ve never heard before. Like super severe, I guess it supposed to be satire of the 80s fascist Soviet bloc regime they all lived under? It’s interesting end definitely deserves another lesson

I’m sure you can appreciate the originality and genre inspiring but wtf is this shit

If you ever wondered what the slovenians were up to before the Yugoslav Wars, it was apparently... this? Some UNRECOGNIZABLE covers of Queen songs in here. I didn't even know they spoke German! Enjoyable as a bizarre world artifact, but not exactly a toe tapper. My weird-ass wife dug this a lot more than me.

This is bonkers. Thanks Germany

Strange but not so bad

Interresting album, other than this challenge I would have never listen to it.

Interesting album, sounds like proto Rammstein. Not sure why it's on this list, but I enjoyed it nonetheless

In equal parts quirky and unsettling, this sounded like what I thought industrial music from the early 80's would sound like. I'm not sure if this was an essential listening, but you can't try to get this book's logic.

Impressive but not my thing. Occasionally hilarious and thought provoking, but a hard sell to recommend.

Weird and kind of gothic

Совсем не мой альбом, смесь Kraftwerk и Rammstein, но не цепляющий от слова совсем. Но для фоновой музыки к компьютерным играм она бы сошла, наверное.

I don't even know where to start with this album. Is it a work of insane geniuses? Is it over-the-top, pretentious bullshit? Is it a sarcastic joke? Is it a serious work of art? All of the above? I honestly have no idea. I'll just say I enjoyed it at times, laughed at it a couple times, cringed once or twice, and was curious about the lyrics at times. All that said, I'm going with 3 stars.