Laibach

WAT (Mute Records)

A A A Comments (0) By Kiran Aditham Thursday, Jan 15 2004

Slovenia's finest export has been creating its propulsive music as a sardonic response to the turmoil in its homeland for two decades now. With Laibach's first release in seven years, the fearless foursome evokes memories of a once-bleak landscape, this time with almost effortless electronic purity. It's political techno-rock.

The opening "B Mashina" sounds off like a dark death march, paving the way for the rest of the record's electro-industrial indulgence. Though not as aggressive as previous outings, WAT still symbolizes the band's viewpoint -- attacking fascism, political correctness, and right-wing politics with a little tongue in cheek for good measure. Although to the uninitiated, there are a few similarities to fetish pyros Rammstein, if only in voice, Laibach's music harbors far-more-thought-provoking overtones, especially in the bludgeoning beatfests "Achtung!" and "Tanz Mit Laibach."

With lyrical content that always contemplates the bridges between life and death, art and commerce, and other ideologies, Laibach's music has remained an anomaly in a genre that was buried alive by the mid-'90s electronica wave. Regardless, WAT is an updated if not groundbreaking return to form by a band that really needs to get something off its chest. You've been warned.