No long texts, no distinction between live or studio albums and EPs. Just the spontanous selection of my fifteen favorite releases of the year 2026 so far. (Chosen exclusively from physical items in my collection, which I have also already written about. In alphabetical order, because I didn't have the heart to rank that shit. My no.1 favorite right now however is subtly marked.)
The rise of generative AI in industry music (=music the music industry creates for the sole purpose of maximizing the interests of share holders and certain billionaires, who use their profits to invest in the military industrial complex) has already been anticipated and prepared long before AI - as it irreparably destroys the internet today - existed.
The consumer has been conditioned to respond to a lowest common denominator of individuality, to music without creative risks, optimized for recognition as a hit at any given moment the medium reaches the recipient's ear. Compression, elimitation of dynamics, the use of formulaic sounds, chords, measures, which trigger expected trained reactions - they have all been common practise for decades, with the ultimate culmination in altering what the general public even perceives as emotion, as vocals became flat and auto-tuned, establishing a digitalized uncanny valley as the new normal. It worked so successfully that many talented young singers unknowingly don't even try to sound like naturally emoting humans anymore, but already emulate the distorted, stripped off personality simulation of soul in industry music.
The step from standardized assembly line instrumentals and robotized vocals to completely artificially generated music, as soon as the tools to do so were available, was minimal.
Now we're flooded with both, becoming less and less able to distinguish one from another: Real music, which feels unreal, while it tries to shed its inherent humanity - and an abundance of music without a maker, not even meant to be listened to, randomly replacable content inflating the streaming bubble to fabricate size and create capitalist revenue.
It's sickening. Enter Laibach.
LAIBACH - Musick (Neon Pink vinyl LP) (2026)
Laibach are irritating by default. Over the years however you get accustomed to the Slovenian collective's mechanics. So I can only imagine how confusing it must be for anyone still being new to them, to see their new work "Musick" being promoted as the first Laibach album since "Spectre" in 2014 - and then discovering that there have actually been at least a dozen releases with attributes qualifying them as albums since then.
But there you have it: "Musick" is - more or less - the first Laibach album album with just a bunch of original new songs in twelve years. And just like "N.A.T.O." (1994), "WAT" (2003) or "Spectre" it - among other influences - utilizes European Dance music. Only this time the music isn't just a tool to carry the message - it itself becomes the subject.
Considering the current state of popular music, the death of art and overflow of the disposable and replaceable, that means Laibach don't even bother recontextualizing existing songs, because there's just nothing out there deserving to be covered. And it also means that parts of this album are among the most horrifying, hardest to swallow material the band has ever released - at least if you're not blunted by Tik Tok reels, which is one of the few cultural phenomena I can definitely claim to be too old for and not to get at all; short upright format videos devoid of any plot, payoff or punchline, scored with the most annoying, physically repulsive music in existence. I can't even categorize it by any other term than Tik Tok Music - which you could easily sneak into Laibach's title track chorus as a rhyme to the line "I'm sick of music".
The one redeeming quality of Tik Tok music however is that it only lasts for seconds. And that also applies to the most brazen and annoying moments of Eurovision tropes, K-Pop or disturbing (but completely within the new normal) auto-tune excesses by Laibach and their various collaborators from the Slovenian Pop world on "Musick": Just like at least ninety percent of the final season of "Game Of Thrones" actually is still peak level TV, most of the ten tracks here are - if not outright addictive like the opener and title track - at least interesting and laibachized enough with their signature Neoclassical bombast and contentual refractions to be indeed enjoyable.
Undoubtly some of the enjoyment purely emenates from the fact that this has been done by the same artists who within the last five years created such serious and grand scale masterpieces like "Alamut", "Wir sind das Volk" or "Sketches". It's still enjoyment nonetheless.
Of course "Musick" isn't just a bleak satirical comment on music in 2026, but as always charged with multiple layers of meaning, socio-political commentary and possible alternative interpretation. Do any of the lyrics carry genuine messages or are they all just hollow phrases repeated so often that they have lost all merit? Empty commands to love, party, rebel, be yourself and integrate?
For the sake of not overstraining your tiktoked, shortened attention spans however I won't dive deeper into that aspect, but instead close the review of this both visually and sonically neon pink record with a quick (yeah, sure) run through its tracklist:
Musick - "I dream of music." And you'll dream of this track for the rest of your days, because it's just a terribly catchy earworm. And of course read somehow positively the diagnosis of being musick is something anyone, who values records, live shows, musical art only half as much as me will instantly relate to.
Fluid Emancipation - Featuring some of the cheesiest vocal effects and melodies in the forty-five-plus years history of Laibach, this track is a serious obstacle. Will the whole rest of the album be like this and how can I possibly survive that? It's also a prime example of textual dichotomy. Is it a reflection on existiental questions of personal identity being reduced to marketable slogans or actually the first queer Laibach Disco hit noone had in their cards?
Singularity - The obstacle grows even higher. Laibach have always cited Classical motifs since their inception. Has it ever sounded as obnoxiously forced-happy as here? I doubt it. Unfortunarely I cannot even be mad about this, because the musical execution is completely validated by the lyrical context. "It's a world of echoes we can't break / Every tune's a copy or remake / We are dancing to the old refrain on the verge of singularity."
Resistencia - Is this the laibachification of Gigi d'Agostino? A rollercoaster between the poles of please shoot me immediately and wow, this is surprisingly not bad at all.
Love Machine - I am following the tracklist of the digital release here. The vinyl version contains all the same songs, but a lot of them in a different order. Tracks 4 and 5 for instance are switched, so we thankfully get "Love Machine" a bit earlier. This is finally just a good Pop song I can enjoy without further context. I can't help it, but I like both the arrangement and how it compliments the warm, slighty raspy voice of featured guest Slovian rapper/singer Senidah in duet with the usual sonorous spoken word bariton of Milan Fras.
Luigi Mangione - The murderer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thopsen - a deed the general public didn't feel too sorry about - receives a Western stand-off treatment with a mixture of Electronic and Country (as Laibach already explored it on "Love Is Still Alive") and Balkan hymn similar to "National Reservation". Strong.
Keep It Reel - Uptempo Electro Punk? This track featuring the singer of Koala Voice definitely throws me back to the "Spectre" (bonus) tracks "Eat Liver!" and "The Parade". Certified banger.
Yes Maybe No - Is it you, Kylie Minogue? How much Marina Mårtensson channels the Australian Pop starhere, is already a big plus in my book. Lyrically "Yes Maybe No", which refers to the hopefully growing jurisdictional acceptance of only yes meaning yes and the inherent misogyny in Pop, which we sometimes don't even notice any more. And it also has the album's phattest beat with the most delicious bass.
Allgorhythm - The first single. A ridiculous Hyper Pop overkill four-on-the-flooring orhodox self-proclaimed old-school Laibach purist straight into emergency hospitalization with a heart attack. So gad it's bood?
Das Göttliche Kind - Once again I prefer the order of songs on the vinyl version, where "Allgorhythm" opens side B and "Luigi Mangione" is only the ninth track, smoothly leading into the finale "Divine Child", which feels like another callback to "Love Is Still Alive", although not to the Americana part, but rather the German Krautrock influence. And weirdly enough despite the language barrier "Das Göttliche Kind" could also absolutely be a track on Janelle Monéa's "Dirty Computer".
Contentwise the song looks upon A.I. ("Alien Intelligence") with kraftwerkian ambivalence, the harshest judgement being: "Divine Child that we begot / That we cherished and guarded / You betrayed Ourselves / You backstabbed Ourselves."
All of this cannot be conclusively summarized in a neat bottom line or graded in school notes. It's too meta, too Laibach for that. What else is new?
Try asking me again after I will have seen how "Musick" translates onto the live stage! Unfortunately the recent first leg of their tour doesn't lead Laibach to Northern Germany yet, so I guess that will have to wait until October.
I didn't get too many releases falling into this category this year, so four already feels like a lot. Of course that doesn't change the objective truth of this little list. This is the one and only truth. Don't take it personal, but whatever you think is the best reissue of the year - you're wrong.
Ok, seriously now. I was a little bit divided about putting this new Laibach box on top, because their debut album has already been released in several forms, including the "Laibach Revisited" box set. Two of the three accompanying live albums in the box are already known too, while just one recent "We Forge The Future" performance and a DVD documentary are actually new entries into the collection. If this is all new to you however, this CD box (or its vinyl equivalent) is undoubtly a great document of the Slovene legends' early Industrial days forty years ago.
Four years after the digital release WV Sorcerer Productions finally gave us a physical release of Senyawa's unplugged album, which proves that even on an acoustic guitar instead of self-built electronic devices the Javanese Experimental Folk/Drone duo is just as comepelling as in its regular form. The vinyl release ist beautiful and not only includes lyrics, but also four previously unreleased bonus tracks. Magical.
Yes, in case you wondered, why this didn't show up in my TOP 7 of live albums - it's of course a reissue. And even though the two CD version probably is one of the least spectacular formats in which this Steven Wilson remix of this essential Pink Floyd recording (and the film which it scores) has come out, there's no doubt about the importance and continuing influence of this band in their maybe most creatively and temperamentally balanced era.
Ok, I'm cheating. These are two albums. But not only because of the similar, just mirrored cover artwork the 2015 and 2017 works of this mystical Doom trio feel like connected twin releases. The atmospheric longtracks of slow Experimental Metal drowned in Near Eastern and Dead Can Dance influences are already almost as compelling as later albums - and Heavy Psych Sounds just does beautiful colour vinyl variants, so the only hard decision of this reissue really was, which exact version to choose. Musically Wyatt E. are beyond any doubt a worthwhile addition to any collection anyway.
Once again there were many releases to choose from, so there are definitely more artists like for example Mono, Causa Sui, Ghostmass, Ad Nauseam or Wormrot who would have deserved a spotlight on this list. But there are lots of different kinds of live albums, which are hard to weigh against each other, from free improvisations to elaborate pieces of concept art, from vivid snapshots of a band at a seminal point in time to basically best of compilations with an audience - or the primarily pandemic era trend of streamed performances without a live audience.
I'm happy that my TOP 7, as incomplete as it feels, at least represents a good part of this diverseness.
Even though the visual side - which adds a lot to the total experience of this monumental Slovenian-Iranian collaboration of Laibach with composers, Avant-Garde vocal and accordeon groups and of course a whole symphonic orchestra from both countries - is missing, "Alamut" still stands out as a deeply moving creative beacon between Modern Classical Music, Experimental Folk and Harsh Industrial. For obvious reasons not performed in Tehran (yet), but recorded in Ljubljana in 2022, this show easily joins the ranks of Laibach's most exceptional musical achievements during their over four decades long career.
Who are Chat Pile? This recording from their biggest show up to that point during their first visit to Europe is the perfect answer. It sums up the quality and brutal intensity of their sludgy Post Hardcore / Noise Rock as well as their humour. To quote from my review: This live record will become a cult classic. Period. It certainly is special even among the huge catalogue of fantastic "Live at Roadburn" albums. If you've somehow missed the hype and only just heard about Chat Pile - just start here! - I second myself. This is a motherfucker!
On August 1st 2023 Yodok III played inside the Nidarosdomen cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. The premise was to improvise one uninterrupted almost hour-long piece of music on guitar, drums, tuba and flugabone - and of course the church's pipe organ. If there's a better way to fulfil this premise than this masterclass of Ambient Drone Post Free Jazz by Dirk Serries, Tomas Järmyr, Kristoffer Lo and guest Petra Bjørkhaug - I cannot for the life of me imagine how that could even be possible. Magical!
With three LPs and more than one and a half hours playing time Neptunian Maximalism's latest album once again leaves no doubt about the accuracy of the Belgian band's name. Based on concepts of Indian Classical music with appearances of according traditional instruments "The Rite Of The Unconquered Sun" is a larger than life meditation, voyage and earthquake of Drone, Doom, Ambient and Black Metal in three colossal Ragas.
In March 2023 Taiwanese Heavy Psychedelic Rockers Dope Purple teamed up with two guest musicians on saxophone and percussions for an intimate live recording session in front of a selected audience of friends. Their performance on these three jams however feels as if they had been energized by a stadium full of fans hungry for noisy cosmic ecstasy. All tracks are brilliant, but the yearning title track is hands down one of my favorite tunes of the year.
Good that these Japanese ladies and gentlemen can access a superhuman joy of playing, so you would never guess that this covid times recording misses the energy of a live audience. In fourteen absolutely mental tracks of incredible Zeuhl madness between Prog, Punk, Jazz Fusion, Opera, circus and Classical Music Koenji Hyakkei's masterful Magma worship fucks with your mind like nothing else.
There's no calibrated measurement system for cult. And if there was, Doom-ish Heavy Metal veterans Cirith Ungol, whose original run lasted from 1971 to 1991, would probably blow it up anyway. They didn't even ruin their reputation with their reunion, which was done for the right reasons and perfectly executed, resulting in lauded live activities and even great new studio albums. "Live at the Roxy" was recorded 2023 during the release show for "Dark Parade", features the whole album plus tons and tons of classics. No, this leaves nothing to be desired. Join the Legion!
There are certain albums which can crush any collecting completionist's financial stability, because it feels like they're just getting remixed, remastered, reissued in varying formats all the time*:
Pink Floyd - "The Dark Side of the Moon"
Dire Straits - "Brothers in Arms"
Fleedwood Mac - "Rumours"
The Kraftwerk catalogue after "Ralf und Florian" Anything Beatles or Queen...
And now after "Opus Dei" (recently remastered AND revisited) also Laibach's self-titled debut album?
LAIBACH - Laibach40 (4CD + DVD Box) (1985/2025)
Given that 1. this particular album is already a part of the "Laibach Revisted" box (the most expensive item in my whole music collection) and 2. there's not too much actually new material in this new fourty years anniversary set, it took me a while to consider if I actually needed it - and which version (five LP's or four CD's) would be the preferable one.
Pro vinyl: Two big Laibach boxes side by side would definitely look cool. Contra: Even though it's not nearly as expensive as the self-released "Revisited" box, it's still a sevenscore Euro (plus shipping) investment for a lot of stuff I already. Ultimately I went for the compact disc variant, which has the exact same musical content and extras, and seriously is beautiful enough for me.
The debut itself is included under its originally intended name "Nebo žari" ("The Sky Is Glowing") here. Like on all previously released versions the tracklist varies a little in the second half, but otherwise it's the same familiar essential Experimental Industrial classic.
Two of the three live albums in the box have also been released before:
"Ljubljana - Zagreb - Beograd", which documents Laibach's raw and provocative first Yugoslavian shows in 1982, hasn't even been in my collection for very long yet - but since it has been remastered and the last four pieces are all individual tracks now, there is at least a little improvement.
The same goes for the also remastered version of "M.B. December 21, 1984", a recording of the legendary show that officially never was, when the band was banned from live activities and forbidden to use their name. Just like the vastly different versions of "Država" on the previous CD this album is an excellent example of Laibach's versatility right from the start during their early years, when besides drums they were mostly relying on cheap self-made instruments and tape loops of samples from records to build their menacing wall of sound. Here it's especially the inclusion of a clarinet / trumpet player and Jazz improvisations, which still sticks out as a rare abnormality in their discography to this day.
The last CD finally brings us to the exlusive, previously unreleased part of this compilation. It's not the first album called "We Forge The Future", but actually an even more recent 2025 recording of another special show recreating Laibach's infamous scandal performance at the Zagreb Music Biennale 1983. And since modern Laibach calling back to their Eighties' mechanical Industrial days is always a treat and this show "Live at the Cuktama Gallery" is different enough from the 2017 re-enacting "Live at Reina Sofia", this disc was the crucial factor pro purchase for me. I just love these kinds of retro-historic performances featuring original members Dejan Knez and Ivan Novak back on stage. And since I'm of course a little bit sad that I've only just missed one of those at the band's 45th anniversary in their hometown Trblovje, this is at least a decent consolation prize.
The first years of Laibach are surrounded by a lot of both mundane and mythical lore. So while perceived contradictions may naturally arise, ultimately every serious attempt of digging into the history - from their inception, over the suicide of frontman Tomaž Hostnik, struggles with authorities, the "exile" in London and first European tour to the recording and very delayed release of their debut - adds new perspectives and thus other pieces of knowledge to the puzzle.
"Laibach40" does so with a booklet with recent and historic liner notes and even more intriguingly presented old and new insights on a DVD featuring the Slovene TV documentary "Music is the Art of Time - LP film Laibach" - plus another extra booklet dedicated to it.
This week I will finally get my long overdue first reading glasses, so I hopefully won't need the aid of my smartphone flashlight to actually read that stuff anymore. But apart from the small font the layout is fine. The whole solid box with seperate covers for each disc is a great item, which I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone who isn't already familiar with most of its musical content.
In case you already own three of the four albums I cannot unburden you from your personal decision, if it's worth spending your money for the rest - especially the vinyl box. I can only tell you that every single part of this box is convincing - and that you probably should decide soon, because the limited stock obviously won't last forever.
* DISCLAIMER: I haven't actually checked the accuracy of my "gut feeling" examples.
Ok, it's time for one of those collective write-ups again! Let's take a look at what has accumulated in the last weeks and months in the way of previously unreviewed small digital purchases and promos of 2025 releases:
GÛLDUR - Between the Moons, the Dead Rivers (2025)
We're easing ourselves into this slowly and steadily with an hour-long Ambient soundtrack for exploring mystical forgotten landscapes and ancient ruins. A lot of this mostly synth-based is beautiful, yet with a touch of eery dark suspension. And since there's not only a certain depressive bleakness in the song titles at play, as well as the Black Metal aesthetics of the artwork, yet the music has that certain nerdy, sometimes almost a bit cheesy tabletop role-playing game vibe and intentionally unpolished production, we don't ever call this Ambient, not even Dark Ambient, but Dungeon Synth!
Breaking this rule thrice is severly punished by either being whipped by a demon, being burned to a crisp by a dragon or being tickled by a horde of goblins! But no worries, despite its misty nocturnal qualities one witching hour of Gûldur's sonic pagan fantasy should be enough to heal you from any mental and bodily wounds those penalizations could cause.
LAIBACH (feat. BIJELO DUGME) - Die Kanone(2025)
Let's move from one hour of music to just three minutes:
Laibach have released a stomping short single celebrating both the fiftieth birthday of the famous Jugoslavian Folk Rock band Bijelo Dugme with a old school germanized cover version featuring the original artist - and somehow also the recent shift of German industry from cars to weapons, which has always been a good sign, right? (Please visualize this as the famous Anakin & Padme meme!).
The primitive sexual innuendo of lyrics like "I 'll buy a cannon / Someday, sometime / And then I'll be yours / Someday, sometime" is far from subtle, especially when delivered with such a pompous militaristic swing, which makes "Die Kanone" feel like a musical callback to "National Reservation" from Laibach's 1994 classic "NATO".
This song comes in stark contrast to the recent orchestral album "Alamut", which highlights a very different aspect of the Slovenian group's spectrum. Not top material for Laibach's eternal hall of fame, yet still a well executed, silly - yet somehow under the surface actually more serious than you want it to be - catchy little kitschy bombastic ditty.
CYNIC - Earth Is My Witness(2025)
Cynic's latest single actually is an old one, featuring both late band members Sean Malone and Sean Reinert. The very proggy "Earth Is My Witness" had been the bonus track on a special edition of the 2014 album "Kindly Bent To Free Us", which had just been too overpriced for me at the time. But now that this song has finally been released on its own, I gladly take it.
Of course the song could have easily fit on the regular album, but somehow the band had decided that it didn't fit with the overall flow of the album. I don't know... it may bear a little more resemblance to the Spiritual Prog Metal songwriting during the "Traced In Air" phase, but it absolutely wouldn't have bothered me on the album. No question, I'm happy it's finally out there as an official release.
FRENDZ - The Strain (2025)
The Canadian duo frenDZ' debut mini album "The Strain" is one of those releases which makes you think you have figured it all out after a couple of minutes - an Electronic instrumental depiction of a simple little dystopian Sci-Fi story - only to throw you the first curveball with a detour into contemporary Jazz including a smooth trumpet performance.
And as soon as the second track "Tricillium" starts with piano, even more brass and an inkling of Dub, yet then develops into a not quite synthwavy, but still very 80's soundtrack vibe, only to conclude in "Dark Side Of The Moon" Rock atmosphere, you know that anything could happen here. And it does!
Weirder, glitchier, more experimental Electronics, funky guitar licks, Berlin school Ambient mixed with Doom in the style of Pinkish Black, mr. bungleish upbeat Jazz Bass freak-outs, wild jumps from genre to genre all around. This highly entertaining half hour could hardly fly by faster. What a wild ride! There are even some arrangements which sound like Voivod, yet with a non-Metal instrumentation.
The latter should actually be the least surprising part of all, since one half of this project is none other than Voivod bassist Rocky Laroche, whose brilliant performance is mostly very different to what he usually does in the band, yet also impressively solidifies why he's the perfect match over there as well.
I don't know if it's the lack of a physical release, but this amazing side quest should attract way more attention than it's doing so far!
EXDIRECTORY - Vitamine(2025)
A much more 70's-heavy breakfast of Stoner, Prog and Psychedelic Rock is brought to us by the Cologne quintet Exdirectory. With unstoppable grooves, swirling organ (later also smooth electric piano) and space-battling guitars this band doesn't waste much time to jump into full wild action. Given the sheer amount of perfectly executed gradual playful shifts and sudden twists and turns in a relatively short time, it's actually quite remarkable that the whole three-track EP is taken from a completely improvised live session.
Even if you like your Psych to evolve at a more steady pace over longer distances the well-attuned chemistry of these guys is just undeniable. "Vitamine" definitely recommends Exdirectory as a band to look out for live.
mʊdʌki - The Labyrinth(2025)
Last but not least let's go oomph!oomph!oomph! with some very Experimental dystopian Electronic sounds from Belarussian producer (living in Czechoslovakia) Polina Khatsenka aka mʊdʌki!
This stuff definitely isn't the easiest material to listen to from this bunch, and over sixty minutes of these often very angular loops over stomping, yet not always reliable beats can either be either too damn demanding if you're not in the mood for a sonic post-apocalypse - or an in all its discomfort still hypnotic revelation. Weird and uneasy, but also undoubtly atmospheric. I cannot claim it doesn't intrigue me.
Shout-out to Stoned To Death, who are always very generous with free surprise promos, as I got the download for this - and a couple of older releases by Jah Cuzzi, Jan Tomáš and Klamm & Pelikán with my latest order of cassettes from the label!
Damn, half of the year is already over again! So here's a very quickly in the moment decided selection of my favorite fifteen albums of 2025 so far. No long write-ups, no distinction between live and studio releases. Just great music!
This is so impossible... more than one release I considered a TOP 5 candidate before is already missing here. But maybe those will return in six months, who knows?
Two new versions of a decades old album in one year - is that overkill?
After the remastered version of their 1987 classic "Opus Dei", which also included remastered remixes of the time plus sixteen live versions of songs from the album, in December Laibach also released another double album with actually newly recorded versions plus new remixes - "Opus Dei Revisited".
The obvious question: Is this even really necessary?
LAIBACH - Opus Dei Revisited (2LP) (2024)
Since the Slovenes appearantly are in the process of rehashing their whole discography phase by phase, let me extend this question accordingly!
As I have thouroughly discussed in my most-read review of this whole blog, the revisited versions of tracks from Laibach's self-titled debut and "Nova Akropola" are among the best and most laibach things, the band has ever done.
In my humble opinion everything the band has done afterwards however hardly needs to be reworked into completely new arrangements, at least as far as new studio recordings are concerned. Live Laibach have always been adapting their own material according to their recent sound anyway. And what we're hearing on the first half of this release is exactly that: the "Opus Dei" interpretations as the current line-up of the band with Milan Fras and Marina Mårtensson on shared lead vocal duty is performing it.
Laibach live 2024
Like I've reported from Copenhagen and Hanover I'm certainly happy with those new versions. But given that the original studio versions barely cried for improvements, Laibach may have changed the sound and instrumentation of the tracks, which sound less brute and more electronic now, but largely refrained from touching their structure or melodies. So this is far from the deconstruction and complete reshaping of their older material we heard on "Laibach Revisited". It's still interesting, especially on the B-side with its really exciting take on "Transnational", but ultimately this whole endeavour mostly falls under the category of welcome but unnecessary luxury.
So what does that mean going forward? While I'd love to see long-abandoned songs from any album return to Laibach's setlist, I doubt that any further release needs the revisited treatment. "Opus Dei" really feels as far as one should go and is already balancing on the edge of necessity.
Regarding remasters there's certainly more potential, but not that much too. As I have mentioned before "Let It Be" would be the one album, which I would really love to have remastered, since the original production just isn't that great. "Kapital" obviously asks for a huge box reissue, since the original LP, CD and cassette releases all had those different mixes, versions, even tracklists. So even though I have all three variants, I would wholeheartedly understand a special reissue in that case. Everything afterwards however should better be left untouched. From "N.A.T.O." on the productions all still hold up, while the need for any radical re-evaluation of the arrangements dwindles.
But back to the album at hand:
You might have noticed that I didn't say anything about the meaning and importance of "Opus Dei" yet. I didn't do so, because there had already been so many opportunities to write about "Leben heißt Leben", "Geburt einer Nation" and so on during the past year, that I just don't see the need to wring out more thoughts about the topic out of my head again. Laibach feel the same. They already had extensive liner notes accompanying the remastered release, so why do it once more? In consequence this is a slimmer package than the remasters of both "Opus Dei" and "Nova Akropola" (from 2023): no gatefold or booklet, just the once again updated cover artwork with the two records inside plus a little fridge magnet with the artwork. Which is nice, but hey Mute Records, I would have actually prefered a free download of the album instead! Why do more and more labels keep punishing buyers of vinyl versions this way?
Laibach live 2024
Apart from that at least the vinyl version doesn't miss any content compared to the CD this time. There are no bonus tracks, no full extra discs of music missing, which had been an issue with various Laibach albums before.
And speaking of bonus material: Sides C and D are actually just as important for "Opus Dei Revisited" as the first record - and if you're already content with having experienced the new band arrangements live they might even be the main reason to consider purchasing this album. Not the group, but original "Opus Dei" producer Rico Conning revisits the album's master tapes here to build new remixes, which explore the material in a variety of different ways, sometimes closer to Pop or Ambient, in other instances jumping wildly between moods and sounds between aggressive guitar noise and danceable beats. Again "Transnational" is a highlight, this time with obvious references to Kraftwerk's "Autobahn". But also "F.I.A.T.", the mighty finale of "How The West Was Won" or the fantastic Electronic transformation of "The Great Seal", which closes the album after a slightly altered running order, stand out.
So all in all, yes, it's hard to resist this release as a fan. Even though naught of this update was needed and it expectedly fails in clearing the high mark of similar predecessors, after all this still is a very worthwhile album based on an undeniable classic.
In hindsight it might have been more impressive to put all the material - remaster, remixes, revisited and live versions - into one big box. Yet given how long it took to make "Laibach Revisited" and how expensive that box got, this 2-album-solution probably was for the best.
And of course it's from the seemingly hyper-prolific band whose last 2024 album I haven't even covered yet... No signs of tiring in Slovenia!
LAIBACH - I Want To Know What Love Is (download) (2025)
Let's not even pretend that Laibach's latest single is among their most intellectually stimulating, conceptually deep works, when we all know that they only decided to play it, because they happened to love singing it in the tour bus.
I'm actually a little conflicted, because obviously Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is" is a horribly catchy monument of terrible über-schmaltz. On the other hand experiencing it at my last Wacken Open Air in 2016 is actually among my favorite live music moments ever.
And maybe that's the thing: Even though the arrangements by Laibach and Silence, the vocal duet of Milan Fras and Marina Mårtensson, as well as the big mix by Marc Urselli are all great, this song works better as a surprise in the context of their show - as I could witness in Copenhagen and Hanover myself.
However... I can actually apply the same spirit here, just enjoying this release as one more fun proof for the band's incredibly unlimited range, both in sound as in seriousness. And again: There isn't actually anything musically to frown about
The download consists of three mixes, one being extended with the so very atypical live ending, and the Distorted Love Mix, which is the darkest, certainly most Laibach version. Damn, the more I listen to all of those, the more hooked I am. This song is just pure evil. All hail our Dark Lords Foreigner!
"Leben heißt Leben", "Geburt einer Nation", "Leben-Tod", "F.I.A.T."... Laibach's 1987 watershed album "Opus Dei" has been remastered and with a really improved sound now reveals many details which could easily be missed in the original. New artwork, extensive liner notes, a couple of also remastered remixes and a full bonus CD with many great live versions of "Opus Dei" tracks, recorded between 1987 and 1992, complete this absolutely worthwhile 2CD box. (Don't mistake this remastered release with "Opus Dei Revisited"! That's another album with actually new arrangements and mixes of this classic.)
In honour of the late saxophone pioneer's eightieth birthday Repertoire Records re-issued Barbara Thompson's 1980 live show of amazing Jazz Rock with sprinkles of Funk, Latin and Oriental influences and pinches of schmaltz and Disco and added an at least equally compelling bonus compilation focussing on her work on flute. With liner notes from her daughter Ana Gracey this 2CD Fusion treasure chest comes with a lot of love.
New cover, new master. All signs are on having a booming blast with ultra-heavy Electronics of Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick on their dark and harsh 2001 Industrial-infused Hip Hop classic. Their Brotherhood with a whole bunch of rappers has aged extremely well and should still fill fans of Clipping., Dälek or the classic "Judgement Night" soundtrack with droning joy. Monstrous!
Does this even still count as a reissue? Jazz In Britain took the only and relatively obscure 1974 cassette album "One, Two, Three_ _ _ Go!" of Jazz pianist Gordon Beck's band Gyroscope and beefed it up to an almost four hour chronology of demos, live shows and radio broadcasts on three CDs. Even though the sound quality of these recordings isn't always ideal, there's no escape from the magic of his boundlessly talented and creative band. A stunning and vivid document of British Jazz history.
Blue-ified in true Jazz classic fashion this first ever vinyl pressing of Yazz Ahmed's 2011 debut album is a true beauty inside out. The trumpet player does her first steps in merging Miles Davis-inspired Western Jazztradition with her Bahraini roots and already shines as a unique creative voice in both impressive band arrangements and magical duets with congenius bass player Janek Gwishada.
