Laibach — Opus Dei (CD boxset)
Released in the year 1987 Opus Dei was the third studio album from Slovenian/ Yugoslav avant-garde music collective Laibach. It was the band's first album to be released by the Mute label, and it saw the collective adding slightly more approachable/ at times camp/ pomp edges to their blend of martial industrial & neoclassical dark wave- though there were still the quirky/ weird touches here ‘n’ there. From Mute, here we have a two-CD set- bringing the original album/ three bonus tracks, a sixteen-track live disc, and a twenty-eight inlay booklet.
The set becomes presented in a flipside card box- inside we find the two CD, each in their own card sleeve. The inlay booklet takes in seventeen pages of in-depth notes/ write-up about the band/ time- as well as a good selection of pictures of full credits.
The original eight-track album appeared in March of 1987- going on to become one of the most influential industrial albums of all time- inspiring/informing the likes of Ministry, Rammstein, and many others. The album opens with “Leben heißt Leben” which is the band's cover of Austrian pop-rock band Opus's “Live Is Life”. Opening with the sound of marching/ clapping- before breaking into tight marching martial drums, meaty horn samples, rising pop synths, and Germanic vocals- which blend chorused male & stern leads, with a surprising breakout of scrawling rock guitars appearing towards the end of the track.
Moving through the original first side we have “Geburt Einer Nation”- which of all things a cover of Queen's “One Vision”. Once again the track gets strange new/dramatic pomp life- with stabbing keyboard horns, darting synth strings, tick-tocking electro beats, and stern-to-light playful Germanic male vocals. Finishing off the first side is “F.I.A.T.” which is a decidedly grand if off-kilter blend of dramatic synth orchestration, tick-tocking electro beats, grand & swooning strings, brooding warbling horn sample, and spoken word elements about not being able to win a war.
In the second half of the album, we move from “Trans-National” with its crashing ‘n’ baying sampled horn work, darting industrial beat ‘n’ guitars, and macho-yet-camp gruff male vocals singing in English. Onto the dramatic & pomp heavily sampled orchestrated, tight smarting percussion, and grand/ gruff English vocals of “Opus De( Life Is Life)” which is another take on the Opus track. The original album plays out with “The Great Seal” which is all about layered trumpeting samples, pomp marching percussion, and sampled grand orchestration.
The three bonus tracks on the first disc come in the form of two different versions/mixes of “Geburt Einer Nation”, and one of “Leben heißt Leben”.
The second disc is a sixteen-track -live compilation bringing together live recordings of album tracks from between the years 1987 and 1989. This is fine- showing the band doing subtle different takes on the tracks- though I’d say don’t play directly after the first disc, as of course there is a fair bit of repetition.
All in all, it’s great to see Opus Dei getting this double CD boxset release- with informative/interesting new liner notes, and a rewarding enough selection of live tracks from the album.