Search - Laibach :: Kapital

Awe inspiring

09/13/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I would rate this much maligned album as Laibach's finest and one of the most compelling of the late 20th century. Many people have criticized the album for lacking in content; obviously they have not bothered to translate the songs that are sung in German, French and Italian or to attempt decoding the band's ingenious use of samples, all of which served to produce a stunning conceptual piece on the tensions that these Slovenians could see boiling over over in post-Communist Yugoslavia, and indeed, Europe and global society in general. To wit, the album begins with the actual sounds of allied planes on their bombing runs over Dresden in '44, brilliantly foreshadowing the imminent return of NATO (i.e. allied) bombers to once again quench a brutal nationalist uprising in Europe. Or in the album's final moments, with worker slaves from George Lucas's THX-1138 calling for "a new unity" over what seems to be Nazi era Germanic singing, with Laibach begging the question: are we condemned to repeat history? The album is brilliant musically as well, with an eclectic mix of industrial, techno and breakbreat rhythms to accompany Laibach's dramatic use of strings and horns. This certainly is not easy listening; the album requires great concentration and a willingess to mix history, politics and philosophy with your music (an appreciation for post-modernist ambiguity won't hurt either.) All in all, a heavily recommended album. For further exploration of the Laibach phenomena the albums Nova Akropola and Opus Dei are also remarkable."

Criminal how this album has been ignored for so long

bognine harbrush | Darlington, county durham. god forgive me. | 10/19/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am truely dissapointed, that no one in the music industry,has named-dropped this album yet.
I mean, consider when this album was released, never mind the time before the concept of it began; in the minds of these creative souls. I recall awaiting the release of this album and being used to the sounds of Laibach well before 1992, found myself listening to a sound that I had never heard before, this LP was released.Here I am, in 2001, listening to the album for the million'th time, still finding new treasures in it.
The sure depth of the sound recording itself. The clarity of sound and sculpture. The amazing forsight in future music. Hell, no! Inventing the sound of the future.There is Trip-Hop. There is Tricky darkness, to an already created trip-hop landscape.
There are classical blends, that almost make this album "The Ultimate Musical Concept Album", ever!
There are Barry Adamson, Soundtrack for the Mind moments, but most of all. This is a definitive Laibach sounding Recording!Any music lover, will find beauty in this Album.
Buy it, treasure it. But most of all. Share it with everybody who loves music."

Collectors Item

pepper25 | Texas | 07/07/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In all honesty this is the album that fans unfamiliar with Laibach should buy first. From the Friday the 13th sounding Wirtschaft ist Tot to the pre-Prodigy hip hop influenced Hymn to the Black Sun Kapital doesnt stop. The rolling drums and choral vocals of Entartete Welt are more than a little catchy. Illumination and the melodic Everlasting Union begin the journey into Laibach's eastern European stylizing. Light on lyrics but gargantuan on music Kapital rates in my book as one of the best industrial albums of 1992 and all of the early ninties for that matter."