Laibach - Volk

by Eddie Robson

Much credit is due to Slovenian avant-rock heroes Laibach

"Each track delves into the militaristic and imperialistic past of each nation, and looks at the present to show us how little we’ve all moved on. Naturally Britain doesn’t escape this: "So you still believe you’re ruling the world?" they ask"

After more than a quarter of a century as an active band, much credit is due to Slovenian avant-rock heroes Laibach for being able to come up with such a clever and passionate album as ‘Volk’.

It’s not so much a concept album as a high-concept album: each track is named after a country and takes as its basis a national anthem for that country (concluding with one for the theoretical state of NSK). This makes it perhaps more melodic than you might expect from this band.

Lyrically, each track delves into the militaristic and imperialistic past of each nation, and looks at the present to show us how little we’ve all moved on. Naturally Britain doesn’t escape this: "So you still believe you’re ruling the world?" they ask on ‘Anglia’.

There’s an irony in the fact that, although Laibach scatter messages across the album’s sleeve about how the English language is colonising the world – noting that globally successful pop acts like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have done more to bolster this dominance than colonialism ever did – most of this album is sung in English, because it’s clearly the best way to get their message across. This is a compromise worth making, however, because whether you agree with it or not, theirs is a message worth hearing.

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