Laibach - Alamut (2025) (Hi-Res)

Classical music influences like choral passages and Wagnerian horn work are never far away from Laibach's palette, so it's fitting that they'd now turn their vast energies to a symphony of sorts. Alamut is the culmination of a collaboration with A/POLITICAL and two Iranian composers, Idin Samimi Mofakham and Nima A. Rowshan. It's based on an 11th century Persian tale whose modern retelling by Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol has influenced such cultural heavyweights as William S. Burroughs and Hawkwind; it also inspired the video game Assassin's Creed. Alamut mixes the poetry of Omar Khayyam with the band's belief that "cultural and political differences in these complex times must be overcome through profoundly open cooperation, against all odds." Laibach and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra are bolstered by the Iranian-based Human-Voice Ensemble, and two Slovenian ensembles—Gallina Vocal Group and the 60-piece AccordiOna accordion orchestra.

This sprawling, ambitious work opens with strident horns and rumbles of timpani in the first movement, "Overture." Its rises and falls leads into the contemplative "Secret Gardens," where twinkling bells mix with vocals that are, according to the band, "basically ambient improvisations, based on classical Persian poetry." Artillery-like percussion is the major feature of "Fedayeen," while ghostly voices swarm and echo through "Transition," which rises to a cacophonous climax. While Laibach's hilarious and disturbing song-for-song cover of the Beatles' Let It Be remains their best-known work in the west, it's in the thundering, angry, otherworldly assaults of sample-filled albums like 1987's Opus Dei where their trademark croaked spoken word vocals were first perfected. Laibach's growled lyrics in "Meditation I" precede the more exploratory "Doors of Perception," where a low mix of synths, water samples, and phantom vocals create an emotionally uneasy atmosphere. Alamut closes with the expansive "Metaverse"—where frightened voices and footsteps mix effectively with silence—and the nearly 20-minute "Meditation II & Epiloguem." The latter is full of mass violin sounds, blaring horns, and Laibach's growled and whispered expressions, which coalesce into a roaring finale that transitions into voices that gather for a hushed but hopeful ending. Formidable and aspiring, Alamut is a towering, if demanding, union of classical scale and dark metallic murmurings. © Robert Baird

Tracklist
1 Overture
2 Secret Gardens
3 Fedayeen
4 Transition
5 Meditation I
6 War
7 Doors of Perception
8 Metaverse
9 Meditation II & Epilogue