Laibach are best known for their cover versions of pop songs which have been rerendered in such a way as to reveal formerly hidden or unnoticed messages, often commenting on political totalitarianism or rock stardom’s own forms of dictatorship. This was done most successfully on Opus Dei, especially on their cover of One Vision. Named Geburt Einer Nation after D. W. Griffith’s classic film The Birth of a Nation, Queen’s lyrics are sung in German to a strident military beat. All of a sudden lines like “one flesh, one blood, one true religion” start sounding suspiciously familiar...
However the bulk of Laibach’s output is their own work. Their own early experiments with totalitarian ambiguity led to their being outlawed in then-Communist Yugoslavia; their name was made illegal so the band resorted to using their black-cross emblem on posters instead. To this day their work deals with similar ideas but frequently Laibach reference their own legendary status and tongue-in-cheekily play with the kinds of in-jokes a band accrues in over 25 years of work.
Laibach’s musical style has varied a lot over the years. They began as avant-garde industrial musicians, producing what could best be described as ambient noise but soon discovered the joys of the martial rhythm. Having produced a couple of albums of heavy martial industrial music, they began to expand sonically. Following the collapse of Yugoslavia their difficult but rewarding album Kapital included hip-hop influences among many others and NATO borrowed from techno while keeping the bombastic atmosphere. The next offering Jesus Christ Superstars came after quite a hiatus and it may have shocked a lot of people with its balls-out metal guitar riffs. The 2003 album WAT returns to a more electronic sound; working with techno producer umek has produced a slightly odd album of electro beats.
Volk was released on October 20, 2006, preceded by the single Anglia. The album contains 14 songs composed and produced together with Silence, inspired by national anthems.
2008 Laibach released new album, titled Kunst der Fuge. This album is the laibachian interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's work The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge). The majority of the material has been created already in 2006 and premierly performed the same year on June the 1st at Bachfest festival in Leipzig.
VOLKSWAGNER is the title of a musical project which was realized in collaboration between Laibach and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra (2009). Laibach also cooperated with the composer and conductor Izidor Leitinger on this project, and it was decided that together they would compose a work which will in a specific manner interpret some of Wagner's better known musical motifs and combine them into a unified symphonic electronic suite.
From a formal point of view, the collaborating artists have decided to seek in Wagner the rudiments of modernism, which first through Mahler, Bruckner, and Debussy, and subsequently through Schöenberg, Berg, and Webern, developed into the core of the jazz music of the sonic experimentalists, such as Miles Davis and Sun Ra, and to upgrade them with the ambient electronic spectrum that has been developing over the last three decades. In addition, the suite will address the history of the 20th century – modernism crossbred with pop art.
4.4. 2012 a movie titeled Iron Sky was released. Laibach in collaboration with Ben Watkins as a co-writer and producer of the score provided soundtrack for Moon Nazi Invasion in Iron Sky.
Official Laibach website: www.laibach.org
B Mashina
Laibach Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Only one day
We are leaving the others
We're going away
Today we all steal
Animals we are
Possession is lost
Our souls are from the wild
And wings to reach the sky
Let the sun fall into the ocean,
Let the earth erupt in flame
It is enough to have the strength
And knowledge
To raise our dream machines
Into the sky
Let them sleep who do not know
The final day is here
The very last
And we leave at dawn
Millions of machines on nitroglycerin
Thunder in us
There is no force no money and no power
To stop us now and change our fate
Before we rise
Now every problem is destroyed
We raise our hands and bodies to the peak
Into the Universe - towards the stars we go
Sending machines up to the sky
(Chorus)
Machines we are sending to the skies
Above us all
And leave behind those who don't know
Of the final day
We leave in sleep those who don't know
(and) we leave at dawn
We are driven by the be -machine
(Wild be -machine - that never stops)
The song "B Mashina" by Laibach is a powerful and thought-provoking piece of music that speaks to the primal and wild nature of humanity. The lyrics paint a picture of a world on the brink of destruction, where only one day remains before the end. The singer declares that they are leaving, that they are animals who steal, and that they have lost possession of their own souls. However, despite all of this, the song is a celebration of the power and strength of the human spirit, and of our ability to rise up and conquer even in the darkest of times.
Line by Line Meaning
Only one day is left
The end is near, there is only one day left
Only one day
We have very little time left
We are leaving the others
We are parting ways with those who don't understand us
We're going away
We are leaving this world
Today we all steal
We are taking what we need by force
Animals we are
We are wild and untamed like animals
Possession is lost
Material things are meaningless when we leave this world
Our souls are from the wild
Our spirits are untamed and free
And wings to reach the sky
We have the ability to transcend and go beyond
Let the sun fall into the ocean,
The end of the world is near
Let the earth erupt in flame
Everything is going to be destroyed
It is enough to have the strength
We have the power to achieve our dreams
And knowledge
We have the wisdom to know what to do
To raise our dream machines
We are building something that will take us beyond this world
Into the sky
To go beyond our limitations
Let them sleep who do not know
Those who are ignorant will be left behind
The final day is here
The end of the world is near
The very last
This is the end
And we leave at dawn
We are leaving this world as the sun rises
Millions of machines on nitroglycerin
We have created powerful machines
Thunder in us
We are filled with energy and power
There is no force no money and no power
Nothing can stop us
To stop us now and change our fate
We are determined to achieve our goals
Before we rise
We will not be stopped
Now every problem is destroyed
We have overcome all obstacles
We raise our hands and bodies to the peak
We are reaching the pinnacle of our achievement
Into the Universe - towards the stars we go
We are leaving this world and ascending beyond
Sending machines up to the sky
Our machines will take us beyond this world
Machines we are sending to the skies
We are building machines that will take us beyond this world
Above us all
We will transcend beyond everyone's expectations
And leave behind those who don't know
Those who are ignorant will be left behind
Of the final day
The end of the world
We leave in sleep those who don't know
Those who are ignorant will be left behind
We are driven by the be-machine
We are motivated by our deepest desires
(Wild be-machine - that never stops)
Our passion and drive will never cease
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@user-jw8jn7lh8c
we might not agree about how Iron Sky should have been approached, but we can agree that it shouldn't ever die.
@62cky4powerthirst
I honestly like the idea as a commedy, to make it a highend action blockbuster, it would probably require a couple hundred million. I'm just thankful we got something.
@douglasalfseike3867
We all dance!
@bigwhiteyeti
My god.... this is one of the most powerful industrial songs I think I've ever heard. Beautiful.
@TheB00tyWarrior
If the story of Noah's ark could be summed up, this song does a great job
@Ienthill
This is a complete work of art. The choice of clips, the montage, the music - they're all in synergy, enhancing and complementing each other. This song is several times less awesome without this video, go figure. The ethereal beauty of the nuclear explosion coupled with the horus gives me goosebumps no matter how many times in a row I watch it.
@TheB00tyWarrior
Splitting the atom ain't a fucking joke
@kurackurackurac
This is an English cover of Siddharta's song B mašina by Laibach. Both groups are Slovenian. Siddharta is a more or less and ordinary teenage dramatic rock band (thus this end of days B machine song) while Laibach have a much longer, artistic and serious history. They were formed in the time of the decline of Yugoslavia and our country's struggles for independence.
@Hundrings
I get insane chills while listening to the last 30 seconds of this song.. So poetic and strong.. I don't know exactly what it's about, but it feels like the song has a cause.
@mnabil06
3:25 Machines we're sending to the sky(to the sky) above us all And leave behind those who don't know(who don't know) Of the final day We leave in sleep those who don't know (and) we leave at dawn We're driven by the B-machine that never stops