Artist: Laibach
Title: Iron Sky
Genre: OST
Release Date: 30th April 2012
Label: Mute/EMI
Album Review
The new album of the legendary Slovenian band, LAIBACH, might come as a surprise to the general public. The band was asked to compose the soundtrack of Timo Vuorensola’s “Iron Sky”, a sci-fi comedy about Moon Nazis attacking the Earth based on conspiracy theories about the “secret weapons and plans” of the Third Reich, theories which in the beginning of the 21st century have found a new audience to be addressed to. I haven’t watched the movie so I have no clue if the director managed to succeed in his goal to ridicule some concepts of modern politics, though I’ve the feeling that a director like Paul Verhoeven would be more suitable for this task.
In any case, and in order to return to this OST, LAIBACH gladly undertook the suggested task. The band knows very well that as far it concerns the totalitarianism no baddie had the number of the beast on his forehead. They all were the products of History. It is striking that this truism often goes unnoticed in the typical Hollywood movies. Furthermore, the band is aware that the mechanical reproduction of the works of Art reduces their audience to consumers of Art, a shift that can be correlated with the expressions of the systemic terror. In other words, as Adorno said, "What is human in culture -- what is nearest of all, which represents their own affair against the world -- has become alien to human beings. They make common cause with the world against themselves, and what is most alienated of all -- the ubiquity of goods, their own reconfiguration into appendages of machinery -- turns into the deceptive image of nearness. The great works of art and philosophical constructions have remained uncomprehended not because of their all too great distance from the core of human experience, but for the opposite, and it is easy enough to trace the incomprehension back to an all too great understanding: the shame of participation in universal injustice, which would become overpowering, as soon as one permitted oneself to understand it. Thus they cling to what mocks them, by confirming the mutilated form of their essence through the smoothness of its own appearance". (1)
The band also comprehends perfectly well that in order to show the cultural component of the alienated culture, to show the pervasive totalitarian aspects of our modern times you have to run throughout the 20th century in terms of music, and to sculpture them, so-to-speak, so the audience might feel the horror which is presented mostly as the “fun” part of the cultural corporations. In the process of this realisation the band mixes music from the 30’s and the 50’s, till the Industrial, with some hints of Wagner, Rap, militaristic samples, and movie dialogues. The problem is that this soundtrack is inextricably connected with the film. Whatever direction the band takes is cancelled by this close association. More than likely you’ll end up liking the OST more than the movie but that’s irrelevant. This CD is about Moon Nazis salivating to conquer the Earth. The band is orientated to create a feeling of “shock” to their audiences but there’s no greater shock than the feeling that the band fell into the trap which so carefully planned from the beginning. Indeed there are some great songs here but exactly this fragmentation signifies the subordination of the band to the demands of not only the film but the OST genre for sure. The use of the “We Come In Peace” in their world tour, far from being an ironic observation for the cultural and political imperialism as a perennial form of dominion, stands only as a ludicrous remark of a possibly ludicrous movie.
(1) Theodor Adorno "Minima Moralia: Reflections on a Damaged Life", Verso Books, ch.96.
Tracklist
01. B – Mashina (Iron Sky Prequel)
02. Take Me To Heaven
03. Problems, Big Time! / Schwarze Sonne
04. Classroom (Where Are We From)
05. Kameraden, Wir Kehren Heim!
06. Ein Spion Von Der Erde
07. Sauerkraut
08. Washington’s Escape
09. Dr. Richter’s Laboratory
10. Vivian’s Untergang
11. Klaus And Renate
12. In The Machine
13. Renate And Washington At The Lab / Albinising Operation
14. Nazi Expedition To Earth
15. Renate’s Surprise
16. Peace Lovin’ Brother Rap
17. The Good Times For The Bad People
18. Renate’s Message Of Peace
19. The Miracle In White House
20. The Answer To The Question
21. The Moon Nazis Are Coming
22. 125′ Later Ragtime
23. A Good War Blues (Klaus And Vivian)
24. Die Flotte Ist Bereit
25. Der Führer’s Last Waltz
26. Meteorblitzkrieg Begins
27. Ready To Face The Music (Counterattack)
28. UN Security Council Confessions
29. Space Battle Suite
30. James And Renate Inside The Götterdämmerung
31. The United States Of America Does Not Negotiate With Terrorists
32. Moon Attack
33. Götterdämmerung Muss Fliegen
34. Feuer Frei!
35. Fight Between Washington And Dr. Richter
36. Klaus And Renate’s Final ‘Rendezvous’
37. The Fall Of Götterdämmerung
38. America
39. Under The Iron Sky
40. End Title (We Leave In Peace)
Line-up
Eber
Saliger
Dachauer
Keller
Websites
http://www.laibach.org/ / https://www.facebook.com/Laibach
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 6
Sound: 9
Total: 7.5 / 10
Buy the album here!
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