Laibach is one of the pioneering bands for the industrial scene, not only when it comes to music, also their (controversial) imagery has had a deep impact on the genre. Even nowadays bands still make use of their heritance. The band themselves also think it is still interesting to play the same music and stage the same show.
WAT is their first album since Jesus Christ Superstars from 1996 and sounds quite familiar. The real industrial feel is gone while the album is dominated by pounding Teutonic beats. After listening to WAT it might be clear to everyone where Rammstein draw their inspiration from. Or might it be the case that Laibach is looking for chart success through appealing to the Rammstein
audience? In any way, despite the Wagnerian bombastic sound and military association, that are still present in their music, a fact is that WAT is a very accessible album to Laibach standards.
Dancefloor anthems like the D.A.F. (‘Der Mussolini) inspired ‘Tanz mit Laibach’ and ‘Das Spiel ist aus’ are in the vein of many contemporary gothic bands. Luckily there are also a few more traditional sounding tracks like the opening song ‘B Mashina’ and ‘Anti-semitism’. Especially the last song is reminiscent of older work by the group.
WAT is not a bad album but it is not original and does not really add something to the bands repertoire. If the band wants to prove it relevance after twenty years they should come up with something better than this.
