Laibach to Release 'Opus Dei Revisited;' Share Album Track

LAIBACH continue a 12-month salute to their classic 1987 album Opus Dei with striking new versions that radically interrogate the source material. Opus Dei Revisited is set for release on Mute on December 13, 2024 on double vinyl and double CD.

Opus Dei (translation: God’s Work) was the band’s first album for Mute, garnering acclaim and throwing a worldwide spotlight on the unique Slovenian collective. Opus Dei Revisited presents two distinct new versions of the work, allowing the band to challenge perceptions and expectations, in keeping with the original where they reimagined Opus’ “Live Is Life” (as “Opus Dei”) and Queen’s “One Vision” ( as “Geburt einer Nation”), two key highlights of the album.

The first disc of the Double LP / CD is a reworking by Laibach themselves which was initially crafted, and then refined, for their current Opus Dei Revisited Tour. Never a band to take an easy route to any destination, the challenge to re-evaluate, reinterpret and rebuild the tracks was an artistic imperative. The band were so pleased with the results they entered the studio immediately after Phase 1 of the Opus Dei Revisited Tour was completed to capture the results.

For the second disc they invited Rico Conning (Wire, Pere Ubu, Swans, Front 242, William Orbit), who produced and mixed the 1987 version, to also revisit the material. Conning was given an open brief to explore new territories with what was on the original master tapes. The results emphasize and eviscerate in equal measure, bringing wide-ranging new perspectives and a strident aural attitude. While many expected elements of the artistic masterpiece remain, they sit in exciting new landscapes and frames, which are anything but expected.

To coincide with the announcement of Opus Dei Revisited they have shared a taster track from the album, “Geburt einer Nation” (Rico Conning’s Inner Ear RMX 2024). 

Laibach formed in the industrial town of Trbovlje (in what was then Yugoslavia). Founded in the year that the country’s founding father Tito died, the band rose to fame to become one of the most internationally acclaimed bands to have come out of the former Communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Before the release of their third studio album, Opus Dei, the band had been censored and banned in Yugoslavia, had embarked on the Occupied Europe Tour (which included 16 dates in 8 Eastern and Western Bloc countries), appeared as extras in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, recorded a Peel Session for the BBC and performed in Michael Clark’s dance company production, No Fire Escape from Hell. With no compromise, the band have continued to carve a singular presence with performances, albums, scores and, in 2017, a documentary about their ground-breaking performances in North Korea in 2015 was released. In 2019 they launched their interpretation of The Sound of Music, conceived during their trip to North Korea and in 2020 celebrated four decades with Laibach Revisited. An album of music from the acclaimed theatrical production Wir sind das Volk (ein Musical aus Deutschland) based on the writings of Heiner Müller (1929 -1995) followed in 2022. The band also announced recently that diplomatic negotiations are underway for a performance in Tehran of Alamut, an original symphonic work composed in collaboration with Iranian composers and performers. This year Laibach performed their score to a new theatrical production of Bertolt Brecht’s Saint Joan of the Stockyards, by ErosAntEros, with five performances of the show scheduled for November. The University of Salerno in Italy also recently announced a course, See You in Hell - The Laibachs between three Dissolutions: Yugoslavia, Europe, the World, which will delve into the history of Laibach.

Opus Dei Revisited is a companion work to the LP/2CD Opus Dei (Remastered) album, released in May 2024 by Mute.

Opus Dei Revisited will be released on Mute on 2LP / 2CD and digitally on December 13, 2024. Pre-order the album HERE.

LAIBACH – OPUS DEI TOUR:

2024:

9/14/2024 - Portorož, Avditorij, SI
10/4/2024 - Split, Club Porat, HR 
10/5/2024 - Zagreb, Boogaloo, HR
10/10/2024 - Mežica, ND Mežica, Big Hall, SI
10/11/2024- Budapest, Dürer Kert, HU
10/12/2024 - Leipzig, Felsenkeller, DE
10/13/2024 - Prague, Roxy, CZ
10/15/2024 - Dordrecht, Bibelot, NL
10/16/2024 - Arnhem, Luxor, NL
10/17/2024 - Vauréal, Le Forum 2, FR
10/18/2024 - Toulouse, Le Metronum, FR
10/19/2024 - Wavre, La Sucrerie, BE
10/20/2024 - Bochum, Christuskirche, DE
10/22/2024 - Hannover, Music Pavillion, DE

2025:

2/16/2025 - Krakow, Kwadrat, PL
2/18/2025- Ostrava, Barrak, CZ
2/19/2025 - Vienna, Arena, AT
2/20/2025 - Jena, F-Haus, DE
2/21/2025 - Sittard, Poppodium Volt, NL
2/22/2025 - London, Islington Assembly Hall, UK
2/23/2025 - Manchester, Ritz, UK
2/24/2025 - Southampton, The 1865, UK
2/25/2025 - Bristol, Trinity Centre, UK
2/27/2025 - Lausanne, Les Docks, CH
2/28/2025 – Bologna, Link, IT
3/4/2025 - Skopje, Macedonian Philharmonic, MK
3/5/2025 - Athens, Gazarte, GR
3/6/2025 - Sofia, Pirotska 5, BG
3/7/2025 - Bucharest, Quantic Club, RO 
3/8/2025 - Beograd, Dom Omladine, RS

CD 1 – Opus Dei Revisited 2024

1. Leben heißt Leben RE 
2. Geburt einer Nation RE
3. Leben-Tod RE 
4. F.I.A.T. RE 
5. Transnational RE 
6. How the West Was Won RE 
7. The Great Seal RE 
8. Opus Dei RE 

CD 2 – Rico Conning’s Inner Ear RMX

1. Leben heißt Leben RMX 
2. Geburt einer Nation RMX
3. Leben-Tod RMX 
4. F.I.A.T. RMX 
5. Opus Dei RMX 
6. Transnational RMX 
7. How the West Was Won RMX 
8. The Great Seal RMX 

Photo courtesy of Laibach
 

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