“Opus Dei is a masterpiece of its genre”
– from the book “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die” (edited by Robert Dimery)
Slovenian collective LAIBACH have released Opus Dei Revisited – collection of new versions which radically interrogate the source material – on vinyl and digitally (with the CD following on 14 Feb 2025), completing a series of releases that celebrates their classic 1987 album Opus Dei. This salute to an album described by MOJO as “audacious” continues into 2025 with a series of European dates that includes London, Manchester, Southampton and Bristol in February – full details below.
Listen to ‘Leben heißt Leben (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)’:
Opus Dei (translation: God’s Work) was the band’s first album for Mute, garnering acclaim and throwing a worldwide spotlight on the unique 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.
The first disc 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 emphasise and eviscerate in equal measure, bringing wide ranging new perspectives and a strident aural attitude. Whilst many expected elements of the artistic masterpiece remain, they sit in exciting new landscapes and frames, which are anything but expected.
Laibach formed in the industrial town 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, performed in Michael Clark’s dance company production, No Fire Escape from Hell, as well as in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which premiered in 1987 at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. With no compromise, the band have continued to carve a singular presence with concerts, 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 and the band 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 (10 shows), by ErosAntEros, and the University of Salerno in Italy recently announced a course, See You in Hell – The Laibachs between three Dissolutions: Yugoslavia, Europe, the World, which delved into the history of Laibach.
Opus Dei Revisited is out now on double vinyl and digitally, with the double CD edition following on 14 February 2025.
OPUS DEI REVISITED TRACKLISTING
VINYL
Opus Dei Revisited 2024
A1. Leben heißt Leben RE
A2. Geburt einer Nation RE
A3. Leben-Tod RE
A4. F.I.A.T. RE
B1. Transnational RE
B2. How the West Was Won RE
B3. The Great Seal RE
B4. Opus Dei RE
Rico Conning’s Inner Ear RMX 2024
C1. Leben heißt Leben RMX
C3. Leben-Tod RMX
C4. F.I.A.T. RMX
D1. Opus Dei RMX
D2. Transnational RMX
D3. How the West Was Won RMX
D4. The Great Seal RMX
CD
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
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
LAIBACH – OPUS DEI REVISITED TOUR
2025
- 16 Feb – Krakow Kwadrat, PL [tickets]
- 18 Feb- Ostrava, Barrak, CZ [tickets]
- 19 Feb – Vienna, Arena, AT [tickets]
- 20 Feb – Jena, F-Haus, DE [tickets]
- 21 Feb – Sittard, Poppodium Volt, NL [tickets]
- 22 Feb – London, Islington Assembly Hall, UK [tickets]
- 23 Feb – Manchester, Ritz, UK [tickets]
- 24 Feb – Southampton, The 1865, UK [tickets]
- 25 Feb – Bristol, Trinity Centre, UK [tickets]
- 27 Feb – Lausanne, Les Docks, CH [tickets]
- 28 Feb – Bologna, Link, IT [contact for tickets]
- 4 March – Skopje, Macedonian Philharmonic MK [tickets]
- 5 March – Athens, Gazarte, GR [tickets]
- 6 March – Sofia, Pirotska 5, BG [tickets]
- 7 March – Bucharest, Quantic Club, RO [tickets]
- 8 March – Beograd, Dom Omladine, RS [contact for tickets]
For latest details and ticket links: https://www.laibach.org/future-events/
