Laibach

Jesus Christ Superstars (Mute)
by Nik Rainey

More conceptual bombast-with-a-purpose from the cheery Slovenians. I’m glad to see they’ve scaled down their ambitions and only took on Christianity as the topic for their latest parody-without-humor (they’ve done the Beatles before; they’re much more popular), replete with covers (Andrew Lloyd Webber, xxxxx, the tired reference to his unpronouncable name formerly known as Prince) and originals which purport to take on the modern mythical connotations of Western organized religion through Wagnerian heavy metal. Perhaps they do. I have just never been able to get past that plodding timpanic timbre, that perinium- wiggling basso protundro, and that lead-apron sense of dead, cold seriousness that is weighting down my words even as I write them. Quick, somebody slap on a Squirrel Bait record, and set the treble knob to “toothache.”