Laibach - Alamut [2LP]

Format: 2LP
Catalogue No.: STUMM506
Barcode: 5400863142742
Release Date: 09 May 2025
Genre: Experimental/Electronic

 Laibach and A/POLITICAL present ‘Alamut’ - a brand-new album of original symphonic work based on the novel of the same name, released on CD box set and double vinyl via Mute.
 The album was recorded by Laibach and the other musicians who performed ‘Alamut’ live at a former Crusader castle in Ljubljana in 2022. The musicians involved include the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Human-Voice Ensemble vocal group from Tehran, the Gallina Women’s Choir and AccordiOna, a women’s accordion orchestra backed by additional accordion players, conducted by Iranian conductor Navid Goharib.
 ‘Alamut’ is an original symphonic work by Laibach based on a famous story from eleventh-century Persia, as told by the Slovene writer Vladimir Bartol in his novel of the same title published in 1938. The central character is Hassan-i Sabbāh, the charismatic religious and political leader of the Nizari Ismailis and the founder of a mysterious military formation known as the Assassins, whose name is still feared and respected today. Hassan-i Sabbāh is a self-proclaimed prophet who leads a holy war against the Seljuk Empire from his eyrie - the castle of Alamut. Alamut looked at mechanisms of
propaganda at the time when Bartol, a Slovenian author, witnessed the rise of Fascism in Trieste, Italy, where he lived.
 In Laibach’s ‘Alamut’, the ideas of radical nihilism interweave with the classical Persian poetry of Omar Khayyam, the sensual verses of Mahsati Ganjavi blend with minimalist orchestral colours derived from Iranian tradition. Hassan-i Sabbāh’s propaganda mechanisms are echoed in the industrial principle of the workings of the orchestra and Laibach’s unique sound.
 Double CD box set with gold finish print. Includes 36-page booklet with extensive sleeve notes and imagery.
 Double vinyl with gold finish sleeve includes 16-page large format booklet with extensive sleeve notes and imagery.

Tracklisting
Overture
Secret Gardens
Fedayeen
Transition
Meditation I
War
Doors of Perception
Metaverse
Meditation II & Epilogue