Laibach

Rock/pop

Chuckle or cringe? Milan Fraz's voice is so deep and booming, its tough to decide. When he yells "Tanz mit Laibach!" over a wired industrial synth line, you'll guffaw until you realize he's not asking, he's commanding. Reimagining Queen's world-peace-let's-all-hold-hands jam "One Vision" auf Deutsch, he bellows "So recht mie eure Haende, und gebt mir eure Herzen" with such vehemence, the cover comes off as, well, frighteningly fascist. Repeatedly shouting "jahwohl" doesn't help, nor does his performance-art rock band Laibach's penchant for donning military garb onstage. But relax, everyone, it's all tongue-in-cheek button-pushing. The group has wrestled with and reveled in its public perception as Nazis since the 1980s, even though silly satirical takes on "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Sympathy For The Devil"—nicely collected with a bevy of originals and remixes on the retrospective set Anthems (Mute)—should tell otherwise. His oft-quoted take on it is, "We're fascist like Hitler was a painter." Hmm, still kind of ambiguous, but since Laibach is on tour for the first time in almost a decade, we'll reserve judgement.

Fri., Nov. 5, 9 p.m., $20-$22, with Bonfire Madigan, T.L.A., 334 South St., 215-922-1011.

—John Vettese

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