Slovenian electro rock collective Borghesia have been going since 1982, and while they’re peers of Laibach it’s fair to say they haven’t acquired the same cult status. Their 19 year hiatus since 1995’s ‘Pro Choice’ will have hardly enhanced their commercial profile, the strength of this, their 16th album is admirable.
It’s not a world-view or dystopian vision they lay out on the first track, ‘We Don’t Believe You’, but a catalogue of the things that make up the world today: Banks / Army Military / Industry / Exploitation / Oppression / Reality Show / Insurance Company / Oppression / Racists..... The semi-choral refrain of ‘we don’t believe you’ sounds like the thronging voices of the people, growing in dissent. This is what ‘And Man Created God’ is all about, fundamentally. It’s essentially a protest album, and not without abundant reason.
But where Borghesia stand out is in their delivery. While the evils of man have become the staple subject matter of industrial, grindcore and metal, stepping in where folk singers used rally the masses and call against arms back in the 60s and 70s, it’s unusual to hear laid back beats and smooth grooves being laid down as a backdrop to such vehement loathing of the injustice of the world. Consequently, the mellow drift of ‘Kaufen Macht Frei – Buy Baby Buy’ belies its biting socio-political undercurrents.
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‘194’ does bring a thumping pan-cultural industrial sound to back a furious and anguished diatribe on the situation in Gaza, from the perspective of the Palestinian civilians. Irena Tomažin dispatches heavy, angry words that would doubtless outrage vast swathes of America. They just don’t want to hear it. Especially not Fox news. And this is precisely why these words need to be heard. ‘We want peace! Is that too much to ask?’ she demands in closing. It oughtn’t be.
The gritty bass-driven ‘Profit, Power and Lies’ revisits the album’ leading preoccupations of dominance and repression, social injustice and imbalance, and ‘Para Todos Todo’ wanders into a warped Western / salsa crossover.
‘And Man Created God’ is an album with a strong message. Borghesia want social change. They want justice. They want their voices, and those of the unheard many, to be heard. With some accessible tunes and some solid grooves, they certainly deserve to be.
Borghesia - And Man Created God Online
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