Laibach - Nova Akropola

Acthung! Stehen sie auf für das zweite album von Laibach

“We are fascists as much as Hitler was a painter,” Laibach vocalist Milan Fras once vehemently said. It’s with this admission that one can take this veteran Slovenian band’s industrial drum beats, sparse electronica and morose vocals with a pinch of salt. But that’s not to say the intellectual and ideological connotations within Laibach’s music should be ignored. Their apparent leanings to both far left and right wing politics have left some in utter confusion as to what the band actually stand for. It’s this paradoxical attitude towards art and politics that is their greatest appeal. Twenty-two years since its original release, the band reissue their second album for a new generation of industrial-cum-electronica-heads to savour. It certainly has all the trappings of a Laibach recording: angst, venom and frustration. But there are times, as on Die Liebe and Panorama, when this rage, coupled with some extravagant trumpets, can turn into petty melodrama. The rare promotional video of Drzava, directed by Daniel Landin, that accompanies this record will certainly have diehard fans fawning, but few new to the band will find merit in the free dance that accompanies it. Fewer still will be able the stomach the album in full.

Cherry Red | CD MRED 67

Reviewed by Ash Dosanjh
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