Album review : LAIBACH – Nova Akropola (3 CD set)

Cherry Red [Release date : 01.12.23]

It was only when Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, that avant garde, politically aware metal band, Laibach gained wider acceptance in the country of their birth.

Culturally, Yugoslavia was already the most “westernised” of the communist Eastern Bloc countries. Despite that, Laibach’s music had been banned for being “industrial and anti authoritarian” (They were championed by John Peel in The UK). That attitude gradually softened. Slovenia shared a border with Austria and Italy and gained EU membership in 2004.

Laibach is often quoted as being a key influence on the sound of Germany’s Rammstein, and Neue Deutsche Harte in general. A sometimes intense verbal exchange goes back and forth between the two bands. And yet, despite the “rivalry”, they do a fabulous cover of Rammstein’s satirical classic, ‘Amerika’, featured on a recent Cleopatra compilation.

The band’s seminal album, Nova Akropola (The New Acropolis), was first released in 1986. This version sees that original album revisited and expanded, adding two CDs of live versions of the album. One recorded in London around the time of its original release, and one curated from the band’s interminable tour of Eastern Europe, 1997-2002.

The eighties were dark days in the Balkans. The music reflects that.
Ironically, the sinister, dissonant title track sounds like the musical score from a piece of German Expressionist cinema.
Tracks ‘Die Liebe’ and ‘Drzava’ are not for the faint hearted. The “shards of glass” vocals and screaming sounds – the death throes of an empire – are laced with poetry and politics. If you listen carefully you can hear the origins of Death Metal in the spoken word growls.

In among this heavily percussive, all out atonal assault, a couple of songs, ‘Vojna Poema’ and ‘Vade Retro’, rise above the music’s murky waters of tunelessness.
They’re not exactly FM Radio friendly, but still, they might well find favour in the extremities of power metal, among bands like maybe Morbid Angel and the late, great Type O Negative.

It’s clear from the live stuff that the band live and breathe their controversial philosophy. It’s also clear that this is shared by many thousands of fans.

Should further light be needed, the sleevenotes, written by cultural theorist, Alexei Monroe, is all the primer you might need. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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