Listening to this reissue of Laibach’s second album brought back wistful memories of a sound not often heard anymore. Released at a time when industrial music was moving away from the experimental noise of groups like SPK, Throbbing Gristle, and Einstürzende Neubauten and starting to embrace the more dancebeat-oriented stuff of Ministry, KMFDM, and Nine Inch Nails, Nova Akropola serves as a nice bridge between the two. The dance beats are in evidence in places here, but the poppy current that became so integral to the style later is tempered here by deep, almost operatic vocals and a grandeur that is more Wagner than Reznor. Laibach’s stage persona and flirtation with totalitarian imagery (although they insisted they were neither fascists nor sympathetic to Nazi sensibilities) did manage to stir some controversy, but the singular quality of the music they created is something, indeed. Like contemporaries like Coil and Foetus, they manage to take disparate musical influences and create something that may indeed have a beat, ain’t really gonna make you wanna dance, but is interesting enough (the key ingredient) to make you wanna really listen. That kinda musical subversion just doesn’t happen often enough anymore.
–jimmy (www.cherryred.co.uk)