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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is the fourth full length album from Norwegian synthpop/EBM/darkwave/Cybergoth (whatever you want to call it) outfit Apop. To my mind it is their best offering and a logical progression of their sound. The first two albums, 7 and The Apocalyptic Manifesto were much more dark and angry sounding than their next release, 'Welcome to Earth'. Harmonizer continues where WTE left off, continuing the 'futurepop' progression that Apop's music has been taking.
Fans of the EBM genre should find plenty of tracks to satisfy here. Although many have criticised this album from being too 'poppy', this is a solid release with plenty of danceable tracks. It needs to be understood that Apop have progressed away from their darker origins, and the listener should take this album on its own merits rather than expecting Apop to churn out 'more of the same' and summarily dismissing it.
I find this the most 'energetic' of Apops albums, and there are plenty of powerful dance tracks here, standouts being 'OK Amp...' 'End of the World' and 'Suffer in Silence' (just listen to the sample). All of these are on a par with earlier hits such as 'non-stop violence' and 'Bitch'. The songs are still well put together, beautifully textured and the sound quality is excellent.
If you've not heard Apop before, this would be the best place to start if you're looking for honest, thumping dance tracks. If you're looking for more atmospheric, gothic dance then you would be better off trying an earlier release first, I would recommend 'Apocalyptic Manifesto' in this case.
To sum up, this confident album should please any EBM fan, but any fan of Apop's earlier material looking for something angry and gothic may end up disappointed.
Fans of the EBM genre should find plenty of tracks to satisfy here. Although many have criticised this album from being too 'poppy', this is a solid release with plenty of danceable tracks. It needs to be understood that Apop have progressed away from their darker origins, and the listener should take this album on its own merits rather than expecting Apop to churn out 'more of the same' and summarily dismissing it.
I find this the most 'energetic' of Apops albums, and there are plenty of powerful dance tracks here, standouts being 'OK Amp...' 'End of the World' and 'Suffer in Silence' (just listen to the sample). All of these are on a par with earlier hits such as 'non-stop violence' and 'Bitch'. The songs are still well put together, beautifully textured and the sound quality is excellent.
If you've not heard Apop before, this would be the best place to start if you're looking for honest, thumping dance tracks. If you're looking for more atmospheric, gothic dance then you would be better off trying an earlier release first, I would recommend 'Apocalyptic Manifesto' in this case.
To sum up, this confident album should please any EBM fan, but any fan of Apop's earlier material looking for something angry and gothic may end up disappointed.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is admittedly more 'future-pop' than APB's earlier work. That's not a failing, more of a modernisation (how pretentious was *that*?) and it never *quite* slides into being 'mainstream' or sounding like techno dance music, which is a bit of a fine line to tread in the genre.
Virtually every song on this CD has potential to be a 'great dance floor hit' and it has an almost sinister ability to get both seratonin and adrenaline roaring - especially Tracks 2 (Suffer In Silence) and 4 (End of the World), except for the descent into weirdly compelling angry-American noises that is "Detroit Tickets".
This is really not background music though: it's a CD that you almost *have* to get up and 'do stuff' to.
Format:Audio CD
After 2000's excellent "Welcome To Earth", Apoptygma Berzerk's 3rd long player, futurepop auteur Stephan Groth had nothing to prove, but a lot to live up to. So, how does he fare with his fourth full album "Harmonizer"? Well, in short, the answer is `not badly'.
The album opens with an intro of sorts in the form of `More Serotonin Please...', which segues nicely into one of the three singles lifted from Harmonizer, `Suffer in Silence' (I consider the two tracks together to be like a 12" version of the single itself), which has its roots firmly planted in euro-trance territory, but infused with the kind of great pop hooks Groth has become known for. This strong start is immediately followed by the other two singles, `Unicorn' & `Until the End of the World', both of which are incredibly high energy dance-floor fillers and possibly some of APB's finest material thus far.
Then, after the pleasantly electro-lite `Rollergirl', we reach the midpoint of the album and also, sadly, the start of a decline in the quality of songs. The centrepiece `OK Amp, Let Me Out', is a more `housey' affair, and not really as dynamic or melodic as its' predecessors. It suffers from the same repetitive structure as many Mediterranean club `anthems', and while being well arranged and produced, is just rather bland. The dreamy ballad `Pikachu' is up next, and is a very welcome change of pace, but far too short and under-developed.
The next three tracks, `Spindizzy', `Detroit Tickets' & `Photoshop Sucks' feel like filler material, especially the latter two. Although `Spindizzy' is not a bad track per se, at this point of the album the tempo needs a bigger kick than it can provide. The melodious closer `Something I Should Know' just about rescues a dull second half of the album.
All in all, if you have the singles, it's hard to recommend `Harmonizer', because as a whole the album is very lop-sided in content. Cut `OK Amp...' by 50%, expand on the lovely `Pikachu', and move `Unicorn' to the position taken by the dreadful `Photoshop...' and we would have a much more worthy release.
As it is, 3.5/5.
The album opens with an intro of sorts in the form of `More Serotonin Please...', which segues nicely into one of the three singles lifted from Harmonizer, `Suffer in Silence' (I consider the two tracks together to be like a 12" version of the single itself), which has its roots firmly planted in euro-trance territory, but infused with the kind of great pop hooks Groth has become known for. This strong start is immediately followed by the other two singles, `Unicorn' & `Until the End of the World', both of which are incredibly high energy dance-floor fillers and possibly some of APB's finest material thus far.
Then, after the pleasantly electro-lite `Rollergirl', we reach the midpoint of the album and also, sadly, the start of a decline in the quality of songs. The centrepiece `OK Amp, Let Me Out', is a more `housey' affair, and not really as dynamic or melodic as its' predecessors. It suffers from the same repetitive structure as many Mediterranean club `anthems', and while being well arranged and produced, is just rather bland. The dreamy ballad `Pikachu' is up next, and is a very welcome change of pace, but far too short and under-developed.
The next three tracks, `Spindizzy', `Detroit Tickets' & `Photoshop Sucks' feel like filler material, especially the latter two. Although `Spindizzy' is not a bad track per se, at this point of the album the tempo needs a bigger kick than it can provide. The melodious closer `Something I Should Know' just about rescues a dull second half of the album.
All in all, if you have the singles, it's hard to recommend `Harmonizer', because as a whole the album is very lop-sided in content. Cut `OK Amp...' by 50%, expand on the lovely `Pikachu', and move `Unicorn' to the position taken by the dreadful `Photoshop...' and we would have a much more worthy release.
As it is, 3.5/5.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
oh dear!
after first getting into "apop" a couple of years ago when they released their exellent "welcome to earth" album and buying their earlier work,i once believed that they were one of... Read more
Published on 11 May 2003 by Mr. I. P. Foster
Poppy, but in a good way!
Now I really like this album - a few people I know that were really into 'Welcome to Earth' and '7' (which sucked, incidentally) have said that this is a step in the wrong... Read more
Published on 10 July 2002 by "biokid2010"
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