Time To Move On
And this concludes this lengthy tour of Apoptygma Berzerk’s history. It’s not the first time I’ve written about them – they featured frequently in my EOL-Audio days, and two of my previous Listener’s Guides featured remixes they’d done for others (Front 242’s “Headhunter” and Project Pitchfork’s “Steelrose”). And yet, until they began their ‘Soli Deo Gloria’ anniversary, they were a band I’d largely forgotten, after a dearth of new studio recordings and a weak showing at WGT 2014. Their switches in creative direction had lost them supporters even before I’d begun tuning out myself – I’ve seen some pretty scathing comments about their two ‘rock’ albums in particular.
But writing this piece has been a reminder of what drew me to this band in the first place, and what kept me listening for so long. It explains why they still get booked high on festival line-ups. It explains why they are able to get respect, remixes and followers outside the limits of ‘our scene’. And they’re one of the key reasons Terminates Here even exists. They were my gateway to so many other things, my introduction to the electronic sounds of continental Europe. Somehow, I doubt I’d been able to write this much about one of those bands that just sets new words to the same music every few years, and still gets club play and rave reviews.
But telling the story of a band like this still takes too many words than many people want to read. Let’s have some lists for the TL/DR people.
Top xx Lists
There’s several categories here….build a playlist from whichever era(s) appeal.
Darkwave Era
The most iconic tunes from their 90s phase.
- Love Never Dies Pt.1
- Non-Stop Violence
- Bitch
- Burning Heretic
- Spiritual Reality
Futurepop Era
If you have still have any unused glowsticks, this will get them waving.
- Starsign
- Kathy’s Song
- Until The End Of The World
- Eclipse
- Unicorn
Rock Era
Some people write off this whole era of the band, but I don’t. Not entirely, anyway.
- In This Together
- Apollo (Live On Your TV)
- Weight Of The World
- Black Versus White
- Love To Blame
The Other Side
These songs don’t fit into any particular phase of the band, but are important in demonstrating the diversity of their overall sound.
- 25 Cromwell Street
- Near(er)
- Now We See Through A Glass, Darkly
- Untitled Too (from the end of the ‘7’ album)
- Like Blood From The Beloved, Parts 1 & 2 (the Soli Deo Gloria album intro and outro!)
Cover Versions
There are so many that they need a list of their own.
- Fade To Black
- All Tomorrow’s Parties
- Major Tom (Coming Home)
- Cambodia
- Shine On
- Coma White
- Ohm Sweet Ohm
- Trash
- Electricity
- Love Will Tear Us Apart
Terminates Here Personal Choice
Including covers, and comments on favoured versions.
- Love Never Dies Pt.1 (original sample version only)
- Non-Stop Violence (album version, CNN version from single almost as good)
- Fade To Black
- Starsign
- Burning Heretic (any version, I like them all)
- Spindizzy
- All Tomorrow’s Parties (album version, Evolve or Die mix for variation!)
- Kathy’s Song (original, but I’m a sucker for Ferry Corsten’s version)
- Major Tom (Coming Home) (original, but happy with Technomancer or People Theatre versions)
- Until The End of the World
- Cambodia
- 25 Cromwell Street
- Spiritual Reality
- Bitch (original, but also good with Substaat remix)
- In This Together (original, not into the remixes)
- Apollo (Live On Your TV)
- Shine On
- Suffer In Silence
- Backdraft (original, but also into Invincible Spirit version)
- Weight Of The World
- Eclipse
- Coma White
- Nearer (album version best, but Banilla Dream version also good, as is ‘Nearest’ remake)
- Now We See Through A Glass, Darkly
- Black Versus White
- Unicorn (Dual Vocal version or Fairlight Children remix)
- Half-Asleep
- Mourn (original, Mourn remix or maybe Mesh remix)
- Ohm Sweet Ohm
- Soma Coma
It really is the end now. If you want to read some more pieces this long, there’s a selection on the Articles Page.
