Customer Reviews

You & Me Against the World (Dig)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

So this album is a new spin for APB. This album has received pretty lukewarm reviews from US fans and I must admit that when i first heard some samples from this album on their website, i thought "what is this???" Being the type of music collector i am though, i had to buy the album. So it came, and i listened to it once through. On the first go through, i too thought, its just ok, not like the old stuff. After listening to it more and more though, i now feel like this is probably the best album APB has released to date. In my opinion, this album is extremely powerful. Vocally, APB is getting better and better and it shows on this release. Musically, the album is completely solid. All of the tracks are songs and there is no filler. It just rocks from beginning to end.

The bonus track Is electronic love to blame is one of the best APB songs i have ever heard. In this together, Love to blame, You keep me from breaking apart, into the unknown and the cover of Shine On (originally by house of love) are extremely catchy and really easy to sing along with. I'm giving it four point five stars because the track maze is not very good but then again thats just my opinion.

This is not the old APB. But its our band, this is APB!!! if you have the patience to give it a fair chance then i highly recomend this album. They are advancing in every aspect and just seem to get better and better. Great job APB!

This album is a big departure sound-wise from Apop's previous efforts, but a new direction keeps things fresh. Rather than re-hashing what's been done previously, they broke out with a new sound. More guitars, live drums and Stephen's voice has never sounded better. The two cover songs on the record - "Cambodia" and "Shine On" are strong songs. "In This Together" is absolutely brillant. The way the song builds gives you chills. Overall, I was nervous spending the money on an import (I'm on a tight budget) but I swear every penny was worth it. I'm even trying to figure out how to swing the Shine On CD Single/EP.

If you're not stuck on Apop sounding the same and are willing to listen to more guitar, you'll love this CD.

I have loved this band for years. When I first heard their "Welcome to Earth" Album in college I was entranced by the ethereal melodies and philosophical lyrics, along with the harder, more danceable tracks. I also really liked Harmonizer.

However, even though I respect any musicians' desire to experiment and break out of "their norm," I really felt like this album didn't showcase their talents at all. I found a lot of lyrics to be trite, and teenage-angsty, combined with uninteresting music. The one track I did like was "Tuning In to the Frequency of Your Soul."

Maybe this 80s-pop style will never be a favorite of mine with ANY band and is just a matter of personal preference, but I thought what they did best was the darkwave electric/EBM/Synthpop that they did on their other albums. It really doesn't even sound like APB in my opinion. I really miss their old style!

Ok I think that this album is very good.
I am sure that in the future among those industrial/Goth People the Rivet heads that think they are sooo high and mighty, Apoptygma Berzerk will no longer be acceptable.
Once you start to make a little money and change your sound... you are automatically a sell-out. I think this record is 100 times better than anything played on Mtv.

Although I do think that popular music on the radio is getting better all the time For example She Wants Revenge,Hard-Fi,Franz Ferdinand,We Are Scientists. People these days are so relentless in there war against anything pop sounding and I too used to be that way, only listening to certain bands. You know stuff like Razed in Black, KMFDM, Throbbing Gristle,Noisex,Skinny Puppy,Frontline Assembly,Blacklung, you know industrial,EBm Noise stuff. Then I moved on to the 80's hardcore punk movement. After a while I started giving other things a chance it all started with the Electroclash movement. I soon realized that pop ethics are not bad at all.

So on to the album. As a whole I found You and Me Against the world much more enjoyable as a whole working thing. I have Welcome to Earth which is a really great album but when I listen to it I feel empty after listeneing to it. 50% great 50% boring but the great songs make up for it on that album. On this album I find that I like every single track some a little more than others but over all it is really good.

Favorites (You Keep Me From Breaking Apart,Cambodia,Tuning In To The Frequency Of Your Soul,Lost In Translation,Maze,Shine On,Is Electronic Love To Blame) hahaha over half the cd. hahaha. His cover of Shine on reminds me of one of the songs on the new Billy Corgan cd.

So in turn if you can appreciate, Billy Corgan,Zeromancer,The Fever,The Faint,and stuff like that then I am sure you will find this album enjoyable.

I just wanted to address the people who are complaining about APB's sound changing. They mention Welcome to Earth and Harmonizer. Imagine the shock when their sound changed from Soli Deo Gloria to Welcome to Earth - maybe you were too young for that. Long-time fans will tell you that their sound has ALWAYS changed, from album to album. That is the beauty of the band. They are older now, probably less angsty. Why make angry music if that's not how you really feel.

That said, this album is poppy. If you listen to it with an open mind, not expecting more of the old sound (define old sound anyway!) you might like it. If you want gritty, dark, clangy stuff, don't buy it.

'In This Together' is the song that brought my attention to Apoptygma Berzerk. It's one of the many catchy tunes on this album. The lyrics are outstanding. This is a great album, and as I understand it, distinctly different then the previous offerings. I don't believe there's anything wrong with the direction Stephan Groth is going, although I do realize he is alienating his more narrow fans. But that shouldn't be a problem, because Apop has always been about change and this album has brought in new fans like me. I think some old fans have a particularly rigid idea of what Apop should sound like on every album, but obviously that is not how the band feels. Stephan rocks!

I suppose after spoiling myself with nothing but VNV Nation, Hocico, and other such Industrial lately that when "You and Me Against the World" came out, I was expecting a more full and lush aspect of Apoptygma, a growth from their sound that is already there, but... Instead we get an entirely new band.

Now, that's not saying it's bad. Not saying that at all. Sort of like how people complained that VNV went sell-out and soft with "Matter+Form", which I didn't have the same complaint, this one I kinda gotta say that it's just not the positive way I had expected.

There are some good riffs, some good jams, like the song "In This Together" is one of my favorite songs, not just off the album either. The songs are more complete than the songs on their other albums- sans the few like "Moment of Tranquility" and the first half of Harmonizer-it's just not a good direction for their sound, I feel.

That's just my opinion, though. It's still a good album, worth a buy if the CD is used. A better representation of a good sound from these cats would be Welcome to Earth and Harmonizer. Hopefully there will be a combination of the directions in which all these albums have headed.

I'm finally starting to really appreciate this album after 3 or 4 full listens. I'm not someone who fears change from a band/artist I love. I knew that this album was going to be more pop/rock oriented and even though I absolutely loved the synthy club-oriented sounds of Harmonizer and Welcome To Earth, I welcomed the new stuff with open ears. However, at first it just didn't live up to my hopes. It seemed too derivative for an artist who was such a pioneer of a particular genre, and there's a cheesiness to the whole thing that was a bit tough to swallow.

Now it's grown on me significantly. It may not mark the beginning of any new musical frontiers, but it's quite enjoyable for what it is. There are some cringe-inducing lyrics such as "Like footprints in the sand you've been behind me all along," from the single "In This Together" (which is otherwise the highlight of the album), but where the album really shines is in the music. Analog electro is successfully combined with rock-inspired guitars to make semi-retro tunes that are catchy and fun, if not particularly ground-breaking. Another good thing is that he spared us from much of the filler that was so prevalent on previous albums.

Best tracks are "In This Together," "Love To Blame," "Cambodia," "Back On Track," "Tuning In To the Frequency of Your Soul," and "Into the Unknown." The worst track by far is "Mercy Kill," which has a pretty bad chorus and leaves a lot to be desired. At first I also hated "Maze," which is Apop's attempt at sounding like Metallica, but now I'm slightly embarassed to say I don't mind it.

Yes, I miss songs like "Starsign," "Eclipse," "Kathy's Song," "Suffer In Silence," "Until the End of the World," "Spindizzy," etc., which struck a chord with me immediately and still pump me up when I blast them on the stereo or in my car on the freeway. But I do like the new stuff, too, and I have faith that even if Apop sticks with this sound, he will improve upon it over time and will release something in the future that will once again blow me away.

The other review here can be a little harsh, if not ignorant. As a fan of some of the previous albums, I too was a little disappointed in the turn that the band has chosen to take with their 2005 effort. I do prefer the heavier reliance on synths than guitars and the heavy vocal effects.
YAMATW isn't bad. It's just a turn of style. The heavier synth influenced rock has been making its way around the corner with The Killers and fellow synth band Shiny Toy Guns (check out all 3 versions of their freshman release...STG is former Cloud2Ground gurus Jeremy Dawson and Chad Petree.)
If adapting is what is ALLOWING the artists that we have grown to love to continue to make music successfully and BE ABLE TO AFFORD to make more, why are we condemning them? Afterall, isn't that what smart business sense is all about?
I understand the perceived feeling of these "sellouts" that a few of the synthier electronic bands are doing; I love anything synth. But being a good artist means that they know how to evolve.
Eat or be eaten. It's simple.
Get this album if you are a true fan of Apop. If you like the new emo synth rock hybrid, buy this one. If you're a rotten baby with his thumb in his [..]to anyone who wants to experiment, save your money.

Dear Groth:

After "Kathy's Song" and all of "Harmonizer," I get it: you really want girls to like you. That's cool; I want girls to like me too. But I don't go about it by writing songs about how all of my failed relationships are my fault, slathering my ham-fisted lyrics atop minimalist programming and a few guitars. I don't go on for 60 minutes about how worthless I am and how much better things were in the past. I don't become some kind of lunatic stalker, willing to forsake everything else in pursuit of a new, purely conceptualized woman.

Yes, that's an analogy for Apop's dramatic new shift into emo, away from anything I'd feel comfortable suggesting to people who want quality electro/trancEBM/industrial/whatever-the-hell. It's also a damnation of Groth's inability to write quality lyrics. Sure Apop verses have never been the best to begin with, but the writing on this album is almost as bad as Funker Vogt's "golden showers" references. Scratch that: this is as bad as a golden shower.

And don't even try flaunting the return of guitars; this is nothing like "Bitch" or "Deep Red," or the Welcome to Earth tour, where Groth had fun using guitars, and where he had facerocking as a front-and-center concept.

Look, man, you want girls to like you? Stop being so mopey. Combichrist, somehow, has managed to attract a legion of followers at club nights by repeating four measures of bassline with some banal lyrics; if it's you and me against the world, couldn't you at least toss a brother some oontz oontz?