Apoptygma Berzerk - Exit Popularity Contest

Apoptygma Berzerk's Exit Popularity Contest is their latest album, but putting it that way could be a bit misleading as it contains all the songs from their previous three EPs Videodrome, Stop Feeding The Beast, and Xenogenesis all wrapped up in a nice, neat little package. The tracks are reworked in their own small ways here and there, so don't come in thinking this isn't worth listening to. Considering the themes of the previous three EPs, Exit Popularity Contest plays off like one giant soundtrack to a space opera that just hasn't been written yet. 

'The Genesis 6 Experiment' starts off the album with bewildering science fiction like space travel music. Electronic ebbs run deep, wobbles like that of a UFO flying through space in a 1950s made for television movie flit about, and the synths are unearthly. 'Hegelian Dialectic' came in next with an old school focus on sample bending and limited electro appeal. This plays out as if you were sitting in an alien aircraft trying to frantically discover how to either escape or take control of the ship. 

'For Now We See Through A Glass, Darkly' goes back to older electronic outfits from the 70s and has a focus again on minimal electronics and synths. The whole album plays off like a giant retro-throwback. 'Stille Nar Gruppe' wasn't entirely too fabulous as it sounded like lost in translation morse code along side various boops and beeps from a gigantic computer out of the 60s. 'In A World Of Locked Rooms' brought back the minimal electronics and synths that have been pleasuring my ears throughout the album. The steady rhythm was hypnotizing. 

'The Cosmic Chess Match' brought out some of the best synth sounds on the album and therefore marked my favorite track on the album. It had more personality compared to most of the other tracks and I adored it. 'U.T.E.O.T.W.' was akin to previous electro songs on the album while 'Rhein Klang' sounded much, much more dated than the rest of the tracks on the album. The final and bonus track of the album was an extended version of 'U.T.E.O.T.W.'. 

Apoptygma Berzerk's Exit Popularity Contest is a testament to their old school love of the electronic masters of the 70s as well as a movement to bring them back to their roots. It's good, clean, and decent and - as I've stated several times throughout this review - deserves to have a film to accompany the score. 
Oct 14 2016