Stephan Groth is Apoptygma Berzerk. Keeping that in mind is essential when you consider the myriad changes to the band’s line-up over the past 20 years, and especially since the beginning of this summer.

Having a chance to interview Groth a few hours before their Knitting Factory gig, I was awaiting a dose of the new and improved. What I got was both new and remarkably consistent with the synthpop ballads of the last two decades that have mobilized thousands of fans behind these optimistic, Norwegian troubadours.

It’s really less of a new line-up than it is a chance for the band’s understudies to step into the spotlight as more than session stand-ins. In fact, most of the band is part of a longstanding extended family who have been part of the Apop universe for several years.

As Groth noted on the band’s official site, Brandon Smith is assuming guitar duties, Groth’s brother Jonas is getting behind the keyboard, and Thomas Jakobsen is drumming. Smith’s collaboration with Apop precedes his new role – he worked with Groth on music for The Anix – Smith’s band and an opening act for Apop on the Rocket Science tour. Jonas Groth is simply shifting from his behind-the-scenes role as producer, arranger, mixer, and co-writer to something a bit more high-profile. Jakobsen is just cementing his temp task as Frederik Brarud’s stand-in. All three are old pros who are just getting a chance to settle in.

Apop’s satisfying setlist inclined immediately with “Starsign”. The simple, but sincere “You Keep Me From Breaking Apart,” continues to stand as a classic – especially with Groth’s added emotional release. The tight show offered a number of fist-shaking favorites: “Deep Red,” “Eclipse,” “Kathy’s Song,” and “Until the End of the World.” Benji Madden, one of Apop’s stateside collaborators, took the stage to back up “Apollo (Live On Your TV).” The show wrapped with two encores with classics from the Harmonizer and Seven Years.

Notably, the show is part of a last leg of calendar dates for the Hollywood Knitting Factory, which will run its last gig on 10/25 in advance of a possible re-opening elsewhere in the city.

For more info on Apop history and upcoming tour dates, click to www.theapboffice.com. The site also binds together the social-networked Apop universe in ways that you can’t possibly imagine. Connect to their label page on Metropolis at www.metropolis-records.com/artists/?artist=apoptygm. - Review By AARON POMPEY - Photos By M'LOU ELKINS