Aggressor (album)

Aggressor is the seventh studio album from German synthpop group And One, released in 2003 by Virgin.

It was the band's first album to feature no songs sung in English, instead consisting completely of German-language tracks. Its style is close to that of their next album, Bodypop, but retains their previous sound at the same time.

"Krieger" was released as the first and only single from the album.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Rick Anderson awarded the album 3 stars stating "First of all, And One deserve kudos for singing in their native German rather than embarrassing themselves, as so many of their European colleagues do, with lyrics in pidgin English. (It sort of undermines the darkness and intensity of your delivery if your unsteady grammar makes you sound like a syntactically confused fourth grader.) Second of all, And One also deserve kudos for keeping alive the sound of vintage Belgian EBM while subtly deepening and updating it with such novel touches as real melodies and occasional flourishes of rhythmic syncopation. Songs like "Kein Anfang" (No Beginning) and "Krieger" (Warrior) feature both soaring melodies and downright lovely backing vocals along with the requisite jackboot rhythms and ominously burbling synthesizer, and if "Sternradio" (the name of a popular Berlin dance club) suffers from the sudden incursion of an inexplicable chipmunk voice, well, that's what passes for whimsy in the industrial community. Recommended. ".

And One

And One is a German new wave, synthpop and EBM band founded by Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz in 1989.

History

The band formed after Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz met in 1989 at a Berlin club. Being fans of early EBM music, Naghavi and Ruiz decided to follow in the footsteps of new wave/synthpop band Depeche Mode by using two keyboards and a beatbox. Jason Ankeny of AllMusic called their 1990 single, "Metal Hammer", a "significant club hit". The duo became a trio with the addition of Alex Two, prior to the release of their debut album, Anguish in 1991. That same year, they were honored as the Best New Artist in Germany.

Going into the release of Anguish, they had already garnered a decent following through touring and appearances at various parties. With their debut release, they took home the Best New Artist award in Germany in 1991. Chris Ruiz left in 1992 (he would later return in 2001) while Steve Naghavi remained with the band. And One released three more albums with Machinery Records, Flop! (1992), Spot (1993) and I.S.T. (1994). The band left Machinery around 1996–1997 and signed to Virgin Schallplatten. And One would release four albums on this label between 1997 and 2003: Nordhausen (1997), 9.9.99 9 Uhr (1998), Virgin Superstar (2000) and Aggressor (2003).