Good evening ladies and gentlemen
(or morning/afternoon, depending on when you are reading this post), and
welcome to Rave Up Music! I am your host Barius, and today, it is time once
again for a piece of that music pie we like to call A Little Slice of Metal.
Over the past 18 years of being
involved with and studying music, I have often seen debates over what truly
defines “metal music.” For some people, it is fast guitar riffs, pound drums
and screaming, demonic vocals, while other people it is memorable musical
lines, powerful vocals, and a message of fantasy and heroic tales. Some people
think metal is only strictly guitars, bass drums, and vocals, while others like
to add keyboards or other instruments to the mix.
It has been and it is still my
goal with A Little Slice of Metal to
bring to you some of the finest metal musicians from all spectrums of metal, be
it thrash metal, death metal, Viking metal, or even some the metal outside of
the “traditional” views of metal. And today’s metal band is truly one of the
best groups outside of the general public’s view of heavy metal music. Today, A Little Slice of Metal goes across the
Atlantic Ocean to Finland to bring to you the classically-trained cello metal
band (yes, you read that correctly) Apocalyptica!
Apocalyptica: Perttu Kivilaakso, Paavo
Lötjönen, Mikko Sirén, and Eicca Toppinen.
BAND
HISTORY:
Back in 1993, four
classically-trained cellists, Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, Max Lilja, and
Antero Manninen, from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, gathered
together to one day to play cover songs from the thrash metal band Metallica.
Namely themselves “Apocalyptica,” the group released their debut album in 1996,
entitled Plays Metallica on Four Cellos.
(Wow, you cannot get blunter than that, huh?) The album gain some popularity
and the band were featured on two songs on the band Waltari’s 1997 Space Avenue. The following year, the
band released their second album, Inquisition
Symphony, which feature four more Metallica covers songs, as well as covers
songs from Faith No More, Pantera and Sepultura, and a few original tunes,
including the hauntingly beautiful “Harmageddon.”
"Harmageddon"
In 1999, Manninen left the group,
and was replaced by Perttu Kivilaakso, who remains a part of the group to this
day. In 2000, Apocalyptica released Cult,
which featured 10 original songs, and three covers songs. Soon, the first
Apocalyptica single to feature vocals, “Path, Vol. 2,” was released in 2001, with
Sandra Nasić on guest vocals. In 2002, Lilja left to the group to join Hevein,
which left Apocalyptica with only three cellists, which they maintain to this
day, though they occasionally will have a fourth cellist on tours.
"Path, Vol. 2" featuring Sandra Nasić
In 2003, the band released the
album Reflections, the first studio
to containing all original songs, as well as the first album to feature drums.
Legendary Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo was a guest musician on five of the
songs, while session drummer Sami Kuoppamäki performed on the rest of the
album. Drummer Mikko Sirén served as the band’s drummer for the follow tour and
album, the self-titled Apocalyptica,
before officially joining the band in December of 2005. The self-titled fifth
album featured several guest musicians, including Lombardo again, as well as Lauri
Ylönen of The Rasmus and Ville Valo of HIM.
“Bittersweet” featuring Valo and Ylönen
In 2007, the band recorded their
sixth studio album World Collide,
which featured many guest musicians, including Till Lindemann of Rammstein,
Corey Taylor of Slipknot/Stone Sour, Mats Levén of Therion/Krux, and Cristina
Scabbia of Lacuna Coil. The single “I’m Not Jesus” featuring Corey Taylor
cracked the Top Ten in the active rock and alternative rock charts. The album was
met with great success, and the subsequent tour in Europe and the United States
were also very successful, and in 2008, the band made their America television
debut on Last Call with Carson Daly.
Yes, we can thank the TRL guy for
bringing Apocalyptica to American television…yippee…
In 2010, Apocalyptica released
the album 7th Symphony, with
several other guest artists, including Gavin Rosendale of Bush, Joseph
Dupantier of Gojira, and Lacey Mosley of Flyleaf. In 2011, the band came full
circle in their career when they performed live with Metallica on three songs
in celebration of Metallica’s 30th Anniversary.
So much awesomeness right here…
In 2013, the released their first
live album, Wagner Reloaded-Live in
Leipzig. The album is a live recording of the band stage production, Wagner Reloaded, in celebration of
composer Richard Wagner’s 200th Birthday. In more recent news, the band
announced a tour, starting in March of 2014, with the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra.
The set with consist strictly of music by Apocalyptica, arranged for a 25-piece
symphony orchestra.
STYLE/GENRE
OF METAL:
Have any of you ever knew someone
who would like to take your favorite style of music, and totally ruin it by
playing it on an instrument it should never be played on, like blues music on
an accordion or jazz music? (Yes, that does exist). Well, that is not the case
when it comes to Apocalyptica and their absolutely brilliant approach of
playing heavy metal music on cellos. The arrangements of Eicca Toppinen really
utilize the cello in this mix of chamber music with thrash metal, as heard on
the bands cover of Metallica’s Master of Puppets.”
With the band’s second album, the
band expanded to more original tunes that fit nicely among some of their metal
contemporaries. The tune “M.B. (Metal Boogie)” fits in perfectly with some of
the best groove metal tunes. The band also demonstrated great speed and
accuracy in their bowing and pizzicato playing.
With the album Cult, the band began to experiment more
with their cello song by adding more distortion effects, as heard above on the
song “Path, Vol 2.” The band also featured softer, chamber music-like tunes,
such as the hauntingly beautiful “Romance.”
With the album Reflections, Apocalyptica became more of
a metal band than a cello group who happen to play metal covers. This album
began the group’s use of drums to support the aggressive cello sound, as well
as the use of another orchestral string instrument, the double bass, to make
their sound even heavier than before. The song “Resurrection” best exemplifies
this new direction. Plus, it features the drumming skills of Dave Lombardo, and
who can really argue with that?
The more recent Apocalyptica
albums have started to bring even more heavy metal elements to the band,
including more vocals, and even guitar and bass work to the music. And
honestly, some of the guitar and bass work really overpowers the cello work,
and I actually feel like I am not listening to the same cello group of the early
days of the band. Still, some of the songs are surprisingly good. “Helden,”
which features Till Lindemann, is a superb song, and the cellos of Apocalyptica
really work well with Lindemann’s vocals.
Yes, it is a German cover of “Heroes” by
David Bowie…
By 7th Symphony, the sound of the band has shifted to that
of a more traditional symphonic metal band. The cellos are still there, but with
a lot more distortion in the sound that it is hard to tell at times that you
are actually listening to cellists. Still there are some really great musical
moments where the cellos are dominating the sound, like in the song “Beautiful.”
RECOMMENDED
SONGS/ALBUMS:
When it comes to the music of Apocalyptica,
there are really two eras of the band to look at: the early cello years from
1996 to 2000, and the heavier, drum and vocals years from 2003 to the present.
Regardless of which era you prefer, I recommend the following songs, in
addition to the ones I posted already in this blog post:
Cello Only Era (1996-2000)
“The
Unforgiven” from Plays Metallica on Four
Cellos
This already hauntingly beautiful
Metallica song gets even more haunting when it is played on only four cellos.
The band really captures the melancholy and the aggression of the original
song, but also adds that intimate chamber music feel to the song. This one is a
personal favorite of mine from this album.
“Nothing
Else Matters” from Inquisition Symphony
Rarely have I come across cover
versions of a Metallica song that I actually enjoy more than the original. This
is one of those covers that takes everything right with the original and makes
it even better. This cover really demonstrates the musical ability of the guys
in Apocalyptica, and demonstrates Eicca Toppinen’s amazing arranging skills.
“Toreador”
from Inquisition Symphony
This Apocalyptica original song
demonstrates the band’s ability to write and play the very fast and heavy style
of metal on cellos. The aggression of the cello riffs really add such intensity
and support to the melodic cello line that I get goosebumps just listening to
it.
“Struggle”
from Cult
While still being a cello only
group, Apocalyptica began to really experiment with their distorted cello
sound, and “Struggle” really exemplifies where the band was heading. The song
has a good amount of heavy, distorted sound to it, but still has that
mysterious, haunting sound that only an instrument like the cello could
produce.
“Hall
of the Mountain King” from Cult
This is one of my favorite classical
themes of all time, and hearing it played on four cellos is simply a delight
for me. It is filled with suspense, horror, and mystery that I have yet to hear
any other groups duplicate.
Drum and Vocals Era (2003-Present)
“Toreador
II” from Reflections
This track demonstrates the band’s
use of drums to compliment their cello work, and really brings more of
distorted metal sounds into their music. Plus, there is a hint of trumpet in
the music, giving it a bit of a Spanish feel to the song. Hmm, a band that uses
trumpets to play heavy metal music…I wonder…
“Fatal
Error” from Apocalyptica
This song is a nice blend of cello
chamber music, heavy drumming, and distorted metal sounds. Though only clocking
in at around three minutes, it is a nice song to play for your friends as an
introduction to the overall sound of Apocalyptica.
“Worlds
Collide” from Worlds Collide
The title track of Worlds Collide brings in a good balance
of heavy metal aggression and cello chamber music. It is a strong track and
makes for a great opener. I really love the latter part of the song when the
band does a lot of low, pizzicato notes before going into a fast, upbeat finale.
“S.O.S.
(Anything But Love)” from Worlds Collide
I am a huge fan of metal bands
fronted by female singers, (which is a topic I will get to in a future
installment of A Little Slice of Metal),
and Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia is one of my favorite female metal singers.
Her collaboration with Apocalyptica on the song “S.O.S. (Anything But Love)”
can only be described as “beautiful and perfect.” Her voice mixes well with the
cellos and it is one I really recommend for anyone to listen to.
“Rage
of Poseidon” from 7th Symphony
This song has lot of common
Apocalyptica elements: mysterious opening, melodic cello lines, and full-blown
heavy metal awesomeness. The song almost feels like something out of a dark
fantasy video game, and I cannot get enough of it.
FINAL
COMMENTS/ANALYSIS:
To be very honest with you, I
used to have mixed emotions towards Apocalyptica. Many years ago, I was
introduced to the band through their debut album, Plays Metallica on Four Cellos. I instantly fell in love with the
sound of cellos playing some of my favorite Metallica songs, and I honestly
think they were my introduction to the cello as a whole, and why I really enjoy
playing and teaching the instrument. When the group released Inquisition Symphony, and featured some
original material on the album, I grew to enjoy them even more, seeing that
they could take a guitar, bass, drum and vocal dominated genre of music like
metal and make it there on their cellos.
After the release of Cult, I actually did not keep up much
with Apocalyptica, but my brother did, and he told me about the shift in their
sound to feature more distorted riffs and drum beats, and even a few vocals
here and there. As a stubborn teenager at the time who disliked change, I did
not give them the time of day since I loved the earlier cello only works, and I
did not want the band I loved to be ruined. However, a few years ago, when they
released Reflections, I had matured as
a musician and music listener, and really started to enjoy the music they were producing.
The cellos were still there, but were now complimented by the drums and the
vocalists they were using, though I think the song with Corey Taylor is not very
good and feels more like a Slipknot song than Apocalyptica song.
If you want a nice alternative to
your standard take on metal music, I really recommend checking out the first
three albums of Apocalyptica for the superb cello playing and arranging of
metal music. If you are looking for some truly spectacular symphonic metal on
actual symphonic instruments, any Apocalyptica album post-2003 is good for you.
Regardless of what you prefer, the classical-trained cellists of Apocalyptica
are living proof that you do not need to play guitar to rock hard. Thus, I
full-heartedly give Apocalyptica the Metal Horns Seal of Approval!
No, this does not have anything to do
with Apocalyptica; I just wanted to use the picture…
For more information about
Apocalyptica check www.apocalyptica.com
for the latest news, tour dates, band biographies, and merchandise.
Well, that is all the time we have
for this blog post. Tune in next time on March 5th, as we kick off
our month-long celebration of the connection between professional wrestling and
the music industry in a little thing I like to call “Wrassle-Palooza.” And, what better way to start than to tackle one
of the most iconic wrestlers of the 1980s? Until next time, and I am Barius,
and as always, keep on rockin’! See you next month for “Wrassle-Palooza!”
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