Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A Little Slice of Metal: Apocalyptica

Shredding is not just reserved for guitars...


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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