Apocalyptica

Apocalyptica logo

Apocalyptica is a Finnish cello metal band from Helsinki, Finland formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso (all three of whom are graduates of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki)^[5] and drummer Mikko Sirén. Originally a Metallica classical tribute band, the band eventually adopted a neoclassical metal style without the use of conventional guitars.^[4] They have sold over four million albums to date.^[6]

History

Apocalyptica was formed in 1993^[7] when four cellists, Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, Max Lilja, and Antero Manninen gathered to play Metallica covers at Sibelius Academy. In 1996, Apocalyptica released their debut studio album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, which consisted solely of Metallica covers played on cellos. They were later featured on two songs on the Waltari album Space Avenue in 1997.^[8] In 1998, Apocalyptica released their second studio album, Inquisition Symphony, which was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa. Inquisition Symphony once again contained covers of Metallica, but also contained covers of Faith No More, Sepultura, and Pantera. For this album the band also decided to include three original songs written by Eicca Toppinen.

Apocalyptica at 2005's Wacken Open Air.

In 1999, Antero Manninen left the group, and was replaced by Perttu Kivilaakso who had appeared in the line-up already in 1995. In 2000, Apocalyptica released their third studio album, Cult, which featured 10 original songs, and 3 covers. Soon after the recording of Cult, the first Apocalyptica track featuring vocals was released, "Path Vol. 2". In 2002, Max Lilja left the group and joined Hevein, leaving Apocalyptica with only three members.

In 2003, Apocalyptica released their fourth studio album, Reflections, which consisted for the first time of all original songs. Reflections featured a more experimental sound, instead of the previous acoustic style arrangements found on Inquisition Symphony and Cult. Dave Lombardo from Slayer played drums on five songs from Reflections, with session drummer Sami Kuoppamäki playing on the rest of the songs. As Lombardo was unable to join the band on stage on the following tour, the band hired Mikko Sirén, who would stay with the band for future tours as well as the recording of the next album.

In 2005, Apocalyptica released their self-titled fifth studio album. It featured a number of guest musicians including Ville Valo of HIM, Lauri Ylönen of The Rasmus, and once again Dave Lombardo. The band itself were guest musicians on the track "Intro" from Bullet for My Valentine's 2005 The Poison album. The group performed with Marta Jandová and represented Baden-Württemberg in the Bundesvision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Wie weit", placing 5th with 77 points.^[9] In December 2005 Mikko Sirén was announced as an official band member after having played around 200 shows with the band.

Apocalyptica performing with Rammstein in Milano in 2005.

Apocalyptica released their sixth studio album, Worlds Collide, on 17 September 2007. It was produced by Jacob Hellner. To the surprise of many, the album includes a remake of the German version of David Bowie's song "Heroes". Till Lindemann of Rammstein, for whom they opened on the Reise, Reise tour, was the guest vocalist on the track "Helden". Worlds Collide was released on April 15, 2008 in the United States. The first single "I'm Not Jesus" featuring Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour from the "Worlds Collide" album cracked the top 10 of both the Active rock and Alternative rock charts.

To end 2007, the band toured Europe successfully, selling out many of the venues they played. In 2008 the tour continued in US and included numerous festivals in Europe.

Perttu Kivilaakso at the 2009 Ilosaarirock festival.

In June 2008, during the Rock in Rio concert in Lisbon, Apocalyptica joined the Greenpeace "energy [r]evolution campaign" and played the Beethoven 5th symphony from the stage.^[10]

The band also appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly on October 31, 2008. Here they made their American television debut with a performance of "I Don't Care" with Toryn Green.

In November 2008, Apocalyptica featuring Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace hit first at the BDS and Mediabase Active Rock radio charts with the single "I Don't Care". Later that month, the band ranked 3rd on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Track chart and 2nd on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart just after AC/DC and just ahead of Metallica, an ironic twist since the band's origins lie in performing Metallica covers. Recently, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard rock chart, making Apocalyptica the first Finnish band to top the US charts. The song "I Don't Care" was also featured in the 16th episode of Season 8 of the TV series Smallville, which aired on March 19, 2009.

The seventh Apocalyptica studio album entitled 7th Symphony, produced by Joe Barresi and Howard Benson (on two tracks), was released on August 23, 2010 in Europe (Germany on August 20, 2010),^[11] and August 24 in the U.S.^[12] The first single aired on radio June 29, 2010.^[12]

The album features eight instrumentals plus four tracks with guest vocals.^[12] The first single, "End of Me", features Gavin Rossdale, best known as the vocalist of the British alternative rock band Bush, who had previously collaborated with the band. Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo plays on "2010", "Bring Them to Light" features Joseph Duplantier, singer and guitarist of the French death metal band Gojira, "Broken Pieces" is a cooperation with Flyleaf singer Lacey Mosley, and "Not Strong Enough" is sung by Brent Smith (Shinedown).^[11]

"Broken Pieces" and "Not Strong Enough" were released as the second and third singles from the album. Due to distribution rights on Smith's vocals, "Not Strong Enough" was re-recorded with Doug Robb of Hoobastank before being released to US radio on January 18, 2011.^[13]

On October 7, 2011, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, the band (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release their future material on the RCA Records brand.^[14][15]

On December 5, 2011, Apocalyptica performed live with Metallica on three songs, "No Leaf Clover", "One" and "Seek & Destroy" in celebration of Metallica's 30th Anniversary.

On October 28, 2011, the band released an exclusive pledgers-only song "Solo Tu" featuring Erik Canales of Allison via fan-funding website Pledgemusic, as part of their Apocalyptica photo book project.^[16]

After concluding the 7th Symphony world tour in Beijing September 2012, Apocalyptica took a year off from touring and recording.^[17] During the break the band worked on a crossover musical and theatrical project titled Wagner Reloaded, combining Wagner's music with the sound of Apocalyptica, to celebrate German composer Richard Wagner's 200th birthday with two live performances in Wagner's birthtown Leipzig July 5–6, 2013. Eicca Toppinen has arranged and composed the music, and the band performed live on stage as part of the production.^[18] In November 2013, the band released an album titled Wagner Reloaded-Live in Leipzig, comprising original music recorded live at the event.^[19]

On May 10, 2013, Apocalyptica released "Psalm", a new song that Perttu Kivilaakso performed on their most recent tour. The band also announced a tour with Finnish Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, premiering in March 2014. The set will consist solely of instrumentally performed Apocalyptica songs, especially arranged for the band and the 25-piece orchestra.^[20]

On October 21, 2014, it was announced on the Eleven Seven Music website that the band will be signing to their label.^[21] Their eighth studio album, titled Shadowmaker, with Franky Perez singing on all vocal tracks, was released through Better Noise imprint of Eleven Seven Music Group in April 17, 2015. Regarding the possibility of having Perez as an official member, Eicca said "it's too early to think about it but nothing is decided! Now we got the record done and then we will have touring more or less for 2 years and at the end of that time or sometime during those 2 years we will know. But it wouldn't be an impossible option to have Franky [...]".^[22]

Apocalyptica also made the music for the episode "On Finn Ice" of Rovio Entertainment's video game Angry Birds Seasons.

Members

Current members

• Eicca Toppinen – cello (1993–present)
• Paavo Lötjönen – cello (1993–present)
• Perttu Kivilaakso – cello (1995, 1999–present)
• Mikko Sirén – drums (live member: 2003-2005, 2005-present)
• Franky Perez – vocals (2014–present)

Former members

• Antero Manninen – cello (1993–1999, live member: 2002-2009)
• Max Lilja – cello (1993–2002)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

• Plays Metallica by Four Cellos (1996)
• Inquisition Symphony (1998)
• Cult (2000)
• Reflections (2003)
• Apocalyptica (2005)
• Worlds Collide (2007)
• 7th Symphony (2010)
• Shadowmaker (2015)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Apocalyptica.

• Official website
• Interview with manager Ulysses Hüppauf, HitQuarters April 2009
• Photos from concert Apocalyptica in Minsk, Belarus
• Photos from Omaha, Nebraska 2008
• Photos from London 2010