Apocalyptica
is a Finnish rock band from Helsinki, Finland, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists and, since 2003, a drummer. Three of the cellists are graduates of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. Their music features elements from classical music, neo-classical metal, [1] thrash metal, and symphonic metal.
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APOCALYPTICA TICKETS
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History
Apocalyptica was formed in 1993
[2] when four
cellists,
Eicca Toppinen,
Paavo Lötjönen,
Max Lilja, and
Antero Manninen gathered to play
Metallica covers at
Sibelius Academy. They performed in an after-Christmas party as a "Jailhouse Band" at the Teatro Heavy Metal Club. That evening the line-up was Toppinen, Lilja, Manninen and Perttu Kivilaakso (who was to join the band permanently in 1999.) Among the audience was Kari Hynninen, who worked for the independent label Zen Garden Records. After listening to Apocalyptica's set, Kari Hynninen signed them on the spot to Zen Garden Records.
In 1996, Apocalyptica released their debut
studio album,
Plays Metallica by Four Cellos
, which consisted solely of
Metallica covers played on
cellos. 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.
In 1999, Antero Manninen left the group, and was replaced by
Perttu Kivilaakso. In 2000, Apocalyptica released their third studio album,
Cult
, which featured 10 original songs, and 3 covers. And it was after the recording of
Cult
that an Apocalyptica track was first seen featuring vocals, "
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 fifth studio album,
Apocalyptica
. This album featured a number of guest musicians including
Ville Valo of
HIM,
Lauri Ylönen of
The Rasmus, and once again Dave Lombardo. They also recorded the Intro for
Bullet For My Valentine's album
The Poison
.
In December 2005 Mikko Sirén was announced as an official band member after having played around 200 shows with the band.
Apocalyptica released their sixth studio album,
Worlds Collide
, on
September 17 2007. It was produced by Jacob Hellner. To the surprise of many, the album includes a cover 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.
The band has played approximately 850-1000 concerts during their career in about 50 countries.
Apocalyptica announced a large world tour for 2008, so far including concerts in Europe and North America (including Mexico). They have sold over three million albums to date.
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.
[3] They have most recently recorded 'I Don't Care' with Three Days Grace lead singer Adam Gontier.
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 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 at Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Track chart and 2nd at Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart just after
AC/DC, and just ahead of
Metallica, an ironic twist, due to their origins performing Metallica covers. Recently, it reached #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.
Band members
;Current members
- Eicca Toppinen – cello (1993 present)
- Paavo Lötjönen – cello (1993 present)
- Perttu Kivilaakso – cello (1999 present)
- Mikko Sirén – drums (2003 present)
;Former members
- Max Lilja – cello (1993–2002)
;Sessional members
- Dave Lombardo of Slayer – drums (2003–2007)
- Sami Kuoppamäki – drums (2003-2006)
- Antero Manninen – cello (1993–1999, 2002-2009 spring)
- Toryn Green – touring vocals (2008-present)
- Tony Kakko – guest vocalist (2008) Finland and Japan)
- Johnny Andrews – touring vocalist (April-May 2008)
- Adam Gontier - vocalist in New York (2008)
- Cristina Scabbia - vocalist in Download festival (2008)
- Tipe Johnson - touring vocalist in East-Europe (2009)
Guest musicians
;Vocalists
- Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace (“I Don't Care”)
- Corey Taylor of Slipknot/Stone Sour (“I'm Not Jesus”)
- Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil (“SOS (Anything But Love)”) [4]
- Emmanuelle Monet of Dolly (“En Vie”)
- Lauri Ylönen of The Rasmus (“Life Burns!”, “Bittersweet”)
- Linda Sundblad of Lambretta (“Faraway Vol.2”)
- Marta Jandová of Die Happy (“Wie weit” / “How Far”)
- Mats Levén of Therion, Krux (“SOS”, “I Don't Care”) (Backing Vocals)
- Matt Tuck of Bullet for My Valentine (“Repressed”)
- Matthias Sayer of Farmer Boys (“Hope Vol.2”)
- Max Cavalera of Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy, Nailbomb, ex-Sepultura (“Repressed”)
- Nina Hagen (“Seemann”)
- Sandra Nasic of Guano Apes (“Path Vol.2”)
- Till Lindemann of Rammstein (“Helden”)
- Ville Valo of HIM ("Bittersweet")
;Instruments
- Tomoyasu Hotei
(“Grace”) (Guitar)
- Dave Lombardo of Slayer (“Last Hope”, “Betrayal/Forgiveness”, "Reflections" (Album)) (Drums)
Covered artists
Apocalyptica have covered songs by the following artists:
- David Bowie
- Edvard Grieg
- Faith No More
- Metallica
- Pantera
- Rammstein
- Sepultura
- Slayer
Often people mistake the
String Quartet Tribute Series for Apocalyptica covering bands other than the ones mentioned above.
Discography
Main article: Apocalyptica discography and }, and }, and }, and }, and }, and }, and }, and }, and }
- 1996: Plays Metallica by Four Cellos
- 1998: Inquisition Symphony
- 2000: Cult
- 2002: Best of Apocalyptica
(Japan only)
- 2003: Reflections
- 2005: Apocalyptica
- 2006: Amplified // A Decade of Reinventing the Cello
- 2007: Worlds Collide
Apocalyptica in media
- Apocalyptica have recently finished a collaboration with the group Pilgrim on the song "Iuda" and have filmed a music video.
- They are featured on the Amon Amarth track Live For The Kill
from their album Twilight of the Thunder God.
- They are featured on the Sepultura track Valtio
from their album Nation
.
- On Angelzoom's album Angelzoom
, they provide music to the track "Turn the Sky".
- Their music is the sole music in the movie used in intercallory chapters in the "Movie Friends and Neighbors" an indie drama starring Ben Stiller.
- Three songs from the album Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, "Enter Sandman", "Wherever I May Roam" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", appeared in the soundtrack to the 1998 movie Your Friends & Neighbors.
- The song "Hope Vol. 2" served as the title song for the 2001 movie Vidocq
.
- Kivilaakso recorded the main themes of the video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
released in 2003.
- Their cover of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" appeared in the 2004 Metallica film Some Kind of Monster
.
- The song "Bittersweet" served as the theme music for the video game The Settlers: Heritage of Kings
released in 2005.
- On Grip Inc.' album Incorporated
, Toppinen provide music to the track "(Built To) Resist".
- Apocalyptica recorded the main theme "Boy s T'enyu" (meaning "Fight with the shadow") feat. Triple X for the sport drama movie Shadowboxing
released in 2005.
- On Rammstein' single Benzin
, remixes the song as Kerosiini
and performance live on Concert in 2007 in Budapest, Hungary the songs Mein Herz brennt and Ohne Dich.
- In 2006, Apocalyptica were featured briefly in the Oomph! filmclip, Die Schlinge
("The noose") playing their cellos as the members of Oomph! played their instruments (and sang) on a set of gallows in accordance to the song title.
- Apocalyptica played during the counting of votes in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki. They played a medley of the songs "Worlds Collide", "Faraway", and "Life Burns!".
- On Waltari' album Space Avenue
, they provide music to the tracks "Purify Yourself" and "Look Out Tonite".
- In the Eurovision Dance Contest 2007 in London, Finland's representatives, dancers Jussi Väänänen and Katja Koukkula, chose Apocalyptica's cover of the Metallica song "The Unforgiven" as the background music for one of their numbers. The couple won the competition.
- French figure ice-skater Brian Joubert chose a medley of "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters" played by Apocalyptica for his Free skating program for the years 2006-2007 and 2008.
- On The 69 Eyes' album Angels
, they provide music to the track "Ghost".
- Apocalyptica contributed a remix of "S.O.S. (Anything But Love)" done by Justin Lassen to the original soundtrack of horror movie "The Midnight Meat Train".
- Grace can be found on the NHL 09 soundtrack.
- Apocalyptica played with Hanna Pakarinen the song S.O.S (Anything But Love) live at Emma-gaala on 8 March 2008.
- In 2008 Apocalyptica was featured in the IUDA Pilgrim video playing their cellos with the members of the band.
- The song "Life Burns!" is featured on the soundtrack for EA's game "Burnout Revenge".
- Apocalyptica plays the intro of the Bullet For My Valentine album The Poison.
- The song I Don't Care was featured on the Cw's Smallville on March 19 2009.
References
- FYE: Neo-Classical Metal - Apocalyptica Apocalyptica / CD / 2005
- Billboard Music Charts - Latest Music News - Music Videos
- Apocalyptica supports Greenpeace campaign. Video on YouTube.
- Blabbermouth.Net - Lacuna Coil, Gojira Members To Guest On New Apocalyptica Cd