Finnish cello rockers APOCALYPTICA have dropped their very own cello-metal reinterpretations of classical bangers with the new EP “Metal Classic, Classic Metal”. Release day also sees the band unleash the focus track “Flight Of The Bumblebees”, originally by Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow.
APOCALYPTICA‘s Perttu Kivilaakso states: “‘Flight Of The Bumblebee’ is one of the most well-known virtuosic pieces. I have played it during my classical years many times, always aiming for faster and faster performances. This time I thought it would be the coolest thing to make a rough and heavy ‘Bee’ for our band, basically creating the slowest and most doomy ‘Bumblebee’ ever! It’s fascinating how musical structures can work out in many various ways! This ‘Bee’ is heavy and angry, but surely flies out with a smile on her face and a blink in its eye!”
“Metal Classic, Classic Metal” also includes a new version of Beethoven‘s “5th Symphony” as well as a remake of Maurice Ravel‘s “Bolero”.
APOCALYPTICA will tour the U.S. extensively in 2022, as well as play multiple summer festivals, among other dates, before hitting Europe with the aptly named “Epic Apocalypse Tour” alongside EPICA and WHEEL.
Five months ago, APOCALYPTICA‘s Eicca Toppinen spoke to Mexico’s Summa Inferno about his band’s plans for a follow-up to 2020’s “Cell-0” LP. He said: “We have started to talk about the next possible album. But in the meanwhile, we’ve been recording individual songs so we could release something constantly. So now we have already [planned out the] three next releases after [the recent single] ‘I’ll Get Through It’. We’re gonna have something for the later [part] of the year as well; we’re gonna have something for the winter. So we are working on different fields — on the instrumental field, on some special fields and then also on the vocal field.
“I would guess we’ll start to write for the new album,” he continued. “We’ve been starting to talk about what it could be, what would be exciting to do for us, but [those discussions have] not [gone] very far yet. Because the mindset is now we’re doing the ‘Cell-0’ tour. And it’s not that easy at the same time to get very high inspiration and motivation to write a new album, because writing a new album and recording it is a huge process; it takes a lot of time [and] a lot of energy. So, now we have so much touring that it’s not possible to do it now. But I think we [will be] starting on it [soon].”
Released in March, “I’ll Get Through It” was written for APOCALYPTICA by American award-winning songwriter Diane Warren. It features Franky Perez — guest vocalist in APOCALYPTICA‘s 2015 record “Shadowmaker” — as well as Geezer Butler of BLACK SABBATH on bass guitar. The song was born out of a visit Geezer and Franky paid to their friend Diane, who had already written the track “Not Strong Enough” for APOCALYPTICA, included in their 2010 record “7th Symphony”.
2015’s “Shadowmaker” was APOCALYPTICA‘s first album to feature just one singer — Perez — instead of guest collaborators. The disc was recorded with Grammy Award-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, DEFTONES, MASTODON).
Prior to enlisting Perez, who accompanied APOCALYPTICA on the band’s 2022 North American tour, the group released eight albums that melded the classically trained cello mastery of the three core bandmembers with the harder elements of the rock world, including drums and guest vocalists, such as Gavin Rossdale from BUSH, and Corey Taylor of SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR fame.
In April 2021, APOCALYPTICA released the official music video for its collaboration with PAPA ROACH singer Jacoby Shaddix on a cover version of the CREAM classic “White Room”. The track was produced by Howard Benson at West Valley Recording Studios in Woodland Hills, California and mixed by Chris Lorde-Alge.
“White Room” was the first release from APOCALYPTICA since “Talk To Me”, which arrived in August 2020. That song was a collaboration with HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale.
“Cell-0” came out in January 2020. The effort was the band’s first fully instrumental record in 17 years.
Back in 2018, Toppinen stated about APOCALYPTICA‘s decision to make an all-instrumental album at this point in the group’s career: “On the previous ones, we always combined the instrumental songs with the vocal songs, and it was great to have the featuring artists, it was great to work with Frank Perez for the ‘Shadowmaker’ album. But then, on the other hand, it became a bigger interest for us, like, okay, it would be interesting to make a full instrumental album, so there’s no compromise with anything.”