Almost two years after the release of the Reflections album, the Finnish cello rockers are back with a brand new one: Apocalyptica. In interviews frontman Eicca Toppinen explained the title as: 'we reached the true Apocalyptica sound with this album, hence it is self titled.' This means all songs are again written by himself and band mate Perttu Kivilaakso. Also the use of drums from Reflections is repeated on Apocalyptica. In all tracks except Betrayal/forgiveness the drumming is done by Mikko Sirén, who was added to the band as an official member in December 2005.
Something new on this album is the use of vocals. In the past Apocalyptica have done remixes of their own songs, adding vocalists to songs from previous albums Cult and Reflections. This time the album contains two songs originally written for this album with vocals: Life Burns! and Bittersweet. Both feature The Rasmus singer Lauri Ylönen and on Bittersweet he sings a duet with HIM singer Ville Valo, who are both also from Finland. Everybody has their own opinion about these collaborations, especially the Lauri one, but the Apocalyptica guys do what they want. And that is a good thing, because in the end they managed to make a very diverse album. It contains heavy songs like Betrayal, Fatal error and Fisheye, but also soft, beautiful and touching ballads like Farewell and Ruska, which is accompanied by a piano.
There are two album versions released; the normal one and a limited edition. The limited edition isn’t really a must have, unless you just love the song Quutamo. It also holds this song in vocals as a bonus track. Three times even; in French (En vie), in English (How far) and in German (Wie weit). One can wonder if that isn’t a bit too much. So apart from the Apocalyptica player with pictures and the Bittersweet video, the limited edition doesn’t offer much extra. Especially not if you leave the normal album running after the last track Deathzone, because that way you will find the hidden track En vie.
Verdict: The Finnish cello metal band has long left the Metallica covers behind that started it all in 1996, and produced a well balanced album with good songs that also work very well on stage. It’s the true Apocalyptica sound, so definitely one of their better albums.
Reggy