What?: Seventh album of this cello playing started-as-a-gimmick-Metallica-cover-band to hugely popular originals band.
Why?: I've been a fan since I picked up the "does Metallica" album way back in the 90s.
Tell me more!:
A few albums back Apocalyptica started using drummers. One of the things that appealed to me about the band was the range of sounds, including percussive sounds, the band was able to get from their cellos. Using a drummer was almost as bad as them getting a bass player, or a guitarist.
Further, they began the habit of releasing singles with vocalists singing over their instrumental album tracks. To be fair, this gained them a lot of popularity in Europe and has probably kept them alive longer than an instrumental-only band probably would have lived, but I'm a fan of the instrumentals, not the vocals. The vocal songs began to sneak onto their albums. First with a couple of tracks on 2005's self-titled, and they're now common place, with the band even touring with a vocalist.
I saw the band last year and a fair part of their set were the vocal songs. They're all played well, and they're catchy enough, but they're distracting. They're a cello covers band halfway through a metamorphosis into a pop rock band. I'm unsure I like it.
On 7th Symphony the band give four of the ten tracks to vocalists, and one to a now common place guest spot on drums by Dave Lombardo.
Both "End of Me" (with Gavin Rossdale of Bush) and "Not Strong Enough" (with Brent Smith of Shinedown) lean way too far toward modern hard-rock-pop for my liking, but I admit to them being irritatingly catchy. They nicely illustrate that an overproduced cello band with distortion can sound no different from Hinder or any of those post-Metallica's-Black era of rock-metal.
"Broken Pieces" is much improved by the female vocalist (Lacey Strum of Flyleaf), but it's still far too poppy. Only "Bring Them To Light" (with Joseph Duplantier of Gojira, one of my favourite bands) starts to bring out the true metal potential I think is buried in the band, but I think the production and drumming let it down a little. It's a great start though. Hope to hear more like this on the next album.
"2010" features Dave Lombardo on drums. I know I'm supposed to love the guy, and with Fantomas and Slayer he is brilliant, but his drums with Apocalyptica always seems... messy somehow, especially the drum fills.
Of the instrumentals, epic 7 minute introduction track "At the Gates of Manala" is a perfect demonstration of the modern instrumental Apocalyptica that I enjoy. Multi-part piece with huge riffs, screaming background noises, double kick intensity, and a beautiful slow burn outro. The closing almost 9 minute "Rage of Poseidon" and "On the Rooftop with Quasimodo" are almost as good. "Sacra" sounds like it's missing a part to me, maybe vocals... ha.
Lastly, "Beautiful" is a more traditional classical piece of the kind expected from a traditional classical cello quartet.
I'm happy with half the album, and variety is what I love in a band, so I can't complain.
6/10
