I love Apocalyptica, even though they've moved in a pop direction I generally hate. I love their music, it's just a pity the vocalists they tend to choose are so cheesy.
This self-titled album is mostly instrumental, but the drums do tend to distract from the greatness. Looking into it, the drummer is also listed as "programmer" so I suspect the fast songs are using electronic drums, which probably explains why I think they sound so bad.
The third track Distraction is a good example of the awful drums, as is Fatal Error. The slower songs with either a lot more tom drums, or no drums at all, are much much better (Quutamo, Misconstruction, Farewell, Ruska).
Dave Lombardo plays drums on "Betrayal/Forgiveness" and he shows how drums should be done. I've previously complained about the looseness of Dave's drumming, but next to the fake and boring sounding perfectness of the other tracks on this album, they're a huge improvement.
The vocal tracks (Life Burns! and Bittersweet) are OK. Bittersweet is definitely my favourite, with Ville Valo (of HIM) and Lauri Ylönen (of The Rasmus) doing a great VAST impression. Life Burns! is a little too pop for my liking.
I avoided this album after it came out as I was really disappointed at the drumming. I think I've found more to like this time around, but they have far far better albums.
5/10
