Hi there Charlie! long time no see right?
So today, as usual, I'm going to talk about Metal, but today it will certainly be one of the most original band I've ever seen. As I said in the last episode, I'll be talking about 3 cellos players (and a drummer, don't forget him). Ladies and Gentlemen:
I'm just so hppy to talk about them!
So Apocalyptica is a Finish band from Elsinki and these guys are doing NeoClassical Metal and Cello Metal. This band is composed by 3 cellists that all graduated from the Sibelius Acaemy (one of the most prestidigious music academy in Finland) and a drummer. This band was first famous to do Metallica songs covers at the begining, now they are doing original compositions and they are making their own songs. Most of them are lyrics-less.
So at this point Charlie you may say "so a basic band... Wait, did you say cellos?!" Yup! These guys are doing Metal with cellos! Impressive right? And they are quite skilled. I guess it can be difficult to imagine, but here's how they look during concerts:
I guess cool and improbable are the best words to describe them
So, to talk about the music: Even if cellos are often considered as "classic" instruments, these guys are connecting their cellos to amps thanks to electronic devices so that they can modify the sound of their instruments (just like guitars basically). So yes, I said that most of their songs are lyrics-less, in fact some of their songs have lyrics, and they generally invite "small" singers to do the singing... Like Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath, Corey Taylor from Slipknot, Joe Duplantier from Gojira...
Yeah, the fanboy in me is waking up right now :p. I won't say more about them because there are LOTS to say, so here are my favourite songs ;)
Their cover of Nothing Else Matters of Metallica is probably their most famous cover.
Path, my favourit "lyrics-less" song. Also the video is awesome.
I'm Not Jesus feat. Correy Taylor, now this is my faourite song, no hesitation.
Thanks for reading this article, as always I hope you liked it and I helped you discover some new stuff :). Next time I'll talk about Helevetes musicians ;).
Stay rock \m/(>.<)\m/
Kellian
I really really really like Apocalyptica. Though I have to say, my favourite songs by them are "Burn" and "Hope" (depends a lot on my mood !)
ReplyDeleteMe too x) for some reasons "Path" makes me think of a dark dance, I can't find the word but the chorus is the main thing. You have this image of a guy (or a girl) dancing with a dead body that is coming to my mind... I might be crazy a little bit though...
DeleteThis is such an unusual group, I didn't know that we could use cellos to do metal music ! The concept seems really original even if for me it's often destabilizing to listen to lyric-less songs.
ReplyDeletePS: Happy to see a new episode of your series !
My mother told me once that she had the impression to listen to an OST when the music didn't have lyrics, and I agree with that. So I can easily understand that some people might be destabilized ^^".
DeleteP.S: Happy to hear that :3
I love the cello in rock, pop, soul, folk. In fact, I've sort of made a study of it! I've always enjoyed what I've heard by this group, although I'm not a massive fan. In a different cello vibe, I recommend the originally titled "Cello Song" by the great Nick Drake (I wrote a blog article on him a couple of years ago)
ReplyDeleteI am all for the cello. This is an interesting combination, even if I find Nick Drake more to my taste. And thanks to your article, I discovered we actually had some of their albums at home, courtesy of my husband. He was delighted to play them for me.
ReplyDeleteDo you like 2Cellos? I like their rendering of U2's hit With or Without You, Guns'n Roses Welcome to the Jungle and Nirvana's Smell like the Teen Spirit.
But they might be too mainstream for you.
These guys are extremly talented, I've nothing to say. I watched their show in Roma and it was purely awesome. Except on the covers, I don't think we can compare Apocalyptica to them, they really are doing diffrent things even though there are cellos in both. So yes, 2Cellos is one good illustration of how cool cellos can be :).
DeleteP.S: mainstream =/= bad. Yes there are some bad mainstream music, but I'm not the kind of person who says "OMG 2 mainstream 4 me". In fact, to give an example, I'm a fan of Bruno Mars, and god knows he's mainstream.