I was not allowed to choose classical guitar as my instrument while I was a music major, so for awhile Cello was my instrument. Sadly, even though I like the sound of cellos a lot I still spent most of my time practicing guitar. I really wish Apocalyptica had come out just a few years earlier. I am absolutely certain had I seen them back then I would have dug into my cello with a new found fervor.

I remember vaguely hearing about a band from Finland that did Metallica covers on Cellos. I remember thinking "That sounds kind of neat" and I know one of my friends even had the album Plays Metallica by Four Cellos and I am sure I heard it. This was back in 1993. It sounded cool. It seemed like a novelty. There was no youtube.

More than a decade later I was wandering around in perhaps my favorite store in the Denver area. It is called Black & Read and is a vinyl, used book store, used lots of stuff, and also a huge board game and role playing game collection, including tons of imports. It is packed with stack after stack of junk. I love it. It is very dangerous for me to visit this store if I have any money in my pocket or bank account.

They also tend to play music... One day I am walking around and I keep hearing this absolutely amazing Cello work that is just rocking it. I go ask the guy who it is. "This is Apocalyptica" and I of course ask him if it is for sale. I leave the store with my first Apocalyptica CD and the sounds that got me were their original works. Here was the first song of theirs that really grabbed my attention as I wandered among the books, board games, and role playing books.

It is a song called Harmageddon and it is from their album Inquisition Symphony. I recommend you listen to this video I intentionally linked as it doesn't show the live stuff and I don't want you distracted by this yet. Check this out with your ears as I think you'll agree it is unlike anything you have ever heard before. (Unless you already know Apocalyptica)

Amazing song... do yourself a favor and listen to that before continuing

It turns out this was the album they released after that Plays Metallica album, and this one has some original titles...

Enough for me

For me the sounds in that song above were enough. Had I heard that when I still had a Cello I would have been excited and all over it. That song sings to my style and how I like to play.

I started looking into them more closely...

Youtube was around, and the live stuff and some of the official videos put Cello performance into a never before seen method of approach. These guys are rock stars!! They are as exciting to watch as some fabulous guitar master, or excellent metal act. The energy level is comparable.

Here is that same song above... this is the official video for that song, with distracting amazing crazy playing.

That album was called Inquisition Symphony which is actually a Sepultura song. I want to provide you with the Sepultura, Thrash Metal original before showing you what they did with it. I think it helps to put what these guys do into a little perspective.

And now let's see how Apocalyptica approaches this same song...

Apocalyptica Explodes

Apocalyptica suddenly beomes quite popular and had guest vocalists recording songs with them, and some of their songs do quite well and get a lot of radio coverage.

There is a good chance if you haven't heard of Apocalyptica before you may have heard these songs on the radio. It really depends upon what radio stations you listen to.

The song above is very haunting and wonderful with the vocals added to it. That vocalist did an amazing job and it was a very good fit for the song. Bravo!

Another absolutely beautiful song with vocals. This one did quite well on radio play. Adam Gontier is another great vocalist and this performance is quite good.

Cristina Scabbia does an awesome job on this song too. This has a sort of Evanescence feel to it.

Another completely beautiful vocal backed song. These guys are now slouches when it comes to their ears. I've never heard them choose a bad vocalist. Their guest vocalists always nail the performances and fit like a glove with the Cello backed music.

Some of my personal Favorites

There were some personal favorite videos I watched quite a few times that did not have vocals and many of them are from before they had such radio and popular success by working with these vocalists. I'll close out my post on Apocalyptica by sharing a few of those.

Hall of the Mountain King (by Edward Grieg) from 2007. Live performance. This is a song I whistle a lot, play on guitar occasionally and have always had an interest in. This is a very good performance and arrangement for this particular piece.

One (by Metallica) - they got their start doing Metallica covers with four cellos. I would do them a disservice if I didn't show at least one example of that. This is live and is from 2006.