APOCALYPTICA – Plays Metallica By Four Cellos [Remastered 20th Anniversary Edition +3] (2016)

As a celebration for the 20th Anniversary of their debut album, APOCALYPTICA are releasing a remastered edition of “Plays Metallica By Four Cellos“, featuring 3 bonus tracks.
Starting as a classical Metallica tribute band, the Helsinki-based classically-trained quartet of cellists had to be cajoled into laying down their re-imagining of the works of the legendary metal outfit, the decision to do so proving fruitful to say the least: the debut album went Platinum in Finland, Gold in both Poland and Germany, and was the catalyst for a career now entering its third decade which has seen over four million albums sold.

Originally released on May 10th, 1996, this reissue of “Plays Metallica By Four Cellos” may have you raising an eyebrow at the calendar (and the 20th anniversary tour all over Europe next year), but certainly not at the album’s endurance.
Yes, while other Nineties acts who took the reworking of much loved material lightly, Apocalyptica were very serious about their metallic reinterpretations, paying the 8 featured songs from Metallica back catalog the utmost respect.
These guys were fans, not quirky chancers, and the results remain startlingly relevant.

Eschewing the opportunity for cheap laughs or one-hit-wonder status, Apocalyptica fashioned a long player that was as absorbing as it was groundbreaking.
And that it was, keeping a firm grasp of its dignity as every other band and their uncle took to jumping on the ensuing classical-meets-rock bandwagon, Metallica included.

Does “Plays Metallica By Four Cellos” hold up two decades later?
Damn right it does; the cello-driven opus rarely ever dipping a toe into the murky waters of background music. During its sprightliest moments the album is reminiscent of an Eighties horror movie score (think Richard Band’s Bernard Herman-homaging ‘Re-Animator’ soundtrack), in its darkest corners it is as heavy as the source material, arguably more so at times.

Given that the original album only featured eight tracks, the inclusion of three never-before-released Metallica covers; ‘Battery’, ‘Nothing Else Matters’, and ‘Seek And Destroy’ – on this 20th Anniversary Edition feels massive, the interpretation of the guitar solo in ‘Battery’ having to be heard to be believed.
The CD reissue sounds fantastic, the remastering is top class.
When it comes to a classical/rock interface, nothing else matters but this.

01 – Enter Sandman
02 – Master of Puppets
03 – Harvester of Sorrow
04 – The Unforgiven
05 – Sad but True
06 – Creeping Death
07 – Wherever I May Roam
08 – Welcome Home [Sanitarium]
BONUS TRACKS:
09 – Battery
10 – Nothing Else Matters
11 – Seek and Destroy

Eicca Toppinen – cello
Paavo Lötjönen – cello
Max Lilja – cello
Perttu Kivilaakso – cello

BUY IT !
www.emp.de/art_334846
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