APOCALYPTICA – Plays Metallica, Vol. 2 (2024) *HQ*

Finnish cello rockers APOCALYPTICA will release a follow-up to their legendary debut record. “Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2” will continue the journey that began in 1996 when cellists from Helsinki’s world-renowned Sibelius Academy played symphonic tribute to the biggest of the big four–heavy metal titans METALLICA.
For their ninth record, the classically minded dynamos are returning to their roots to bring a legendary story full circle. It also features a host of surprises beginning with a unique collaboration. “The Four Horsemen”, a song that originally appeared on METALLICA’s 1983 debut “Kill ‘Em All”, features METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo, ”One” features Trujillo and James Hetfield, while ”Blackened” guests Dave Lombardo of Slayer,
“Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2” is a great compendium of deep cuts and brilliant highlights spanning METALLICA’s staggering 40-year career, including versions of “Ride the Lightning”, “The Call of Ktulu”, and more.

The first Plays Metallica… was released in June 1996, just days after Metallica themselves released Load. It’s an epoch away and, consequently, ”Plays Metallica Vol. 2” is a very different beast to its predecessor.
The first album was packed with hits and iconic tracks from Metallica’s ‘classic’ era. They were the obvious choices at the time perhaps, but transposing monsters like Enter Sandman and Master Of Puppets to cello was certainly not an obvious or even a very sensible thing to do.
This was, after all, still three years before Metallica teamed up with the San Francisco Symphony for S&M – and who knows how much influence Apocalyptica’s success had on that little diversion?

This time out Apocalyptica take a deeper dive into Metallica’s back catalogue. They also play a little looser with their versions, reinterpreting the musical message where it makes more sense, rather than offering a literal translation.
So Ride The Lightning kicks things off with an eerily extended intro that also brings elements of For Whom The Bell Tolls – previously covered on Apocalyptica’s second album, Inquisition Symphony – into its folds.
From there it’s straight into the much-maligned St. Anger, reworked with brighter melodies and a less annoying snare sound. The Unforgiven II is lighter and airier than the already balladic original, but perfectly suited to the band’s classical treatment. Blackened retains its thrashing groove, which, it turns out, the cello was always perfectly suited for, but it’s the reinterpreted solos and melodic break that really stand out.

The two instrumentals they tackle – The Call Of Ktulu and To Live Is To Die – are played fairly straight, as they don’t have to recreate vocal melody lines alongside the instrumentation.
Elsewhere, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo makes a guest appearance on a frantic version of The Four Horsemen, and relative Black Album deep cut Holier Than Thou is played faster than the original.

That leaves an epic version of One, with the lyrics delivered by James Hetfield as spoken-word poetry, and a second version (‘Two’, if you will) delivered as an orchestral instrumental, to finish off the album. Both versions sound incredible, with beautiful melodies and atonal stabs of strings bringing Apocalyptica’s own musical vision to anguished life.
And that’s what this album is about. Apocalyptica have gone beyond mere novelty value to become their own unique entity, breathing fresh life and a new perspective into these songs. It’s not something they could have envisaged all those years ago.
Highly Recommended

01. Ride the Lightning
02. St. Anger
03. The Unforgiven II
04. Blackened (feat. Dave Lombardo of Slayer)
05. The Call of Ktulu
06. The Four Horsemen (feat. Robert Trujillo of Metallica)
07. Holier than Thou
08. To Live Is to Die
09. One (feat. James Hetfield & Robert Trujillo of Metallica)

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