Apocalyptica

Apocalyptica, four classically trained graduates of Helsinki's Sibelius Academy, united over a love of heavy metal, playing Metallica covers on their cellos and created a hard rocking, neo-classical, operatic storm of symphonic metal. Their debut album Plays Metallica By Four Cellos (1996) reached number seven in their native Finland and became a bizarre oddity for both metal and classical fans. Their follow-up Inquisition Symphony (1998) took on covers of Faith No More, Pantera and Sepultura before they turned to producing their own original material on Cult (2000) and recruiting Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo on Reflections (2003). With guest appearances from Rammstein's Till Lindemann, Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia and Slipknot's Corey Taylor and a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes," sixth album Worlds Collide (2007) made a breakthrough in America when single "I Don't Care" was used in the hit TV series Smallville in 2009. Their seventh album 7th Symphony was released in 2010 and featured guest vocalist Gavin Rossdale and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. They performed three Metallica songs at the band's 30th-anniversary celebration concert in 2011 before taking a year out to work on a classical crossover project titled Wagner Reloaded, which featured works by Richard Wagner given the Apocalyptica treatment. After touring with Finnish group Avanti! Chamber Orchestra in 2014, they signed to Eleven Seven Music and released their eighth album Shadowmaker in 2015. The band took another five years before re-emerging with ninth studio Cell-0 (pronounced "Cell Zero") in 2020; their first entirely instrumental LP since 2003's Reflections. They revisited hallowed ground in June 2024 with the release of Plays Metallica Vol. 2 (2024), packing in fresh takes on Metallica tracks such as "The Unforgiven II," "Ride the Lightning" and "One."

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