Strings ablaze in Apocalyptica’s European Tour, ushering new life into the heavy metal anthems of Metallica.
APOCALYPTICA plays Metallica Vol. 2 Tour | Albert Hall, Manchester | 29th September 2024
Reviewed by Paul Anthony Knowles
On a wet night in Manchester, I found myself in the gothic grandeur of the Albert Hall (a converted Grade 2 Wesleyan chapel) listening to the hauntingly-frantic metal anthems of Metallica, given fresh impetus by the Finnish rock cello trio, Apocalyptica. The crowd spent the night swept up in the high-octane powerhouse performance of the trio, who produced thrashing highs and moving melodic lows that didn’t just pay homage to Metallica but became its own metal-beast.
Warm-up-act The Raven Age (a British metal band) played a mixture of old fan favourites and recent tracks from their new album Blood Omen. The gothic decaying architecture of the Albert Hall, bathed in red light and the outstretched wings of a raven (the band’s insignia), were the perfect backdrop for lead singer, Matt James, to own the stage. He was transformed into an eldritch prince as his vocals whipped the crowd into a frenzy against a backdrop of screaming strings and drum solos that astonished with their chaotic rhythms and unrelenting pace. The drumming skills of Jai Patel are seriously outrageous, and he was constantly enthralling the crowd with the frenetic beats he conjured — the backdrop to the band’s dark metallic barnstormers. It was in the band’s newer melodic numbers, from their freshly released album Blood Omen, where James’s vocals really shone. His anguished voice added gravitas and a depth of emotion to the band’s melancholic lyrics that capture the eternal pain of doomed, forbidden love.
When Apocalyptica took the stage they appeared — like the metal kings they are — to the unadulterated howls of excitement from the eclectic crowd. The trio unleashed a performance of unmatched passion, intense energy, and supreme classical talent: spells were woven by the fingers of Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen and Perttu Kivilaakso. Opening with ‘Ride the Lightning’ was a brave choice as it set the bar high for the rest of the concert. It was a risk that paid-off; the theatrical nature of the track showcased the three mesmeric cellos being played in perfect harmony from the concert’s start.
The opening track built slowly to its awe-inducing climax, met with roars of appreciation from the crowd. Fan favourites, ‘Enter the Sandman’ and ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, followed by ‘The Call for Ktulu’, full of heavy metal grandeur. That made the first half of the set-list feel like a full-throttle ascent into metal paradise. The much maligned ‘St Anger’ allowed the crowd a moment to breathe, whilst displaying the trio’s ability to master the gentler and more sweeping tracks in Metallica’s back catalogue. The respite was short lived as the trio then let loose the frantic sledgehammer of their version of ‘The Four-Horsemen’. Setting up the second half of the set-list to be full of metal powerhouses including the classic tracks ‘Master of the Puppets’ and ‘Seek and Destroy’. The concert ended on the trio’s truly monumental version of ‘One’, which left the crowd entering the dark Manchester night fully sated.
The concert displayed how Apocalyptica has become more than a novelty Metallica tribute band. They have become their own dark entity entirely, ushering new life into classic Metallica anthems through blazing strings.
Reviewed by Paul Anthony Knowles