Someone took an amp to a cello and what I’m reviewing is the end result. Mind you, Apocalyptica have been around a while and I’ve been following them since their Metallica cover-album days. It’s certainly an acquired taste, and to truly enjoy it, one must have a penchant for sweeping, emotional orchestral music in addition to a desire to hear some edge. Apocalyptica marry the edge with the classical chamber music sound and it works surprisingly well. 7th Symphony continues and improves upon that marriage.

As was the case with Worlds Collide, Apocalyptica’s last full length, every song on 7th Symphony is a different animal. There really is no other way to examine an Apocalyptica album other than one song at a time. So for the first time, I’m going to dive in song by song. Wish me luck.

The album starts off with “At The Gates of Manala,” and it offers a helpful overview of the quintessential Apocalyptica instrumental. Since this is music made with cellos, there is always a consistent mournful undercurrent with everything played. With these cellos amplified, that mournful drone gets dirtier, angrier, and more vocal (especially when wah effects are added). While this isn’t the heaviest track on the album, it’s a great introduction to what Apocalyptica can do with their instruments. The ending melodies are especially “epic” in that made-for-a-movie orchestral way that punctuates much of the trio’s music.

And then Gavin Rossdale starts singing. Yes, the second track is the first single from the album. “End of Me” features the frontman of Bush, a band that I had forgotten that I liked (back in the day) until I heard this song. It’s a very Bushy song, a simple but powerful alternative song that, were it not performed with cellos, could have easily fit on Sixteen Stone or Razorblade Suitcase. Apocalyptica mixes unamped and amped cellos with the chorus and it creates an expansive, edgy sound that doesn’t quite reach the heaviness of “At The Gates…” Bottom line: if you like(d) Bush, you’ll like this one.

In steps Shinedown’s vocalist, Brent Smith. “Not Strong Enough” is the most disconnecting song for me, as I’m not particularly fond of Smith’s voice. It really does sound like a Shinedown song though, as it piqued the interest of my wife when I played it without headphones on. She gives it a thumbs up, and I give it a “Meh.” It’s…rocky, but it’s not quite what I want to hear from Apocalyptica. Weakest song on the album for me.

“2010” brings back the heavy. Dave Lombardo pounds the skins for this one. This is likely the heaviest track on the album. The cellos are highly distorted and chugging away throughout most of the track. Lombardo’s drumming never misses a beat (natch). A great, hard driving track. Works great for workout routines.

“Beautiful” is as the name implies. This is something you’ll hear in a Jane Austen movie. Chamber music, straight up. No edge. A nice interlude and a palette cleanser, but it’s not going to move you very much. It may even put you to sleep. Still, it’s a homage to cello music in its most natural (and ancient) form. If you’re looking for the heavy, skip over this one.

Flyleaf sighting! The uniquely voiced Lacey Mosley lends her mousey, strained alterna-metal croon to “Broken Pieces” and it, for the most part, sounds very much like a Flyleaf track. It even has that same boom-boom-chaaah vibe going on. It’s also not all that heavy. If you like Flyleaf…you get it by now.

“On the Rooftops with Quasimoto” is exactly five minutes long. It’s also the best instrumental of the bunch. Why? Well, it’s a personal reason: Arabic scales. I’m a sucker for ‘em and they’re all over this one. This song represents, at least to me, everything that is awesome with cellos. The horsehair bow-scratched mournful droning fits so perfectly with these scales… It’s musical crack for me. So yeah, best song here.

Gojira fans may not like the lack of expansive, growling death metal guitars behind Joe Duplantier’s vocals on “Bring Them to Light,” but it’s the only guest performance here that doesn’t overshadow the traditional Apocalyptica sound. Up to now, almost all the guest vocal tracks have just seemed like Apocalyptica covers. This song sounds as if it was actually written by Apocalyptica before Duplantier touched it. It’s also the heaviest guest vocal track (duh), so it has that going for it.

“Sacra” doesn’t quite close off the album. It’s a slow, light, and very sad burn of a song. It could easily find itself in a war movie, as epic and mournful as it sounds. It serves as a nice prelude to “Rage of Poseidon,” seeing as it leads directly into it.

Poseidon brings back some of the heaviness and takes you on a long, long journey that goes from light to dark and back again. The three-minute mark brings in possibly the darkest riff on the album. That riff builds and builds until you’re smack dab in the middle of a raging storm of blast beats and screeching cellos. A very fun listen.

So there you have it. Amplifying cellos is one of the greatest innovations in orchestra instrument history. You can no longer say that chamber music is boring. You can thank Apocalyptica for that. But is it really something metalheads will like? Well, this one does. The music is hard, driving, and varied. It may be made with cellos, but in a way, that just ratchets up the edge.

4.0/5