Founding A
cello quartet,
Eicca Toppinen,
Paavo Lötjönen,
Max Lilja, and
Antero Manninen formed Apocalyptica in 1993 at
Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. The band released their debut
studio album,
Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, in 1996. The album consisted of only eight Metallica covers (mostly from
Master of Puppets and their
self-titled The Black Album). The band was featured on two songs on the
Waltari album
Space Avenue in 1997. Apocalyptica released their second studio album,
Inquisition Symphony, produced by
Hiili Hiilesmaa in 1998.
Inquisition Symphony contained covers of Metallica and other metal bands such as
Faith No More,
Sepultura, and
Pantera. It also contained three original songs by Eicca Toppinen.
1999—2009 Antero Manninen left the group in 1999 and was replaced by
Perttu Kivilaakso. Perttu had previously performed with the band in 1995. Apocalyptica released their third studio album,
Cult, in 2000. It featured mostly original songs and three cover songs. The album was Apocalyptica's first release featuring orchestral percussion performed by Toppinen, as well as the first to feature a track to include vocals, "
Path Vol. 2", sung by
Sandra Nasic of
Guano Apes, was released shortly after
Cult. Max Lilja left the group in 2002 and joined
Hevein. Apocalyptica released their fourth studio album,
Reflections, in 2003, containing only original songs.
Reflections featured an experimental sound different from the acoustic arrangements of
Inquisition Symphony and
Cult.
Dave Lombardo from
Slayer played drums on five songs from
Reflections. Session drummer
Sami Kuoppamäki covered the rest. When Lombardo declined the following tour, Apocalyptica hired Mikko Sirén, who would stay with the band for future tours as well as the recording of the next album. Apocalyptica released their
self-titled fifth studio album in 2005 which featured
Ville Valo of
HIM,
Lauri Ylönen of
the Rasmus, and Dave Lombardo, returning from the previous album. Apocalyptica was on the track "Intro" from
Bullet for My Valentine's album
The Poison in 2005. The group performed with
Marta Jandová and represented
Baden-Württemberg in the
Bundesvision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Wie weit", placing 5th with 77 points. Mikko Sirén became an official band member in December 2005 having played around 200 shows with the band. in
Milan in 2005 Apocalyptica released their sixth studio album,
Worlds Collide, on 17 September 2007. It was produced by
Jacob Hellner. To the surprise of many, the album includes a remake of the German version of
David Bowie's song "
Heroes".
Till Lindemann of
Rammstein, for whom they opened on the
Reise, Reise tour, was the guest vocalist on the track "Helden".
Worlds Collide was released on 15 April 2008 in the United States. The first single, "
I'm Not Jesus" featuring
Corey Taylor of
Slipknot and
Stone Sour, cracked the top 10 of both the
Active rock and
Alternative rock charts. To end 2007, the band toured Europe, continuing in 2008 in the United States and included numerous festivals in Europe. 2018 In June 2008, during the
Rock in Rio concert in Lisbon, Apocalyptica joined the
Greenpeace "energy [r]evolution campaign" and played the
Beethoven 5th symphony from the stage. The band also appeared on
Last Call with Carson Daly on 31 October 2008. Here they made their American television debut with a performance of "I Don't Care" with
Toryn Green. In November 2008, Apocalyptica featuring
Adam Gontier of
Three Days Grace hit first at the BDS and Mediabase Active Rock radio charts with the single "
I Don't Care". Later that month, the band ranked 3rd on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Track chart and 2nd on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart just after
AC/DC and just ahead of
Metallica, an ironic twist since the band's origins lie in performing Metallica covers. Recently, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard rock chart, making Apocalyptica the first Finnish band to top the US charts. The song "I Don't Care" was also featured in the 16th episode of Season 8 of the TV series
Smallville, which aired on 19 March 2009.
2010—2020 On 26 January 2010, the video game
MAG released. Apocalyptica produced the soundtrack for one of the main factions in the game, S.V.E.R. The seventh Apocalyptica studio album entitled
7th Symphony, produced by
Joe Barresi and
Howard Benson, was released on 23 August 2010 in Europe (Germany on 20 August 2010), and 24 August in the U.S. The first single aired on radio 29 June 2010. On 7 October 2011,
RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding
Jive Records along with
Arista Records and
J Records. With the shutdown, the band (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release their future material on the
RCA Records brand. Apocalyptica performed live with Metallica on three songs, "
No Leaf Clover", "
One" and "
Seek & Destroy" in celebration of Metallica's 30th Anniversary on 5 December 2011. The band released an exclusive pledgers-only song "Solo Tu" featuring Erik Canales of
Allison via fan-funding website
Pledgemusic, as part of their Apocalyptica photo book project on 28 October 2011. Apocalyptica took a year off from touring and recording after concluding the 7th Symphony world tour in
Beijing September 2012. During the break the band worked on a crossover musical and theatrical project titled
Wagner Reloaded, combining Wagner's music with the sound of Apocalyptica, to celebrate German composer
Richard Wagner's 200th birthday. There were two live performances in Wagner's birth town
Leipzig, Germany on 5 and 6 July 2013.
Eicca Toppinen arranged and composed the music for the production. The band released an album titled
Wagner Reloaded-Live in Leipzig, in November 2013. Apocalyptica released "Psalm" on 10 May 2013. It was performed by Perttu Kivilaakso on their most recent tour. The band also announced a tour with Finnish
Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, which premiered in March 2014. The set consisted solely of instrumentally performed Apocalyptica songs, especially arranged for the band and the 25-piece orchestra. Their eighth studio album, titled
Shadowmaker, with
Franky Perez singing on all vocal tracks, was released through Better Noise imprint of
Eleven Seven Music on 17 April 2015. They also released a collaborative single with
Vamps titled "
Sin in Justice" on 20 November. Apocalyptica made the music for the episode
On Finn Ice of Rovio Entertainment's video game
Angry Birds Seasons. Apocalyptica celebrated their 20th anniversary of the first album
Plays Metallica by Four Cellos in 2016 and it was re-released with 3 brand new bonus tracks. In February 2019, the band released their first single with Finnish lyrics, featuring
Sanni and
Tippa. They performed the song at the 2019 Emma Gala in Helsinki. The band's ninth studio album, an instrumental,
Cell-0, was released on 10 January 2020.
2020—present Apocalyptica was on the track "Someone To Talk To" from
Three Days Grace's album
Explosions on 6 May 2022. The band toured throughout the first half of 2023. On 15 December 2023, Apocalyptica released a new song and video called "What We're Up Against", featuring
Elize Ryd of
Amaranthe. On 7 June 2024, the band released their tenth studio album,
Plays Metallica, Vol. 2, a sequel to
Plays Metallica by Four Cellos (1996). The album features new Metallica covers such as
The Four Horsemen and
The Unforgiven II, as well as a new recording of
One with Metallica vocalist
James Hetfield reciting the lyrics and bassist
Robert Trujillo. It also includes a cover of
The Call of Ktulu featuring the original bass master track recorded by
Cliff Burton in 1984. ==Band members==