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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/20070102234139-apocalyptica3_1688.jpg]]
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3Apocalyptica is a metal band from Helsinki, Finland formed in 1993. Originally formed as a Music/{{Metallica}} tribute band, they recorded their first album, ''Plays Metallica By Four Cellos''. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The title is not a joke]].
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5For their first three albums (their second being a tribute album to other heavy metal bands such as Music/{{Pantera}}, the third an album of original songs,) their line-up consisted of four cellists. They then played at a festival of which Music/{{Slayer}} was headlining. Dave Lombardo, a fan of the string quartet, asked them if they knew any Slayer and, upon finding that they do know how to play Slayer, asked them to join him for a short set, telling them to give him a call if they ever needed a drummer. When one of the members quit in 2002, they called up Lombardo for their fourth album, ''Reflections''; though he did not become their primary drummer, he contributed to their next two albums before officially leaving in 2007.
6
7Lombardo is not the only member of another band they have worked with; the band has collaborated with several vocalists, most notably Music/{{Rammstein}}'s Till Lindemann, Music/{{HIM}}'s Ville Valo, Music/TheRasmus's Lauri Ylönen, Music/{{Slipknot}}[=/=]Music/StoneSour's Corey Taylor, Music/LacunaCoil's Cristina Scabbia, [[Music/GojiraBand Gojira's]] Joe Dupalantier, Music/{{Sepultura}}[=/=]Music/{{Soulfly}}'s Max Cavalera, Music/DirEnGrey's Tooru "Kyo" Nishimura and German punk icon Music/NinaHagen. They were also featured on melodic death metal band Music/AmonAmarth's album ''Twilight of the Thunder God'', for the song "Live for the Kill", and they have played sets with Rammstein. Kivilaakso also appeared on four tracks from Music/SonataArctica's album ''The Days Of Grays''.
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9For their eight studio album, ''Shadowmaker'', they brought in Franky Perez to be their lead vocalist, breaking their trend of being an instrumental band that only brings in guest vocalists for a few songs.
10
11[[folder:Band Members and Guest Singers]]
12
13!!Current Line-up:
14* Eicca Topinen: Cello (1993-present)
15* Paavo Lötjönen: Cello (1993-present)
16* Pertu Kivilaakso: Cello (1993, 1999-present)
17* Mikko Sirén Drums (2003-present, their official touring drummer)
18* Franky Perez: Vocals (2014-present)
19
20!!Former Members:
21* Max Lilja: Cello (1993-2002)
22
23!!Session Members:
24* Dave Lombardo: Drums (2003-2007, the first drummer they officially played with)
25* Sami Kuoppamäki: Drums
26* Antero Manninen: Cello (1993-1999, 2002-spring 2009)
27* Toryn Green: Touring Vocals (2008-present)
28* [[Music/SonataArctica Tony Kakko]]: Guest Vocals (2008 in Finland and Japan)
29* Johnny Andrews: Touring Vocals (Spring 2008)
30* Adam Gontier: Vocals (2008 in New York)
31* Cristina Scabbia: Vocals (2008 at Download Festival)
32* Tipe Johnson: Touring Vocals (2009 in East-Europe)
33
34!!Guest Vocalists:
35* Adam Gontier (Music/ThreeDaysGrace) on "I Don't Care"
36* Corey Taylor (Music/{{Slipknot}}, Music/StoneSour) on "I'm Not Jesus"
37* Cristina Scabbia (Music/LacunaCoil) on "SOS (Anything But Love)"
38* Emmanuelle Monet (Music/{{Dolly}}) on "En Vie"
39* Lauri Ylönen (Music/TheRasmus) on "Life Burns!" and "Bittersweet"
40* Linda Sundblad (Lambretta) on "Faraway Vol. 2"
41* Marta Jandova (Music/DieHappy) on "Wie Weit"
42* Mats Leven (Music/{{Therion}}, Krux) on backing vocals on "SOS" and "I Don't Care"
43* Matt Tuck (Music/BulletForMyValentine) on "Repressed"
44* Matthias Sayer (Music/FarmerBoys) on "Hope Vol. 2"
45* Max Cavalera (Ex-Music/{{Sepultura}}, Music/{{Soulfly}}, Cavalera Conspiracy, Nailbomb) on "Repressed"
46* Music/NinaHagen on "Seemann"
47* Sandra Nasic (Music/GuanoApes) on "Path Vol. 2"
48* Till Lindemann (Music/{{Rammstein}}) on "Helden"
49* Ville Valo (Music/{{HIM}}) on "Bittersweet"
50* Gavin Rossdale (Music/{{Bush}}) on "End of Me"
51* Brent Smith (Music/{{Shinedown}}) on "Not Strong Enough"
52* Doug Robb (Music/{{Hoobastank}}) on the alternate, American single version of "Not Strong Enough"
53* Lacey Sturm (Music/{{Flyleaf}}) on "Broken Pieces"
54* Joe Duplantier (Music/{{Gojira|Band}}) on "Bring Them to Light"
55* Tooru "Music/{{Kyo}}" Nishimura (Music/DirEnGrey) as tour vocalist in 2010
56* Joakim Brodén (Music/{{Sabaton}}) on "Live or Die"
57* Lzzy Hale (Music/{{Halestorm}}) on "Talk to Me"
58[[/folder]]
59
60!!Studio Discography:
61* ''Plays Metallica By Four Cellos'' (1996, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin consists entirely of Metallica covers]])
62* ''Inquisition Symphony'' (1998, Their last Tribute Album, with their first three original compositions)
63* ''Cult'' (2000, first album to feature percussion and Eicca Toppinen doubling up on double bass)
64* ''Reflections'' (2003)
65* ''Apocalyptica'' (2005)
66* ''Worlds Collide'' (2007)
67* ''7th Symphony'' (2010)
68* ''Shadowmaker'' (2015, their first album with a single full-time vocalist in Franky Perez)
69* ''Cell-0'' (2020)
70
71----
72!!This band has examples of:
73
74* AntiLoveSong: Lyrically, "Anything But Love" details a female character talking to the man who is going to rape her. She essentially tells him to be as cruel and evil as he wants ("Go on infect me, go on and scare me to death.") and make sure she is traumatized and scared. Because she'd rather that than have him love her.
75* BreakingOldTrends: The majority of the songs on preceding albums were instrumental with the few vocal songs having been performed with different guests. ''Shadowmaker'' breaks the trend by having a single vocalist who performs on the majority of the songs.
76%%BreakUpSong: "I Don't Care"
77* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: ''7th Symphony'' is the band's seventh album.
78* CoverVersion: After Music/{{Metallica}}, the band went on to covering songs from Music/FaithNoMore, Music/{{Sepultura}}, Music/{{Pantera}}, Music/{{Slayer}}, Music/DavidBowie and Music/BlackSabbath.
79* {{Crossover}}: Apocalyptica collaborated with Music/{{Sabaton}} for a re-recording of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyZ8wKTaHRk "Angels Calling"]] to promote their 2020 European tour together, and Joakim returned the favor by doing vocals on Apocalyptica's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqGTCR0a3Hw "Live or Die"]].
80* DefiledForever: The victim in "S.O.S. (Anything But Love)".
81-->Without any faith, without any light\
82Condemn me to live, condemn me to lie\
83Inside I am dead
84* DistinctDoubleAlbum: The first disc of ''Amplified: A Decade of Reinventing the Cello'' is all instrumentals, second consists of songs with vocals (some of which were previously released as instrumentals.)
85* DramaQueen: The subject of "End of Me."
86-->Can't resist poisoning the message\
87Just a narcissist trapped inside the wreckage\
88And the sympathy I had is gone\
89Deadened by the ceremony\
90Drama queen,\
91Stand behind your empire\
92As your kingdom falls
93* FlamesOfLove: "Slow Burn" is an angsty love song built on fire metaphors, though it is less about passion and more about how [[LoveHurts love burns you]].
94* GenreMashup: The band is a Sibelius-Academy-trained cello-metal ensemble, who began as a Music/{{Metallica}} tribute band.
95* {{Hypocrite}}: "I'm Not Jesus" is directed at a PedophilePriest.
96-->I've thought you were a good man\
97I've thought you talked to God\
98You hypocritic, messianic, child-abusing turned satanic!
99* {{Instrumentals}}: Apocalyptica does mostly instrumentals, including the entirety of their first four albums (excluding bonus content) and ''Cell-0''. Their only album with an actual vocalist in their lineup is ''Shadowmaker'', and beyond that, all of their songs with lyrics are sung by guest vocalists.
100* LastNoteNightmare: "Fisheye" from their self titled album. When you think the song is over, a few more measures of thrashy and cacophonic cello and drum noise ensue.
101* MrFanservice: The band actively plays to this trope, most often playing on stage shirtless just to please the fangirls. This was particularly evident with Eicca in the early days, though he's put his shirt back on and Perttu Kivilaakso has taken the role.
102* OdeToApathy: "I Don't Care" is directed at an abusive partner as the narrator gives up on trying to salvage their relationship.
103-->If you were dead or still alive\
104I don't care
105* PedophilePriest: "I'm Not Jesus" is an angry song from the perspective of an ex-victim of one of these.
106-->Dirty little secret\
107Dirty little lies\
108Say your prayers and comb your hair\
109Save your soul tonight\
110[...]\
111Do you remember me?\
112The kid I used to be?
113* ReligionRantSong: "I'm Not Jesus" is a Type 3, directed at a PedophilePriest, with a bit of type 1 as well: "Jesus wasn't there!"
114* SopranoAndGravel: The sung version of "Bittersweet" [[PlayingWithTropes plays with the trope]] by way of guest vocalists Ville Valo from H.I.M. and Lauri Ylönen from Music/TheRasmus: both are male, and Lauri's higher tenor voice is actually the graveled one in comparison to Ville's velvet-smooth bass. It makes an interesting effect when Ville suddenly slides up into the same range as Lauri.
115* VideoFullOfFilmClips: The music video for "Hope Vol. II" features clips from French horror thriller ''Film/{{Vidocq}}''. The song itself appears in the film's ending credits.
116* WithLyrics: Their first few vocal songs were "vol. 2" versions of "Path" and "Hope" from ''Cult'', and "Faraway" from ''Reflections''. The SelfTitledAlbum has a vocal version of "Quutamo" as a hidden track.

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