Written by:	itsjoeymoose
Published:	December 15, 2008
Event:	Apocalyptica: UK Tour (Website)
Location:	Carling Academy, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Galleries:	Apocalyptica UK Tour-Liverpool by itsjoeymoose (29)

Big bands (metal bands anyway) and Liverpool don't mix very often, so when they do it's quite an event to the city of Beatles. Fans of cello rockers Apocalyptica turned out in force to hear some of the most intense and interesting music you're bound to come across in your life.

Before the Finnish cello men hit the stage however, the other Finnish men Swallow The Sun got the show started. I imagine most of the crowd were unfamiliar with the doom/death band, playing their trademark heavy, albeit slow and atmospheric brand of metal. What they lack in shredding riffs and technical wizardry, they more than make up in crushing chords and beautiful keyboard melodies.





Vocalist Mikko Kotamaki isn't exactly what I'd call a great performer, a good vocalist who grunts and growls his way through the songs with the occasional use of clean vocals, but he seemed to lack the sense that there was a crowd in front of him. Maybe instead of standing in the middle of the stage and clinging to the microphone stand like a lifesaver, he could have interacted with the crowd and spoke between songs a bit more, but that's just how it is. Guitarist Juha Raivio, who was one of the members I spoke with for an interview, was doing the very unorthodox band act of selling merchandise before and after the show, which was cool to see. As most Finns are, Juha was an incredibly cool and polite chap and went out of his way to chat with the fans.





Playing for about thirty-five minutes, Swallow The Sun did their job well, even though their type of music is sometimes hard to do anything to other than stand and watch. A strange pairing of bands in some ways, but hopefully Swallow The Sun can become more recognised on this UK tour, as they are certainly a talented bunch. Give their latest full length album "Hope" a listen, and for UK fans, try to pick up the "Hope" UK reissue with bonus features.





A short while later, the lights dimmed and four chairs in the shape of skulls were silhouetted against the red light, creating an eerie atmosphere. Young and old fans alike drew their breath, only to be released when the intro started to Apocalyptica's title track from the latest album "Worlds Collide". Three fast and furious minutes later, the crowd went ecstatic like I haven't heard in a long time.





Despite some strange accents and patchy English at times, Eicca Toppinen and Perttu Kivilaasko did their best to get the crowd involved (even just walking up to the front of the stage got joyous screams from the women), although their banter during the breaks most of the time could be described as, for a lack of a better term: talking crap. All that aside, the crowd was always invited to sing along and Paavo Lotjonen spent a lot of the time getting the crowd to clap and chant along to the song than actually playing, which really got audience going. Drummer Mikko Siren was on fantastic form as usual with some incredible drumming, which made me appreciate the drums even more with instrumental songs.
In contrast to the other four members giving it their all, the fifth member Antero Manninen appears almost like a statue if it weren't for his arms moving. Manninen was a former member of Apocalyptica but now just plays on tour.





Along with their own material, cello versions of Metallica songs were spliced into the set list. The crowd singing along to hit songs like "Seek And Destroy", "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "One", and "Enter Sandman" among others. It was as if the four horsemen were there for real on some occasions. With their own material, (which I much prefer) massive highlights were "Life Burns", "Bittersweet" and "Betrayal/Forgiveness".
An interesting move not to bring in vocalists for this tour, as the US tour featured a relitevely unknown vocalist Toryn Green handling all vocal duties. Regardless of vocals missing, the songs still manage to retain the core sound and still sound great with the cellos playing the vocal melodies.





After about seventy-five minutes of cello metal, the band left only to come back a few minutes later to a massive applause to play "Hall of the Mountain King". Some may have been put off by the sole instrumental factor, but then again as Perttu said on stage "We're a band that you either love or hate", although it's clear which way the crowd felt tonight in Liverpool. A great band playing at its peak, what's not to like?

Cheers to Lee Heydon for sorting out everything.