Apocalyptica, Shadowmaker

I took some time off Apocalyptica lately because the few songs I heard from their last albums didn’t make the best impression, but this week I became curious to see what they were up to. So I found out that they now have a permanent lead singer, that they’re still pretty much on the same path they started with Worlds Collide and that their new album makes me a sad camper. Shadowmaker could be easily split into three: Apocalyptica, Nickelback with cellos and Nickelback without cellos, and don’t ask me how you can have an Apocalyptica song without cellos, because I haven’t figured that out yet, it’s like having a Van Canto song with guitars.

The first three tracks (I’m not including the mandatory epic orchestral intro) are something along the lines of any American rock band for teenagers. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing the matter with teenager music. If you’re a teenager. If you’re closing in on thirty, you might want something more challenging and less superficial, especially when it comes from a band that used to be gloomy and aggressive and play Metallica and Edvard Grieg during the same show. I have no idea how the band got older and yet their music became more infantile, even Slipknot has reached maturity nowadays. And speaking of Slipknot, either they sound like Nickelback, or they sound like Slipknot. That’s it, their two sources of inspiration, two bands that are even younger than they are. Again, there is nothing wrong with this kind of music, I actually like Slipknot a lot, but when you have 1208953453 bands that play a similar style (with different levels of quality, of course, Heaven forbid I’d actually compare Nickelback to Slipknot) and just one that sounds like Apocalyptica, you kinda mourn the loss of that one.

Thankfully, on the opposite spectrum, there are the three fully instrumental songs, Riot lights, Till death do us part and Reign of fear (the last being featured only on the limited edition), that remind me why I used to love Apocalyptica so bloody much. These guys are incredible musicians and their instrumental pieces have such a special charm. It’s a powerful and yet melancholic music, that captures the essence of the North perfectly (I can picture the Scandinavian forests and the fjords while listening to them). Suave, moving and then immediately angry and compelling, with that thick and rich cello that sounds like a cry, with changes of rhythm and of atmosphere... it’s so awesome that it makes it even more frustrating to know that 75% of the album is dedicated to some random shit when it could be dedicated to this beauty.

In the middle lies the Nickelback/Slipknot with cellos category, represented by the remaining four track of the album, where there’s a strange mix between the alternative rock verses and choruses on one side, and the typical Apocalyptica cello interludes on the other side. The two never meet or mix, nor should they, if you ask me. Franky Perez has a pretty cool voice, he seems like a talented dude, but I can’t stand the combination between his light American voice and the burdening Finnish instrumental. It just doesn’t work. Every time I get a little bit excited by the instrumental moments, Frankie starts singing and completely takes me out of the mood. The cherry on the cake is how much House of chains sounds like En Vogue’s Free your mind. The second cherry (can you even have two cherries or does it defeat the purpose? I want to have two cherries) is represented by the lyrical delights, with “there’s a whole in my soul where you used to be” being my personal favourite.

Dead man’s eyes is the lone troubadour that shows it actually is possible to have melodies and instrumentals that go well together, that have emotion, power and melodiousness and that sound like Apocalyptica featuring someone instead of someone featuring Apocalyptica. And if they really want a voice present on most of their songs (and I can understand why, fully instrumental albums are a lot harder to get into), they should at least go in this direction instead of completely abandoning their identity and hiding behind childish sing-songs where you can’t even hear the cellos.

I realise that a band cannot remain the stuck in the past and there’s always need for reinvention and progress (I was just complaining the other day that Kamelot are stuck in the same place they were 10 years ago), but the band must also realise that when people love you for a certain something, to completely give up that something will always be a disappointment and you have to be EXTREMELY good in your new direction to make up for the abrupt change. Also, when you have such talented musicians as the guys from Apocalyptica are, it makes it all the more annoying to know that they are basically wasting their talent on something that a mediocre band could produce on a bad day. I’m curious to see the sales and if it was all worth it, maybe for them and their new fans it was. For us boring old farts... not so much.