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195 metal CDs

Apocalyptica—Reflections Revised (2003)

Instrumental | Metal | Progressive metal

100%

Apocalyptica—Reflections Revised (2003)

Details

Produced by Apocalyptica. Recorded and mixed by T-T Oksala. Recorded at Finnvox and Crystal Sound Studios. Mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox. All songs by Eicca Toppinen or Perttu Kivilaakso.

Website

Band

  • Eicca Toppinen—Cello
  • Perttu Kivilaakso—Cello
  • Paavo Lötjönen—Cello
  • Guest musicians including:
    • Dave Lombardo (Slayer)—Drums on tracks 1, 2, 4, 8, 10
    • Nina Hagen—Vocals on “Seemann”
    • Linda Sundblad—Vocals on “Faraway”

CD Tracks

  1. Prologue (apprehension)
  2. No education
  3. Faraway
  4. Somewhere around nothing
  5. Drive
  6. Cohkka
  7. Conclusion
  8. Resurrection
  9. Heat
  10. Cortége
  11. Pandemonium
  12. Toreador II
  13. Epilogue (relief)
  14. Seeman (album version, feat. Nina Hagen)
  15. Faraway vol. 2 (extended version) feat. Linda
  16. Delusion
  17. Perdition
  18. Leave me alone

DVD tracks

  1. Faraway (WDR / Rock Am Ring 2003)
  2. Enter sandman (WDR / Rock Am Ring 2003)
  3. Inquisition symphony (WDR / Rock Am Ring 2003)
  4. Nothing else matters (Lahti concert hall 2003)
  5. Somewhere around nothing (Lahti concert hall 2003)
  6. Somewhere around nothing (video clip)
  7. Faraway (with Linda) (video clip)
  8. Seeman (with Nina Hagen) (video clip)
  9. Making of “Faraway” with Linda (special)
  10. Making of “Reflections” (special)
  11. Making of “Seeman” with Nina Hagen (special)

Review

Two years on from Cult and album number four shows an incredible maturity in Apocalyptica’s song writing. Whereas passages from the previous album felt confused and as though they hadn’t quite found their voice, they hadn’t quite found that balance between metal and… well, wood.

This album, however, is tremendous. I have played it almost non-stop all week: in the car, at work, at home, in bed. As soon as it ended I would start it again. There is an integrity to this album that does justice to both cello and heavy music. I’m glad because it seems clear that the band members have drawn on their classical training, and have acknowledged that it’s okay to draw out some of this rich heritage and weave it into these heavier songs. It’s a much richer album for it. There’s a simplicity too to many of these tracks. This is like Apocalyptica’s black album, shorter, more melodic, simpler songs.

Stand out tracks for me include “Faraway” (especially the version with vocals, which I’ve played over and over again), “Somewhere around nothing” (which has a tremendous drive and a catchy melody), “Heat” (which has my head nodding along to the groove every time), and the album closer proper “Epilogue (Relief)” which is lamentful and quite beautiful.

There follows a number of album extras that along with the DVD adds “Revised” to the album title, including the two songs with added vocals: “Seemann (feat. Nina Hagen)” and “Faraway Volume 2 (feat. Linda)”.

Conclusion

I’ve been rather blown away by this album, particularly after the mild disappointment that Cult was last week. The song writing is tremendous, the album is varied enough and the vocalised versions add something extra, that obviously Apocalyptica develop further on their next album… but for that we’ll have to wait until next week!

This has been one of my favourite albums of this project. And I’m not going to quibble over a couple of percentage points here or there. I’m going to be generous and give it a mighty 10/10.

Review score: 100%

Video