Apocalyptica – “Shadowmaker” [Album Review]

If you aren’t familiar with what Apocalyptica do by now then where have you been for the last two decades? Shadowmaker is the band’s eighth album and although it is good, it doesn’t quite match up to their early works. That’s not to say there aren’t great moments on it, “Reign Of Fear” and “Riot Lights” are Apocalyptica very near their best, but it should also be said that both of these are instrumental tracks, something that was more prominent on their early releases.

You can argue that their early work was mostly covers but, to me, playing Metallica, Sepultura and Pantera (to name a few) on Cellos is vastly more impressive than playing the radio friendly material they have been producing as their career progressed. Still, there is no doubting Apocalyptica’s talents, there never has been, but you can’t help but feel that the band are at their most powerful and impressive when it’s just the Cellos. In adding vocals and making the music more commercially appealing, some of the soul of what made Apocalyptica so unique is lost.

If for some reason you haven’t heard of Apocalyptica then Shadowmaker might be a good place to start, but once you dig a little deeper it won’t be one you go back to.

Track Listing:

01. I-III V Seeds Of Chaos
02. Cold Blood
03. Shadowmaker
04. Slow Burn
05. Reign Of Fear
06. Hole In My Soul
07. House Of Chains
08. Riot Lights
09. Come Back Down
10. Sea Song (You Waded Out)
11. Till Death Do Us Part
12. Dead Man’s Eyes

Run Time: 50:22
Release Date: April 21, 2015

Check out the song “Cold Blood” here.