Apocalyptica
Plays Metallica Vol 2 – Throwdown Entertainment
How to make something great even better? Fry it in butter? Use cream instead of milk? Have
a band of insanely skilled classically trained cellists put their own spin and strings on ten
killer tracks? Yep. That oughta do it. An album of songs any self-respecting ‘Tallica fan will
be familiar with. But you aint ever heard them played like this. Well, unless you’re already
familiar with Apocalyptica, that is, who’ve been around since before some of you were even
born. ‘Plays Metallica Vol 2’ is utterly mesmerising. It’s impossible to hear ‘To Live is to Die’
without being moved. ‘The Unforgiven II’ is sublime. ‘The Four Horsemen’ comes alive with
urgency, reimagined by this band’s visionary version. It’s heart beating faster stuff. ‘St Anger’
arguably sounds better than the original. Apocalyptica have respected the tracks they have
chosen to cover, understood them, and made then into brand new creatures full of depth,
intensity, feeling and emotion. ‘Plays Metallica Vol 2’ deserves praise, and its creators
deserve thanks for sharing their talent with us all.
Review by Jo Wright