Apocalyptica perform at Baltimore Soundstage on Sept. 9, 2022. (Photos by Katherine Gaines)

With Cell-0, their ninth studio album, the ambitious and electric quartet Apocalyptica have not simply returned to their instrumental roots, they have traveled deeper and further into the universe of their music than ever before.

Apocalyptica performed at Baltimore Soundstage on Friday, and Katherine Gaines was there to capture that journey on camera.

Released in 2020, Cell-0 was the first fully instrumental album by the Finnish symphonic metal band since 2003.

“Cell-0 represents the core of everything. For us it is a particle that symbolizes the essence of all. That is to say, where everything comes from and where everything ends up,” said Eicca Toppinen, Apocalyptica cellist and founding member.

“We went about creating Cell-0 as a full piece of art and not thinking about singles or ‘the timing of singles’ or anything like that,” Eicca added. “It’s challenging to get all the details and colours right and still have the energy of being a real metal cello band.” continues Eicca, who like Perttu and fellow cellist Paavo Lötjönen graduated from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki “So that was the main goal for us when doing this album, to have those two very different worlds connecting to each other in a stronger, more explorative way than ever before.”

Watch the official music video for “En Route to Mayhem” by Apocalyptica on YouTube:

Apocalyptica formed in Helsinki in the year 1993. They perform metal music with cellos. They are pretty damn amazing.

Here are some photos of Apocalyptica performing at Baltimore Soundstage on Sept. 9, 2022. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Katherine Gaines.