Apocalyptica perform at the Lincoln Theatre in DC on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Twenty years ago, a band of cellists formed in Finland and released an album of Metallica covers. Thus was born Apocalyptica, who celebrated the 20th anniversary of that debut album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, with a show at the Lincoln Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 9. Paivi, herself Finnish, took some pictures of her countrymen!
Apocalyptica (Photo courtesy Odyssey Music)
In 1996, a Finnish cello band released their debut album, where they promptly shattered expectations and produced an album of Metallica covers. Apocalyptica thus published Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, an instrumental rock opus dedicated to songs by the famous heavy metal band. To mark the 20th anniversary of the album, Apocalyptica remasters it with bonus tracks in 2016 and launched a tour — and that tour arrives at the Lincoln Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 9.
Amorphis performs at the Howard Theatre on March 8, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Last week, a heavy metal stampede ran through the Howard Theatre as headlining heavy metal band Overkill brought along some friends to play a big show. (Check out our pix of Overkill at the Howard Theatre.)
One of those friend was Finnish progressive metal band Amorphis, six men from Finland who released their most recent album, Under the Red Cloud, in 2015 via Nuclear Blast.
Swallow the Sun performs at the Howard Theatre on March 8, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Not long ago, Finnish doom metal band Swallow the Sun came through town with Sonata Arctica (check out our photos!), and then they decided to drop by again with a show opening for Overkill at the Howard Theatre on March 8.
Sonata Arctica performs at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Monday, Nov. 7. (Photo by Paivi)
Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica headlined a group of seven metal bands from Europe at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Monday, Nov. 7.
Sonata Arctica are touring in support of their ninth album, The Ninth Hour, released in October by Nuclear Blast.
Swallow the Sun performs at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland. (Photo by Paivi)
Swallow the Sun is a Finnish doom metal band currently touring United States with Sonata Arctica, Dark Tranquillity, Leaves’ Eyes, Omnium Gatherum, Enforcer and Starkill. The bands performed at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Monday, Nov. 7.
Swallow the Sun (Photo by Jussi Ratilainen)
About a year ago, Finnish doom metal band Swallow the Sun released their sixth studio album, Songs from the North I, II & III, via Century Media. It was extremely well received! Metacritic aggregated its overall critic score at 78/100 and AllMusic rated it 4.5/5 stars.
“Each disc is a separate album, though all were conceived, written, and recorded as a single project with the band exploring different aspects of its sound. What unites them musically is a pervasive melodic sensibility, no matter the setting,” said AllMusic critic Thom Jurek.
Swallow the Sun produced a music video for “Rooms and Shadows,” a song from the first of the three discs (a disc subtitled “Gloom”). Watch it on YouTube:
Vocalist Mikko Kotamäki really growls with gusto in this epic song of loss! And his bandmates guitarists Juha Raivio and Markus Jämsen, bassist Matti Honkonen, keyboardist Aleksi Munter, and drummer Juuso Raatikainen, trully fill your very blood with their roiling, dynamic melodies. Kerrang! rated Swallow the Sun’s latest effort 5 stars (or 5 “K”), hailing it as “one of doom metal’s finest moments to date.”
You can see how the six men come together so well yourself, as Swallow the Sun are on tour, opening for fellow Finnish metalmen Sonata Arctica, who released a brand new album last month. The tour comes to the Fillmore Silver Spring on Monday, Nov. 7 with a very full bill, but you’ll want to pace yourself to make it there for Swallow the Sun!
Swallow the Sun
Opening for Sonata Arctica
Fillmore Silver Spring
Monday, Nov. 7
Doors @5pm
$30-60
All ages
