Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Neo-Classical Metal on Cello, from Finland

I've never listened to metal music, but I am smitten with these beautiful cellos. Listen to a few seconds of this. It's nice.
The musicians-- who, disappointingly, here barely flick the long hair they usually toss in the air like rock gods--studied classical cello at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.
Plus, knitting alert: I want one of their sweaters with the long cuffs!



This video looks as if it could have been filmed in an ice-fishing house in Minnesota. But this is the Finnish metal band, Apocalyptica, doing a cover of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters."

They also do an awesome cover of Edvard Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King.
So I was hoping they had covered Sibelius, but no. Here's why:
From an interview with Dark Romance:

Q: Has Apocalyptica ever considered doing a piece of music by Sibelius?

Eicca Toppinen: It's not possible, because of the people who own the rights for Sibelius. They are very strict. They are still owned, because it's less than 75 years since the death of Sibelius. We are not allowed to touch that stuff. I know some of the people who own the rights, and they are too much old people. (laughs) They would never let us do any version of that.
_________________
I like their instrumental stuff best, but also worth a look:
I'm Not Jesus, a song in which the singer confronts a priest who'd abused him: "Do you remember me, the child I used to be...?"

2 comments:

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo said...

Thats a group of cellists, not a metal band!

Though tis very nice...

Finnish metal is stuff like Isanta Meidan, Amorphis, Reverend Bizarre, Children of Bodom and probably the most succesful, Nightwish.


God, I'm so boring.....

Fresca said...

Hey! I should have asked you first, Manfred.
Yeah, I've got most of them in the music section too.
But this is the only band I like (at least when they eschew videos of young maidens in batwing nighties), and they *insist* they are metal...
Who am I to say, I who never heard a Metallica song before.