Finnish cello-metal band APOCALYPTICA says the new album Shadomaker is aimed against big corporations, bosses, and politicians
April 15, 2015
As new Apocalyptica album is out in just two days, April 17, in a recent video interview for AXS.com, which you can watch below, the Finnish cello-rockers have talked about the double-tier meaning behind the album title, Shadowmaker, and underlined how the new LP differs from the previous few records soundwise.
“In the bigger perspective, shadowmakers are people who have the power”, the band’s frontman, Eicca Toppinen, explains. “Big corporations, bosses, politicians, people behind the politicians mainly. People who make decisions, regulations, and restrictions to make our life more difficult. And we don’t actually know who they are. Or the terrorist groups, who are making like a shadow, a feeling of fear. The whole world is so much driven by fear. When you travel, you feel it everywhere: the security and everything. And it actually makes our life more complicated.
There is another layer to the meaning, the band says, – on the personal level, shadowmakers surround all of us. “I think everybody knows a person who can be called a shadowmaker: a person who takes down your creativity, your positive thinking, who puts other people down… So maybe this album is a fight against shadowmakers”, the frontman concludes.
The musicians say that from the very beginning they knew what they wanted the album to sound like. So while making the album, the guys focused on themselves and for that reason didn’t want to invite any guest vocalists: “We didn’t want to have people telling us: no, no, no, you can’t do it because then the radio is not playing it,” Eicca explains. “We didn’t want those shadowmakers”.
In late 2014 Apocalyptica decided to have American musician Franky Perez as exclusive singer on the vocal tracks. Frank previously worked with Gavin Rossdale (Bush), Dave Lombardo (Slayer) and Ville Valo (HIM). “We were listening through many… vocalists, but Frank is versatile”, Apocalyptica’s Perttu Kivilaakso says. “He is able of delivering many different styles of vocals. That caught us. The fragility of Frank’s vocals… we felt that we need that. The vocalist has to have the same sensitive side as we do.”
Shadowmaker is out April 17, supported by the world tour, which is now running across the U.S. and will last altogether for 18 months. The latest single and music video off the new album, titled ‘Cold Blood’, can be streamed below, as well as the whole video of the interview. Check them out and join Alterock Facebook and Twitter to never miss on the news about your favourite alternative music!
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