At this weekend’s Download festival at Leicestershire, United Kingdom’s Donington Park, APOCALYPTICA lead cellist Perttu Kivilaakso was asked by Daniel Steer of Mike James Rock Show if there are any musicians left on his “wish list” for possible collaborators on the band’s future recordings. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We have worked with an incredible amount of amazing artists. And [METALLICA‘s] James Hetfield [who guested on APOCALYPTICA‘s cover of METALLICA‘s ‘One’ from APOCALYPTICA‘s latest album, 2024’s ‘Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2’], of course, has probably been the top of the list, kind of the dream that it would be unbelievable if he someday does something for us. But, of course, there are still so many fascinating artists. For example, I think that the charisma and incredible person of Nick Cave, for example, could be something really cool to make a dark, gloomy thing with the cello and his expression. Or whomever, like Pink or somebody with a really, really great attitude.
“The lovely thing about APOCALYPTICA is that we are very versatile with our music, that it could go from very beautiful classical elements to brutal thrash metal,” he explained. “And even still I would love to work more with the greatest growers — Alissa White-Gluz [ARCH ENEMY] or whomever — great artists there are. So the good thing is that the ideas never kind of end. You only end up having the problem with too many ideas and somebody in a business saying that, ‘Not all is possible, guys. Come on.'”
Kivilaakso went on to say that he and his APOCALYPTICA bandmates are grateful to still have a global audience with their unique fusion of classical cello music with hard metal elements. “So far, that has been really working,” he said. “And I just somehow started to appreciate more and more the fact that we still can do this for a living and entertain people around the world. And it makes us feel, I guess, blessed in that sense. And that gives you the sparkle to still continue and try to figure out more cool things.”
As previously reported, Hetfield attended APOCALYPTICA‘s March 3 concert at the Paramount Theatre in Denver, Colorado. The Finnish cello rockers were touring North America at the time in support of “Apocalyptica Plays Metallica, Vol. 2” — the sequel to their legendary debut record — which came out in June 2024 via Throwdown Entertainment.
“Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2” continues the journey that began in 1996 when cellists from Helsinki’s world-renowned Sibelius Academy played symphonic tribute to METALLICA. The “One” single saw Hetfield joining proceedings for a soul-stirring, spoken word of those inimitable, now-immortal lyrics.
The album’s lead single was “The Four Horsemen”, a song that originally appeared on METALLICA‘s 1983 debut “Kill ‘Em All”. It features a guest appearance by METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo.
