''Cell-0'' (pronounced "Cell Zero") is the ninth studio album by Finnish

cello metal Cello rock and cello metal are subgenres of rock music characterized by the use of cellos (as well as other bowed string instruments such as the violin and viola) as primary instruments, alongside or in place of more traditional rock instruments ...

band Apocalyptica. It was released on 10 January 2020. It is the band's first fully instrumental album since 2003's '' Reflections'', and their first studio release since '' Shadowmaker'', published 4 years and 9 months earlier, marking their longest gap between studio albums.

Background

''Cell-0'' was prepared after a lengthy tour in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their debut album, the instrumental

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instru ...

tribute release '' Plays Metallica by Four Cellos'' (1996). Such performances inspired them to go back to all-instrumental music, which they hadn't done in 17 years. The audience's positive response to instrumental songs was also taken into account. It wasn't intended for the tour to be so long, but the positive fan reaction to the announcement of the first shows resulted in more dates being added, increasing the total number of performances from the originally planned 30 to a total of 230. Combined with the ''Shadowmaker'' tour shows, the band had played around 500 shows between both albums.

Recording and promotion

''Cell-0'' took two months to be written and was recorded, edited and mixed within a five-month period. It was self-produced by the band and conceived without a label behind it, resulting in more creative freedom, which led cellist Perttu Kivilaakso to notice some

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

elements in their music, specially on the song "Fire & Ice", which begins with Celtic melodies performed by

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka N ...

flutist Troy Donockley and ends with riffs that he described as "chaotic" and "complex". On 3 June 2019, the band announced they had completed work on the album, with recording lasting for three months at Sonic Pump Studios, in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. Later that month, they announced their signing to Silver Lining Music, through which they would release the yet-to-announce studio effort. On 3 October, the band announced the album's title, cover art and release date. They commented that "it is tough to express without lyrics, but in ''Cell-0'', we found particles of our universe previously unknown to us. Millions of notes combine to create music just as millions of cells combine to create life, and when you visualize the whole thing, similar patterns appear." On the same day, they released a video for the album opener "Ashes of the Modern World", directed by Ville Juurikkala. On 1 November, they released a video for "Rise", directed by Lisa Mann in collaboration with cinematographer Jason George and meant to depict a live impressionistic painting. On 12 December, another video was released, this time for "En Route to Mayhem", which discuses humans' actions towards life on the planet. On 10 January 2020, simultaneously with the album release, the audio of the title track "Cell-0" was released. On December 16, 2022, they released a new version of Rise, named Rise Again, with Epica's Simone Simons on vocals, prior to their shared European tour in 2023.

Concept

The album revolves around a concept created by the band which relates to a " God particle". According to drummer Mikko Sirén, "in our heads, there is this undefined thing that you cannot pinpoint, that you cannot see or feel, but it is there. That's kind of the center of everything in this album." He also said: He also says the album discusses "politics or social, environmental issues or something like that. It was one of those things that amazingly people have gotten disconnected from each other, from nature, from the earth and everything like that. Maybe the 'Cell-0' is the one thing we lost. We don't have the ability to connect anymore, especially in the last ten years. The world has changed." The music also reflects humanity's ability to build and destroy. "Humanity is incredible when it comes to building something, but we are capable of destroying even more easily. Like that, the songs burst into pieces at times. We wanted to take a philosophical look at what man builds and what he destroys.

Cover

The cover of ''Cell-0'' depicts a cello falling apart in particles, so it is linked to the overall particle concept of the album. Kivilaakso said "since we're going back to our roots, it seemed obvious to us to put the cello in front on the cover".

Track listing

Personnel

Apocalyptica * Perttu Kivilaakso – lead cello, programming, arrangements * Eicca Toppinen – rhythm cello, keyboards, programming, arrangements * Paavo Lötjönen – bass cello * Mikko Sirén – drums, percussion Guest performances * Troy Donockley – Uilleann pipes, bagpipes on "Fire & Ice" Technical personnel * Andrew Scheps – mixing

Charts

References

{{Authority control Apocalyptica albums 2020 albums