Shadowmaker (Apocalyptica album)
| Shadowmaker | ||||
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| Studio album by Apocalyptica | ||||
| Released | April 17, 2015 | |||
| Genre | Symphonic metal, progressive metal, alternative metal, cello rock | |||
| Length |
53:57 (standard edition) 65:16 (limited edition) |
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| Label | Better Noise/Eleven Seven Music | |||
| Producer | Nick Raskulinecz | |||
| Apocalyptica chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Shadowmaker | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Altsounds |   |
| RAMzine | |
| MusicReviewRadar | |
Shadowmaker is the eighth studio album by the Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica. It was released on April 17, 2015 in Europe and Australia, April 20 in the UK, France and Latin America, April 21 in the U.S. and Canada, and April 22 in Japan. It is the band's first album with one single vocalist, Franky Perez.
Commenting on the album, member Eicca Toppinen said:
After the 7th Symphony tour, the band took some time off and did nothing except for Wagner Reloaded-Live in Leipzig. After the break, they reunited and discussed the next album. According to Eicca, "[...] if we wanted to do something, we have to do exactly what we want to do and this record is the result of that, that journey. We wanted to challenge ourselves even more and we wanted to be tight as a band before the pre-production."
Regarding Franky Perez participation, Eicca said the band composed many vocal songs for the album, and having multiple guest vocalists was not the most interesting option for them at the time, because it always involves contacting too many labels and producers and it is more difficult to control everything. He also said the band was looking for a vocalist to make the entire record, tour with them and "make the whole thing more understandable for people, to make the working circumstances more comfortable for us where things are not so dependant on people outside of the band". In order to find a singer, the label came up with a list of 20-25 suggestions. The band analyzed it and asked 5 of them to record something, and then they invited 3 of them to sing a section of "Hole in My Soul", one of the album's tracks. Perez was ultimately chosen and accepted it since he wasn't committed to anything other than his solo career. Eicca said he "loves" Perez's voice and commented: "He's not just a regular singer. He has a very soulful sound and he's able to sing different styles which is perfect for Apocalyptica because our songs are not only heavy metal, it's a variety of different colors and different dynamics and the singer needs to match that. [...] We did a couple of shows in Canada last August, a test run and it worked perfectly together".
The album was mostly pre produced in Nashville with producer Nick Raskulinecz, with additional work being done by the band in Finland. Perez was part of the album's pre-production and helped the band arrange the songs, and had only two weeks to work on everything. Commenting on the recording process, Perez said: "We were a team, in that each one had the right to speak and every opinion in the room was completely taken into account and were valuable."
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Wikipedia