Apocalyptica  plays Metallica by Four Cellos

• Enter Sandman
  
• Master of Puppets
  
• Harvester of Sorrow
  
• The Unforgiven
  
• Sad But True
  
• Creeping Death
  
• Wherever I May Roam
  
• Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
  

A seemingly bizarre, yet totally accurate title fronts this album. These guys are four classically trained cellists from Scandinavia who decided to play Heavy Metal.

This ain't muzak. Apocalyptica makes the cello sound huge and sinister. Each cello takes the guise of one of the instruments, and with little effort on your part, you can imagine the real thing in your head. It's amazing because there cellos have been recorded straight, without any effects - simply miked and recorded. That's why when the solo comes up on "Welcome Home," at about the 5 minute mark, I jumped - it sounds just like an overdriven electric guitar.

Each song covered is amazing in both its accuracy to the original and in its power. I'm not the biggest Metallica fan, but I love this CD. I happened across it at the CD-Exchange, a favorite used disc shop of mine in Rochester, NY. It seemed like a joke or something, like "Bugs Bunny and pals sing the Beatles," but the tunes are professional and far more symphonic than I thought Metallica could be (long before Metallica put out their collaborative live album with Michael Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony). It's really pretty cool.