• Still Burning Brightly - A Review of Apocalyptica's The Life Burns Tour

    Apocalyptica - The Life Burns Tour (2006)

    The Life Burns Tour might capture Finnish symphonic metal band Apocalyptica at its height, being released right after the exceptional self-titled album and its successful tour. The three cellists and one drummer are joined by session cellist Antero Manninen who had already been an official member of the group in the nineties and would continue to play concerts with them through the first decade of the new millennium. The five musicians play a diversified, energetic and liberating concert consisting of twenty songs and a running time of eighty-six minutes in front of a passionate crowd in Germany.

    The concert convinces with organic and vibrant sound, the fans can also be heard and seen very clearly and the light effects are simple but efficient. The track list offers recent material such as dynamic, fast and short ''Life Burns'', several cuts from the early years like dramatic, melodic and playful ''Path'' as well as a decent selection of cover songs such as gloomy, haunting and menacing ''Hall of the Mountain King'' by Norwegian composer and pianist Edvard Grieg that closes the set with a bang. This concert is a wonderful experience for all fans of the band and also a highly recommended introduction to the unique band.

    This release includes some interesting bonus material as well. There is a short but entertaining tour film that portrays how much the band has been enjoying itself on its most recent tour in the United States of America. There is an electronic press kit for brand-new single ''Repressed'' featuring Bullet for My Valentine's Matt Tuck and Soulfly's Max Cavalera on vocals. The song has otherwise only been released as single and included on greatest hits compilation Amplified - A Decade of Reinventing the Cello. The chaotic tune isn't my favourite but it's great to have it on one of Apocalyptica's releases now. Other than that, this release includes seven music videos released in the past three years since the band's previous live DVD. The music videos show quite some creativity as the chosen locations blend in perfectly with the moods of the different songs.

    As you can read, Apocalyptica's The Life Burns Tour is one of the band's greatest releases ever and has aged particularly well. The concert portrays the band at its very best and the generous bonus material offers diversified entertainment. This release even includes a little booklet which is another nice gimmick. If you can find this release for purchase on the internet or in some dusty second-hand store like I have, then it's certainly worth a few bucks.

    Final Rating: 95%

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