Apocalyptica/Nita Strauss: 2/28/25
Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica announced their Plays Metallica Vol. 2 Tour 2025 with support coming from guitar goddess Nita Strauss. In 2024, they released their tenth album Plays Metallica, Vol. 2. It is their second album to feature Metallica covers with the first being Plays Metallica by Four Cellos in 1996. As the name suggests, they’re most famously known for playing their music using cellos. Ever heard Metallica played using cellos? No? Well, Apocalyptica is the perfect band to show you how it’s done. The Southern California stop was at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California. A Friday night was the perfect opportunity for cello metal to take over Los Angeles.
Nita Strauss has made a name for herself in the music industry. Her career includes being a guitarist for Alice Cooper and Demi Lovato as well as being the first female signature guitarist with Ibanez guitars. In 2023, she released her second instrumental album, The Call of the Void. The lights went out and the theme song from the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day played over the speakers. The theme ended and Nita Strauss and her band came out. The first song performed was “Momentum”, one of the songs from the newest album. Strauss wasted no time in shredding away and getting the audience riled up. Strauss played a few more hits including “Mariana Trench”, “Summer Storm”, and “Scorched”. Next, Strauss announced that her newest album had a lot of guest vocalists and that the next few songs would have a guest on stage to sing. The guest singer was Kasey Karlsen who also sings for the band Deadlands. She will be serving as the touring vocalist for Strauss’ upcoming tours. Karlsen delivered heavy vocals during the tracks “Victorious”, “Digital Bullets”, and “Dead Inside.” The final song of the performance was “The Wolf You Feed”. Nita Strauss always delivers perfect guitar playing and her shows are something that need to be witnessed as she’ll leave you breathless.
Apocalyptica were next, and the venue were more than excited to see them. The lights went out and the venue cheered with excitement as “The Ecstasy of Gold” played over the speakers, which is the intro song that Metallica uses for their shows. The first played was “Ride the Lightning”, the first song from the newest album. Right away, you could hear how cellos make a metal song sound classical. It sounded so well done and you could still sing along to the song if you know the lyrics. Up next was one of Metallica’s most popular songs, “Enter Sandman”. The crowd naturally sang along to the chorus. Apocalyptica played a few more Metallica classics which included “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Creeping Death”, and “Battery”. Apocalyptica next took a quick break in order for Eicca Toppinen to speak to the audience how it felt great to finally make another Metallica record even though it took 19 years after the first one came out. He ended the speech by talking about the tragic death of original Metallica bassist Cliff Burton in 1986. In his honor, they played “The Call of Ktulu”. Even when using cellos, Apocalyptica knew how to rock out and turn classical music into metal. They next played “Blackened” and “Master of Puppets”, which are two more of Metallica’s best songs. Next, the venue went dark as chairs were brought out. The next song to be played was “Nothing Else Matters”. A slow and beautiful song as the crowd sang along to the chorus. The final song of the night was “Seek and Destroy” and the crowd got up from their seats to rock out and also sing along to the chorus. Apocalyptica finished the song, then walked off stage as the show had apparently ended. After a couple of minutes, the lights flashed and sounds of war filled the venue. Apocalyptica came out for an encore to play “One” and it was perfectly done with cellos. The song even includes a voiceover by Metallica frontman James Hetfield of the lyrics to go with the song. Nine minutes of cello brutality later, the show came to an end. Apocalyptica thanked the audience for coming out once again, then left the stage. A perfect night for metal and hopefully it’s not long before they come back to play more cello.
