Four cellists, Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lotjonen, Max Lilja, and Antero Manninen formed Apocalyptica in 1993 at Sibelius Acadamy. The band released their debut studio album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, in 1996. The album consisted of only Metallica covers. The band was featured on two songs on the Waltari album Space Avenue in 1997.
Apocalyptica released their second studio album, Inquisition Symphony, in 1998. Inquisition Symphony contained covers of Metallica as well as Faith No More, Sepultura, and Pantea. The album included three original songs by Eicca Toppinen.
Manninen left the group in 1999 and was replaced by Perttu Kivilaasko. Perttu had previously performed with the band in 1995. Apocalyptica released their third studio album, Cult, in 2000. It featured 10 original songs and 3 covers. The first Apocalyptica track to include vocals, “Path Vol 2”, was released shortly after Cult. Max Lilja left the group in 2002 and joined Hevein.
Apocalyptica released their fourth studio album, Reflections, in 2003. It featured all original songs. Reflections featured an experimental sound different from the acoustic arrangements of Inquisition Symphony and Cult. DaveLombardo from Slayer played drums on five songs from Reflections. Session drummer, Sami Kuoppamaki, covered the rest. When Lombardo declined the following tour, Apocalyptica hired Mikko Siren, who would stay with the band for future tours as well as the recording of the next album.
Apocalyptica released their sixth studio album, World’s Collide, in September, 2007. To the surprise of many, the album includes a remake of the German version of David Bowie’s song Heroes. To end 2007, the band toured Europe, selling out many of the venues they played. In 2008 the tour continued in the United States and included numerous festivals in Europe.
