Although the purists in each camp may not rub shoulders too often, there has long been a strange closeness between classical music and heavy metal. Be it bottom-heavy arrangements by Wagner, Tchaikovsky exploding canons, Deep Purple, Metallica, and others jamming with orchestras, or Rainbow reworking Beethoven, the examples aren't hard to find. Apocalyptica added their own contribution in the mid-1990's by combining a love of cello rock and Metallica into their debut, Plays Metallica By Four Cellos (don't ask me where they dreamed up such a creative title).
This is about as pure as Apocalyptica gets. Every song is a Metallica cover (something they would move away from within a few years, first the Metallica, then cover material altogether), and they don't always attack the obvious stuff. "Enter Sandman" is a natural, no surprises there, and half the songs are from the Black Album. But taking on "Creeping Death" in lieu of "Fade to Black" from Ride the Lightning, and "Harvester of Sorrow" from And Justice for All instead of "One". The two tracks from Master of Puppets are probably the best tracks of the bunch here: "Sanitarium" and "Master of Puppets" may not be all that unusual for the Metallica catalog (hell, they even play "Puppets" going into commercial breaks on NFL broadcasts), but Apocalyptica does arrangements to bring down the house.
For some reason I never bothered to follow Apocalyptica any further, and my have they changed. Guests vocalists, vocals in general, drummers, programming, ten more albums (live and/or studio), and a focus on original material has moved the band a considerable distance from the early days of covering Metallica with four cellos and nothing more.
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