Album Review

Apocalyptica feat. Cristina Scabbia – S.O.S (anything but love)

• 7th Mar 2008

For a band that’s supposedly composed entirely of cellists and a drummer, this single seems surprisingly short on cello. There’s a lot of Cristina Scabbia, a lot of drums, and a lot of something that sounds suspiciously like a synth, but the strings linger at the back of the room like a self-conscious teenager.

So this appears to be just another in Apocalyptica’s long line of collaborations, except this time, the orchestral sound coupled with Scabbia’s operatic vocals means that when the chorus kicks in, they’re thrown dangerously far into Evanescence territory. The lyrics are terribly teen-angsty, and Scabbia’s normally affecting voice manages to come off like a nasal nightmare.

I know this type of music is, by its nature, very cliquey, but this song seems to teeter dangerously on the edge of inbreeding. It manages to be odd and forgettable at the same time, and if this single had arms, it would have 3 of them.