Finland's Apocalyptica will release their new album, Shadowmaker, on April 15th, 2015. The Rock Pit recently caught up with Eicca Toppinen to discuss the record; an excerpt is available below:

Q: What can you tell me about this (new) album?

Eicca: "It's always hard to talk about albums without being a nerdy musician. I think it's a totally new kind of record for Apocalyptica especially because we have one singer on the whole album and I think it's making the whole album more solid. It's more of a band record compared to the album that we have had guest vocalists so I think it's more solid. We had a break when we stopped touring for 7th Symphony, we had one year off, we didn't write a single song for a record, nothing except for Wagner Reloaded but for the regular stuff, nothing. And after the break we came together and if we wanted to do something, we have to do exactly what we want to do and this record is the result of that, that journey. We wanted to challenge ourselves even more and we wanted to be tight as a band before the pre-production and the thing that Franky (Perez, vocalist) was part of the pre-production, we spent weeks with him in the rehearsal room arranging the songs and getting things more defined before we went into the studio. I think this album is full of attitude, it's a real attitude record."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

A lyric video for the title track of the new album is streaming below:

Apocalyptica is a Finnish cello-rock band from Helsinki, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, Perttu Kivilaakso and drummer Mikko Sirén. Their music borrows elements from a wide variety of genres including classical music, metal, world, folk and progressive rock. They have sold over four million albums to date.

The band’s recent albums included both instrumentals and collaborations with various singers, such as Corey Taylor, Adam Gontier and Cristina Scabbia. Apocalyptica have recently recruited an official vocalist, Franky Perez, who was part of Scars On Broadway, Pusher Jones and appeared on Slash’s first solo record.

Apocalyptica recently announced that Grammy award-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Deftones, Mastodon) is producing their new album.

Eicca: “Nothing better could have happened than Nick being on board for this record. The pre-production time we spent with him in late August gave us so much confidence and input for the new songs. We are all excited and overwhelmed by his energy and creativity. Having our singer (Franky Perez) with us for the last few months already made a big difference: For the first time we couldn’t get enough from spending time together at our rehearsal place in Finland but being in Nashville with all our instruments, Franky and Nick now makes us feel like little boys on Christmas. Writing and recording is taking a little longer than expected but I’m sure this will be one of the best Apocalyptica albums and we can’t wait to bring it out for you to hear.”

Due to the extended album production process the European tour which was slated to kick off on April 7th and wrap up on May 7th, 2015 have to be moved to October /November 2015.

Eicca: “In order to properly finish and promote the record, the European dates unfortunately need to be postponed. We are truly sorry to those of you who had purchased tickets and have been disappointed by the news, but we realized there is not enough time to put together and rehearse for a full headline-show.”

Rescheduled dates are currently worked on and will be announced in the next days. Tickets remain valid for the rescheduled shows. If ticket holders cannot make the new shows, refunds will be available at point of purchase.

Before Apocalyptica will present the album along with a new tour production on an extensive European headline tour later this year, fans will get a glimpse of the new material when the band is supporting Sixx:A.M. for their long awaited North America dates in spring.

Eicca: “When we heard about this tour, we loved the idea right away! We were on Nikki's radio show before and had a great time. I really liked Sixx:A.M.'s first two albums and am very much looking forward to the new record. Going on tour with Sixx:A.M. will bring a great night of music to all our fans.”

Tour dates with Sixx:A.M.:

April

8 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom
10 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint @ Hard Rock Hotel / Casino
11 - Los Angeles, CA - Club Nokia
13 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
14 - Kansas City, MO - Arvest Bank Theatre At The Midland
16 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
17 - Dallas, TX - The Bomb Factory
19 - Minneapolis, MN - Mill City Nights
20 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
21 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
23 - Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
24 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
25 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
27 - New York, NY - Best Buy Theater
28 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
29 - Silver Spring, MD - The Fillmore Silver Spring