Kataklysm, Canadian hybrid metal band will unleash their magnum opus album titled Meditations on June 1st, via Nuclear Blast records. The album is packed with heavy blasts, guitar solos and gory vocals. The band took their time recording this magnificent album, they went back to the basics and wanted to make sure they sounded as if it was their first album, heavy, hungry and ambitious. One track that will get your attention is their kick off track titled “Guillotine”, it explodes since the intro with furious drum blasts and powerful guitars. Maurizio growls capturing your soul. The melody in this song is perplex, as this band mixes elements of melodic death metal, they also embellish this track with touches of black metal riffs, and potent bass playing.

This album has touches of several metal sub-genres, all which congruently compose what Kataklysm has sounded like for 25 years. The band took a more organic approach, recording and writing in the studio together as a team, you can definitely hear that in songs like “Outsider”. This track is another one which will reinvent Kataklysm in all aspects of their sound, not driving them too far from their notorious powerful sound. Melodies are imperative to Kataklysm’s fury, they add impact in track titled “Born To Kill and Destined To Die”, With guitar riff after guitar riff, and a unique guitar solo, this track will surely make your ears bleed.

The record will hit the stores on June 1st, and with that approaching soon some album release dates have been set. The band will strike at Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and New York. Make sure to check out their dates and get your tickets now before they sell out. We had the chance to interview Maurizio Iacono, and he gave us a nice detailed chat in regards of touring, their sound and working with long time friend now Jay Ruston- check it out below.

Rockbrary- “Your new Album titled Meditations will be out on June 1st via Nuclear Blast Records, how long did it take to record it?”

Maurizio- “It took two months, the mixing and mastering took about 4-5 weeks. I took my time, it was a long process. Writing took about 5 months longer than usual, time is always tight because of our touring. We decided to take our time with this record, we really went back to the basics. The band was under the same roof, it was a team effort on this album.”

RB- “What was important for you as a singer once you entered the recording studio?”

Maurizio- “Our drummer has his studio in Canada, we had no distractions, I liked being in my own world where nothing was coming between me and the lyrics. Our drummer built his studio in North Quebec, literally in the middle of nowhere with the woods around us. It was the perfect place across of land, and forests there was nothing to distract us.”

RB- “Two years ago you were honored with the Juno Award, did that push you guys to write a new album?”

Maurizio- “Half of us live in the US now, the band roots from Canada, so the Juno was special. There is no metal in these programs, it’s usually always commercial bands. Our parents used twitch this, fast forward to our career, we are not sure if it did anything big, our fans don’t care it’s more of a cool factor. Nothing changes the band, maybe we did some commercials, national TV Juno gave us that.”

RB- “When it comes to lyrics, how do you come up with content that has not already been done or expressed lyrically?”

Maurizio- “I have always written personal lyrics, from personal experiences, visions of the world. I write them in a way that everyone can adapt to, nothing satanic, or about killing I am very realistic writer. I write about weird and chaotic places in the moment. Sometimes about war, which is what is happening in the world, stress. Music is music and have freedom writing it is important. It is not smart to write about politics, I prefer to write about experiences.”

RB- “Was there a song that was challenging to track vocals for?”

Maurizio- “To be honest it was a natural progression, the challenge came from the mixing, we had a different producer, Jay Raston, for him working with us was a big challenge as we wanted big powerful guitars, organic was the key factor. This is a huge album.”

RB- “The album artwork is intense, does it represent anything in particular, maybe personal?”

Maurizio- “The artwork is about struggle, there is a person trying to reach out but he is being pulled back in. The will to get out of that struggle, the snake is another thing you’ll see always lurking around having all that together is powerful.”

RB- “25 years in the metal scene and you’ve been defined as an outcast from all other genres, more of a hybrid among the metal realm, does genre hinder bands in their creative paths?”

Maurizio- “You are right, we have always been outsiders that is Cataclysm since day one. I play for us, against us, is it like Cannibal Corpse, or Inflames, I don’t know, we have always been more of a hybrid band. We developed our own sound, our own identity we can tour with anyone, we started this type of movement I am proud of it.”

RB- “Where will you be touring in support of this magnum opus?”

Maurizio- “We are going to do four release party’s in the States, One in New York, Chicago La and Cincinnati. We will have Jungle Rot , in our world tour we will have Hypocrisy with Peter Tatgren we have known him for 15 years we are good friends, but we will tour this year in Europe first.”

By- Hostile Jo