Kataklysm are a name synonymous with modern death metal. The Canadian metal outfit are widely regarded as pioneers of the new age of the genre and have continually pushed boundaries, both on stage and in the studio. Their latest album “Meditations” has been received very well since it’s release last year and now the band return to Australia alongside Sweden’s Hypocrisy for a double bill of death metal. We speak to frontman Maurizio Iacono ahead of the tour to discuss the latest work and what the band have planned for the tour.
Andrew: We’re very excited to see you in Australia again and with Hypocrisy as well, so it sounds like it’s going to be a fantastic tour.
Maurizio: We’re looking forward to it. It’s the first time we’re coming to Australia with another band, it’s always us headlining usually so it will be cool to go with Hypocrisy who are good friends of ours. We just came back from Europe not too long ago, we did an incredible tour together there so it’s going to be real cool so looking forward to it.
Andrew: Awesome two great bands on the same bill, it’s not often we get to see that kind of tour. What can the fans expect? What have you guys got planned for the Aussie fans?
Maurizio: Well we don’t get to go there often so for us it’s a special occasion. Every time we have a chance to come we want to embrace it so we’re going to do some sort of a medley, Kataklysm has 13 records so it’s not easy thing to choose a setlist to please eveybody but we’ll try and go back a little bit in time and also try and push our new record which is doing phenomenal for us at the moment, “Meditations”. So we’re going to play a good mix of a couple of records because I think the last time we were there I believe was 3 or 4 years ago and we weren’t there for the last 2 records so I think it would be cool to play some of those more so we’re going to have a good medley man. Kataklysm is full throttle onslaught live and that doesn’t change.
Andrew: Yeah definitely I managed to catch you guys once before a few years back, I think maybe around 2013/2012 and I was really impressed by your live show, was fantastic stuff. You mentioned before about putting a setlist together being kind of a challenge, I guess with bands with that many records that must be a difficult process. How do you go about changing the setlist for each new tour?
Maurizio: Well it’s one of those things where you try to listen to the fans as much as you can. They have a perception of what they like and you have to cater to that as well but at the same time we need to be out there to promote the stuff we believe represents the band the most as well. So we have to come into this world of sacrificing some things for the greater good so that everybody is happy! But we got 13 records x 9 to 10 songs per record so it’s a long list of songs to go through but we gotta play the favorites and sometimes we’ll throw in a couple of surprises that people don’t expect and I think that makes it cool.
Andrew: For sure. So the new album “Meditations” that came out last year, what kind of a response have you been getting from fans and critics?
Maurizio: We’re getting a lot of the rejuvinated type of thing attached to us as a band, a breathe of fresh air and stuff like that. I think we worked really hard on that record to make it a bit different to what we had been doing, I mean the recipe for Kataklysm is not something you’re going to change over night after doing this for over 25 years. So we have a recipe that works and what we’re trying to do now is evolve on that and modernise everything and make the band out there still competing with the best and make it special in it’s own way. If you listen to Slayer and doesn’t matter what they’re writing, you know it’s sounding like Slayer and I think Kataklysm for us it’s a matter of doing that but at the same time pushing the limit because we still believe that there’s still a lot of juice left and we have a lot of ideas that need to come out the right way so I think that’s how we’re going to be moving forward.
Andrew: Yeah obviously “Meditations” is a continuation of where Kataklysm is these days, what were some of the things you really wanted to achieve with this album in particular?
Maurizio: Well we changed producer which was already a big thing, Andy Sneap who is one of the biggest producers out there that did the “Of Ghosts And Gods” album. And then we still wanted to bring a fresher sound, something different so we went with Jay Ruston out of Los Angeles and he did work with Stone Sour and more rock type bands, Anthrax as well and stuff like that. He brought a more organic feel to the record for us, more and more fierce sounding, more crisp and he also did the latest Amon Amarth that’s about to come out. We influenced a lot of bands now after going to him after the record got so well received, I think it helped having an outsider coming in and doing the production instead of using the usual guys that are doing all the metal bands. So that was a big step, we opened up our song writing a lot, it’s very catchy and we’ve always been a catchy band with the groove stuff but we’ve been able to put a little more intricacy in this record and go touch different types of feelings and levels that we’r very used to. So I think this was a good step in the right direction, I think what’s going to come out in the future will derive from this but in another step higher with an evolution behind it for sure. We’re comfortable where we are at the moment, we don’t want to be too comfy but we want to be in a kind of place where we are comfortable enough to do the right moves as far as writing.
Andrew: As far as the process of coming up with new songs, where were the ideas and inspirations coming from? Were you taking it from a more personal standpoint or more general?
Maurizio: It was very personal, personally for me on the lyrics. When I write lyrics it needs to be from somewhere that means something to me so there’s always going to be a personal idea behind all the lyrics I write. Now I write it in a poetic and open way where people can interpret it the way they feel it interprets for them as far as, for you it might mean something different than it does for me but in the end you’re connecting because the message is there, you get my point. So inspiration is that and I think inspiration is just look outside the window and look at this fucked up world we’re living in now, sometimes I realize that one of the most important things is when we’re at a concert it’s the only place that feels completely safe as far as, not those stupid safe zones that everybody is talking about but I mean about where we’re a family and nothing matters. It’s the musicians there and we’re there for the same reason, to live the metal and we feel free in that moment. I think that’s what’s saving a lot of things at the moment because I think if that’s the release and nobody had that, it would be fucked up! I feel that with my fans when we’re out there, it’s more dedicated than before and I feel it’s because of that.
Andrew: Yeah absolutely, I agree. I think music, especially heavy metal in particular, is one of those things that connects people in a way that a lot of things in the world doesn’t connect in the same way. It’s a very special thing to see, when fans come together to share the same passion.
Maurizio: You get a bunch of outcasts that get together and drink beer, or if you don’t drink beer, smoke weed. Whatever you do and they all come together, they headbang and they feel the music and it’s about freedom. They don’t mind about color, creed, whatever you are. You can be an alien, nobody gives a fuck. That’s the cool part is to be different and everybody at the same time connects and I think should lead the world as an example for everything because it’s a place now where there is so much divide and where there is so much hatred for everything and there’s a comment for everything. We’re just becoming a world where everything is restricted in a way and the metal community still has that thing where it brings everybody together into a place where we understand each other and not be part of a society that doesn’t work.
Andrew: Yeah exactly I definitely agree with that. So speaking of that shared passion that everyone has with this kind of music, how did you personally get into music in the first place and what were some of the bands that you were growing up with when you first got into it?
Maurizio: Apparently I was always attached to music, my Mum used to play Tom Jones records every day! Growing up with Elvis and pretending to do air guitar already, so since I was 2 or 3 years old I was always into music. But as I grew up I think I also felt like I didn’t fit in at school a lot with everybody, not because I was bullied or anything like that, it was just I didn’t fit with the current followers stuff. I always felt like I was my own person and I was a leader in my own world. With metal when I first heard it through family because my cousin was already into it before me, played the first Metallica record “Kill ‘Em All” and I heard that and I was like, ‘Holy shit! This is crazy music’. I loved it, right away I was attached and it just grabbed me and became a focus of mine. Obviously I loved the hair bands too when it was the time for the hair bands, I think I went through a bit of Motley Crue and stuff like that, Guns N’ Roses especially because they were rebels. I think it was the rebel thing that attracted me to metal and you have to be special in a way to understand and decipher metal because if you first listen to it and you’re not familiar with it, it’s just a bunch of noise for a lot of people. It takes a good set of skills to be able to identify what you are listening to and I think that makes us different as well.
Andrew: Yeah it’s something that I don’t think is for everyone, they either get it or they don’t get it.
Maurizio: Exactly, it either grabs you or it doesn’t. So luckily it didn’t grab everybody [laughs].
Andrew: [laughs] And then on the sort of more extreme side of music, especially with this form of metal that you guys create, what was the evolution path to getting into that heavier side of things? What were some of the bands that got you into more extreme sides of metal?
Maurizio: Well the British scene was the first I think that got me interested in death metal for example. I started listening to the early Carcass records and the first few Napalm Death records and that I was like, holy shit! Slowly from there I was learning a lot and was more into the European death metal bands in my early days so I was into Dismember and all those type of bands that really got my attention and then slowly when you first heard the first Suffocation record when the vocals were so heavy and I never heard anything like it I was like, ‘Wow this is groundbreaking shit’. And then obviously one of my favorite bands still to this day is Deicide and when they came out, that was it. This is mayhem so that’s what got me into the extreme stuff was those old death metal bands and some of them are still carrying the torch – Cannibal Corpse obviously, good friends of ours as well. So it’s just that whole evolution, now it’s evolving into different genres and different syles and all that which is something I identify less with but some of it I’m open to what’s going on now as well. That’s where I’m rooted is more of the British especially and some Swedish and some American bands.
Andrew: It’s amazing how many sub-genres have come out over the last 20-30 years, it’s really split off into so many divided niche little genres.
Maurizio: Oh yeah for sure.
Andrew: Well we are looking forward to seeing you back in Australia, really appreciate your time in coming to the country with Hypocrisy. Thanks for your time man, really appreciated!
Maurizio: Thank you for your support and we look forward to the tour down there, thanks so much.
HYPOCRISY & KATAKLYSM Australian Tour May 2019
May 1st – Brisbane, Tivoli (Reduced Mode)
RSVP & Tickets: HERE
May 3rd – Sydney, Metro Theatre
RSVP & Tickets: HERE
May 5th – Melbourne, 170 Russell
RSVP & Tickets: HERE
Tickets: https://www.overdrivetouring.com/hypocrisy
