From Machine Head to camping - we talk with Catalysis about their new album and more
Catalysis is a groove-metal band from the East of Scotland. While mostly focused on groove, they like to dabble in the styles of other metal sub genres like death, thrash and a bit of (older) metalcore.
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM OR SINGLE? Our new album, Connection Lost, is out on July 24th and it is our first full length release. It incorporates the full range of our styles and a wee bit of experimentation beyond. There's balls out thrashy bits, super heavy riffs and a few ludicrously massive guitar solos but also some hooky melody and even a wee bit of spoken word. We're super proud of what we've put together and hope that other people enjoy listening to it as much as we did writing and recording it. WHAT INSPIRED THE ALBUM? I guess we've all worked really hard to get the band moving; a lot of blood of blood, sweat and tears involved. The experiences shared, the touring and whatnot, that is what inspired us to put out a full length. This way we could really push ourselves to incorporate everything we want to be able to do. CAN YOU SUM UP THE ALBUM IN A FEW WORDS? Heavy groove with a darkened heart. WHAT RECORD CHANGED YOUR LIFE AND WHY? We'd all pick something different I think. As a group I think we all probably agree that something like Machine Head's The Blackening was a total game changer in the way it pulled heavy metal kicking and screaming into a new era. That balance of love and hate, the divine and the vile. Venom and passion. That's pretty inspiring. DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEO FILMED BY YOUR BAND OR ANOTHER ARTIST? We did a video for our lead single, Nothing Left, from our last EP. There's no way we'd all agree on a video from someone else so let's go with that one. Was great fun. We found a banjo in the place we filmed it, that nearly made the final cut. Actually, thinking about it, there are two videos we would probably agree on. Chimaira's Power Trip and Dyscarnate's Iron Strengthens Iron. Classy videos that really work the dark/light and shadows. We are/were ready to do a video for the title track from the new album but that's on hold while the country is in lockdown. WHAT WOULD WE FIND YOU DOING WHEN YOU'RE NOT MAKING MUSIC? We're all into all sorts. Working, mostly. Drew [lead guitar] and Calum [drums] enjoy the gym, Sean [guitar] probably writing for his gazillion side projects. Kenny [bass] would probably be found in his basement creating one of his famous Frankenstein guitars. I, Col [vocals], would probably be camping on the top of a mountain. DO YOU GET NERVOUS PERFORMING LIVE, IF SO HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT? If we didn't, it wouldn't be fun. HOW DID YOU FORM THE BAND? Drew and Calum formed the band in 2016 and then shuffled the pack a few times until we found a lineup that worked. HOW DO YOU WRITE? - DO YOU HAVE A KEY SONGWRITER, OR DO YOU ALL WORK TOGETHER? Usually Drew and Sean will write the bones of the music and present it to Calum who then puts drums to it. It then comes to me, I feel the vibe of it and write something along those lines. Usually about something that pisses me off. I feel really lucky because the guys write stuff that I find really inspiring. The final bit of magic dust is adding Drew's solos and leads. I think he enjoys waiting until the song is near complete so he can use these to pull it all together. So aye, it's a collaborative thing I guess. WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Lyrically, I like to write about the bad stuff that people do. Whether that's environmental destruction or selfishness or historical atrocities. Couple of the songs I've written have been about some darker, more personal things but mostly it can be boiled down into people being horrible. I'm terms of inspiration, as cheesy as it sounds I think we all inspire each other. A band is a brotherhood, and the way we write songs is inspiring for each of us as the parts come. WHAT IS NEXT? We release the album, we play a bunch of shows to promote it and hopefully plan our next foray into mainland Europe. We've got a video to film too. PLEASE TELL US ANY SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS SO WE CAN SHARE. We are on: Facebook @catalysismetal Instagram @catalysisband YouTube @catalysisofficial
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