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KATAKLYSM Launch New Music Video For ‘Defiant’ Track
March 25th, 2021


Maurizio Iacono


Montréal, Québec, Canada-based death metal band Kataklysm have filmed a music video for the track ‘Defiant’. Directed by Scott Hansen (Digital Thunderdome Studios), the clip can be viewed below.

Speaking about the song and video, frontman Maurizio Iacono said: “March 25th, marks six months since the release of what we call our quarantine album, Unconquered. There were many songs to pick from but after consulting with our label we both came to the conclusion and agreed that ‘Defiant’ was the song to pick for this video. The reason is that it’s what we need to be at the moment as we face a chaotic and unstable world. It’s an intense song that screams out strength in the face of the unknown.

“‘Defiant’ was filmed by acclaimed director Scott Hansen in the Atlanta area and the storyline deals with a soldier dealing with PTSD after experiencing the horror of war. Unfortunately, due to Canada’s strict Covid-19 travel rules, bassist Stéphane Barbe couldn’t make it to the video shoot so we decided to still shoot some parts with myself and J-F [Jean-François Dagenais, guitar] so we could still have some sort of band presence in it. The song is dedicated to the ones who sacrificed everything in order for us to have the freedoms today that so many take for granted.”

Kataklysm issued 14th full-length studio album Unconquered on September 25th, 2020 through Nuclear Blast Records.

Maurizio Iacono commented: “Unconquered is actually what Kataklysm is about. It’s not letting anything get in its way and not being dominated by any trends or by anybody. We just kept doing our thing. People can criticize and say whatever they want but in the end, we’re Kataklysm. We’re still here almost 30 years now. We still have some gas in the tank and you are gonna see it. This record is probably one of our strongest records we have done.”

Unconquered was recorded and engineered by the band’s long-time producer and guitarist Jean-François Dagenais at JFD Studio in Dallas, Texas. Mixing duties fell to Colin Richardson with additional help from Chris Clancy.

Wolfheart mainman Tuomas Saukkonen contributes guest vocals on the song ‘Cut Me Down’.

Cover artwork was created by Blake Armstrong.

The track listing is as follows:

01. ‘The Killshot’
02. ‘Cut Me Down’ (feat. Tuomas Saukkonen)
03. ‘Underneath The Scars’
04. ‘Focused To Destroy You’
05. ‘The Way Back Home’
06. ‘Stitches’
07. ‘Defiant’
08. ‘Icarus Falling’
09. ‘When It’s Over’

Kataklysm’s line-up was as follows:

Maurizio Iacono (vocals)
Jean-François Dagenais (guitar)
Stéphane Barbe (bass)
Oli Beaudoin (drums)

Music videos were released for the tracks ‘The Killshot’, ‘Underneath The Scars’ and ‘Cut Me Down’. All three clips can also be viewed below.

Thirteenth studio record Meditations was released in June 2018 via Nuclear Blast.