Kataklysm

Live at Ozzfest

San Bernardino, CA

September 24th, 2016

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Kataklysm are a Death Metal band hailing from Montreal, Canada. They have self dubbed themselves "Northern Hyperblast" music referring to the extreme blast beats they utilize.

They incorporate elements of Melodic Death Metal as well as samples from films and media on some of their songs which gives them an epic and cinematic feel.

I have seen Kataklysm perform before, as well as lead singer, Maurizio Iacono's other project Ex-Deo, so I knew what I was in for and was looking forward to catching them at this year's mega-metal event, Ozzfest.

Kataklysm played the Nuclear Blast stage (fittingly, their own label) which, while technically smaller than the Monster Energy stages, had the distinct advantage of facing the opposite direction so actually provided some shelter from the blazing sun and triple digit heat of the San Bernardino mountains.

Accompanying Maurizio on stage were Jean-Francois Dagenais on guitar, Stephane Barbe on bass, and Oli Beaudoin on drums. The guitarist and bassist were a blur of motion as the set began, whipping their hair all over the place. Maurizio is an imposing figure, a fitting stature for the brutal style of music they play.

Feeding a circle pit of motion in the audience from the moment they started, the crowd was in a frenzy, eating up their Death Metal power.

I know for sure they did "As I Slither" as Maurizio announced that one and I recognized "Crippled & Broken" when they played that song, as did most of the audience.

Last year saw the release of their twelfth studio album, "Of Ghosts and Gods" from which they played "The Black Sheep" which was really cool to see and hear live.

The only other song I know for sure they did was "Thy Serpents Tongue" but I think they did one or two more on top of that. I honestly lost track.

They were really good, Maurizio's voice and delivery stand out from the other bands playing that have more of a Nu-Metal or Hardcore approach to vocalization. At times Kataklysm almost border on having Industrial type structures similar to bands like Fear Factory which is one of the things that really draw me to them and probably has a lot to do with the aforementioned "hyperblast" style of drumming.

Ozzfest was a crazy event with so many good bands playing, including the Godfathers of Heavy Metal: Black Sabbath. It was cool to have Kataklysm be a part of it and get such a good response from the sun-baked crowd.

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