Following yesterday's announcement that Max Duhamel, drummer of Montreal-based death metal powerhouse KATAKLYSM, is taking a break, and won’t be performing on the new Kataklysm album, the band have issued a statement.

Says Kataklysm: "We as a band of brothers stand by Max's decision to get better and to rise from his demons, we all have them, some of us try to hide them and pretend they dont exist, some of us have the courage to confront them, Max has shown strength to fight his, we stand by him and hope that he returns home when he is ready, in the meanwhile I want everyone to know for those who haven't seen the Iron Will documentary, that this band's story is one of drama, pain and the long road to victory...

We will practice what we preach on our albums, we will come out swinging hard and strong with this new album, we will find a suitable replacement and we will announce him in the next few weeks, we will not dissapoint any of you, we have read the messages of encouragements you have posted, we have the best fans... and in these classic words, "the show must go on". Here

s a cool clip we found from Rocky that describes well what is to come from your veterans..."

Max previously released the following official statement: "Hello everyone , it is with an a extremely heavy heart that I announce today that I will not be performing on the new Kataklysm album, I have been struggling with many personal issues the last year but lately, the main one has been alcohol, it’s been affecting my body in a very negative way to the point that when I came home after the EX DEO tour we just did, I tried to stop drinking for few days and it’s been very hard without having any withdrawl symptoms, I’ve also lost a lot of weight as some have noticed recently and I’m not in good shape...

I've heard the new material my brothers have written and its truely incredible stuff, it’s really some of the best music the band has ever done but It’s going to be a very demanding album and my state of mind and body is not ready to confront this big task right now, I need to clean my body and my mind and come back focused to Kataklysm and I don’t know how long this will take... the guys have reached out to help in anyway they can which I can’t thank them enough. I’m truely blessed to have them as a family, so as I start my road to recovery I send this message to all of you and thank you for all the support. It’s time to take my life in my hands and take responsibility, I will not be attending the Juno Awards ceremony in two weeks for Ex Deo nominations but I will close my contract with the shows in May that are left , Extremefest, Beastival in Germany and Metalfest Czech Republic will be my last shows until I’m ready again to come back in full form, you guys deserve the best of me... see you later."

Kataklysm have been quietly working on new material for the past several months, for their long awaited follow-up to their Heaven's Venom album. Heaven’s Venom was released on August 24th, 2010 in North America and debuted at #196 on the Billboard Top Current Albums chart, making it the band’s highest charting album and their biggest first week sales to date. This will now be the band’s longest stretch between records.

"Well it's been a seriously busy ride since our last album Heaven's Venom was released over 3 years ago,” commented vocalist Maurizio Iacono. “From a successful world headlining run, to Ozzfest, into a recap of our 20 years as band with the Iron Will DVD. We've been writing in a very humble fashion behind the scenes for the last six months. It's time to take Kataklysm to higher levels and dig deep into our capacities as musicians and songwriters. We know exactly what we have to do, that's why we have taken our time and why we’ll be taking most of the Summer to complete the new album. The record will deal lyrically with mortality and the purpose of ones being on this earth. The moment we are born we start to die. It’s a sort of deal we make with life, and with that I title the new Kataklysm album, Waiting For The End To Come.”

Waiting For The End To Come is tentatively scheduled for a late 2013 / early 2014 release. The album will be recorded by guitarist Jean Francois Dagenais and mixed by Zeuss (SUFFOCATION, HATEBREED, ARSIS).

Check out the music video for the song 'Iron Will' below. The track was recorded in Montreal, Canada with guitarist/producer Jean-François Dagenais and mixed by Tue Madsen (THE HAUNTED, BEHEMOTH, MNEMIC) in Denmark.

More on Kataklysm at this location.