BW&BK; scribe Carl Begai recently caught up with KATAKLYSM frontman Maurizio Iacono to discuss the band's new album, Prevail. The following is an excerpt from the interview, with Iacono discussing the success of the band's last record, In The Arms Of Devastation, and their ongoing rise to fame.

“In The Arms Of Devastation is definitely our biggest record in every sense of the word,” says Iacono. “Sales-wise it’s on top, and out of everything we’ve done that’s the one that broke us in new territories. Shadows And Dust was, for me, a record that really opened up the gates for Kataklysm. It was the one that turned everybody’s head around, and from that moment we gained some killer momentum. It’s been building since, and In The Arms Of Devastation is the one that put us over the top. That’s what’s cool about it, because I think people expected us to go in a more commercial vein on Prevail and maybe expected us to follow the same direction as the last one, which was more melodic and groove oriented. Prevail turned out to be the record we wanted to put together, but at the same time it was a spontaneous record. We never know where it’s going to go. We’re a type of band that likes to be spontaneous. You never know what’s going to happen, but the one thing about Kataklysm is that we’re never going to put the same record out twice. We’ll definitely change, but we’re not going to betray who we are or where we come from. It’s important for us to keep our integrity.”
"Up until recently, Kataklysm never got the recognition or respect as a band, not even in Canada," he continues. "We’ve always been that Canadian black sheep band, but we took that as a positive thing. I always said this band was going to grow one fan at a time, one concert at a time, and now we’ve become the biggest selling death metal band out of Canada. Not only that, we’re competing with bands like 3 Inches Of Blood who are way up there. It’s never been a situation where we had to win or be on top. We always wanted to make good records and that was it. It’s not about who’s the most extreme or whatever. For example, I commend Cryptopsy for the move they made with their new record. Personally, I’m not sure if I really like it – I need to listen to it a bit more because I was shocked by it – but in this day and age you have to take a chance and they did. Why repeat yourself? We decided to take that chance on Victims Of The Fallen World, and for me Temple Of Knowledge was the most extreme Kataklysm record and it influenced a lot of other bands, but why should we repeat that? You don’t grow if you do that, and that’s why bands break up."

Watch for the full story in BW&BK; #111, due out in June.

As previously reported, Kataklysm have announced that beginning May 2nd, fans can purchase exclusive tracks 'Taking The World By Storm' and 'Breathe To Dominate' that will only available at the Nuclear Blast Europe Music Shop.

Kataklysm's new album, Prevail, is set for release via Nuclear Blast Records on May 23rd (Europe) and May 27th (North America, rest of World).