Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based melodic death metallers KATAKLYSM will kick off their "Meditations Over North America 2019" tour on September 4 in Joliet, Illinois. The 21-date trek will make stops Portland, Dallas and Baltimore before concluding in Worcester on September 26. Joining the band as special guests will be thrash legends EXHORDER, death metal kings KRISIUN and San Francisco Bay Area thrashers HATCHET. KATAKLYSM frontman Maurizio Iacono comments: "It took a while for us to get a full North American tour put together for 'Meditations' due to an extensive schedule and also the arrival of my little boy earlier this year. But we are finally here and with a hell of a package this time. "We are very excited to share the stage with the legendary EXHORDER. 'Slaughter Of The Vatican' is one of my all-time favorite records. And to round off the package having our brothers in KRISIUN with us and the thrash outfit HATCHET is gonna make this a memorable tour. "We will play a varied set of the band's discography and, of course, our latest album, 'Meditations', all wrapped up in a devastating live show as only KATAKLYSM can deliver. It's gonna be sick. See you all very soon." Tickets for the tour will go on sale on Wednesday, June 12 at 10 a.m. local time. Confirmed dates: Sep. 04 - Joliet, IL - The Forge Sep. 05 - Cave-in-Rock, IL - Full Terror Assault Sep. 06 - Kansas City, MO - The Riot Room Sep. 07 - Colorado Springs, CO - The Black Sheep Sep. 08 - Denver, CO - Oriental Theater Sep. 10 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon Sep. 11 - Portland, OR - Bossanova Ballroom Sep. 12 - Oakland, CA - Metro Opera House Sep. 13 - Los Angeles, CA - Union Sep. 14 - San Diego, CA - Brick by Brick Sep. 15 - Mesa, AZ - Club Red Sep. 16 - El Paso, TX - Rockhouse Bar & Grill Sep. 17 - Austin, TX - Come and Take it Live! Sep. 18 - Dallas, TX - Gas Monkey Live! Sep. 20 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverfront Live Sep. 21 - Atlanta, GA - TBC Sep. 22 - Baltimore, MD - Soundstage Sep. 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Market Hotel Sep. 26 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance Sep. 25 - Reading, PA - Reverb Sep. 26 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium "Meditations" was released in June 2018 via Nuclear Blast. The 10-song disc was produced by the band's guitarist Jean-François Dagenais and drummer Oli Beaudoin, and was mixed by Jay Ruston (ANTHRAX, STONE SOUR). Mastering duties were handled by Paul Logus (PANTERA). The "Meditations" cover artwork was created for Ocvlta Designs by Surtsey, who also crafted the artwork for KATAKLYSM's previous record, "Of Ghosts And Gods". Iacono told Rauta about the songwriting for "Meditations": "For us, I believe it's getting just easier to write now than before. We used to think too much about what people are going to think. I think that hurt us for a few records where we played it safe a little bit and stuff like that. Now we're kind of opening up our horizons and trying new things, a different producer. This album, we used Jay Ruston out of Los Angeles, who works with STONE SOUR and ANTHRAX, which is a huge gamble for a band like us to do, but it worked out great; he did a great production. He was, like, 'Oh, man. This is a big challenge. A heavy band like this.' But it came out great. Sometimes you've got to take those steps, you've got to take those gambles. I think it has a very modern feel to it. The new record, some of the arrangements are way off compared to what we did before. We tried new things on this record. Also, vocal patterns are different — not trying to go so deep; going for a more mid-range style, which is where I'm most comfortable as well."
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