Montreal-based extremists Kataklysm recently announced that their next offering, Meditations, is slated for an April 2018 release via Nuclear Blast Records. The band have enlisted acclaimed Los Angeles based producer Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour) to mix and master their new upcoming album.

Guitarist JF Dagenais adds, “This album has so much to offer that we decided to search for someone outside the box for it. Someone who comes with a fresh outlook and hasn’t work with extreme or death metal bands. We wanted someone with a more organic feel but at the same time can pound a mix into your chest with the power and definition it deserves. When Jay accepted to work with us, we knew he would bring just that! So far, the first mixes coming in are incredible. We will be turning some heads on this album folks. That's all I can say for now, can’t wait!"

Kataklysm have spent the last 25 years cementing their legacy in the extreme metal genre. 2016 marked a whirlwind of excitement as the band added a Juno Award to their collection as well as landing their highest Billboard charting. They are one of a handful of bands that have the title of "Longest Standing Artist" on the Nuclear Blast roster.

Born in 1992 from the cold winds of Montreal, comes one of the country’s top extreme musical exports to date: Kataklysm. With a career spanning 25 years, Kataklysm is a leading force in the most brutal & powerful genre in heavy metal and has conquered territories such as Europe, North & South America, Australia, and Asia while recently becoming the first Canadian metal band to ever play South Africa.

London-based multi-instrumentalist & songwriter Alexander Shields, aka, A Grave With No Name, is sharing another track of his haunting art-rock sounds with new single, ‘When I Pass Through Here’. The track is taken from his upcoming album, Passover, which is due out Jan 19 via Forged Artifacts.

Speaking about the track, Alexander said, "Amidst the studio sessions for Passover, it became apparent that this song’s message of confronting and shedding our regrets, in order to become a better person and make a positive mark on the world - however small that may be - fitted in perfectly within the album’s narrative."

For some years now A Grave With No Name has been mining a distinctive vein of haunted art-rock, to spellbinding effect. His sixth album, Passover, is his most vital and poetic release to date, presenting the artist’s wide-ranging musical approaches so far, and forging skilful, at times surprising, new sounds from those unique textures.

Shields wrote the songs, which he describes as a set of “interlocking short-stories”, during a stay in his family home in the wake of his grandmother’s death - a home he shared with her throughout his young life. As such, a spectral presence makes itself known throughout Passover, with themes such as the mortality of loved ones, and returning to the bosom of the family being explored, alongside a burning questioning of the comforts of religion and ceremony, and our attempts to reconcile the elemental with the domestic.

Whereas previous records such as 2014’s Feathers Wet, Under the Moon saw him working with a large ensemble of players including members of Lambchop, Silver Jews, and guitarist William Tyler, Passover reflects its intimate themes by pairing Shields with childhood friend, drummer Daniel Paton, and brings aboard bassist Ben Reed who worked on Frank Ocean’s blond(e) and Endless albums. Recording once again at London’s Holy Mountain studios with producer Misha Hering, Shields creates meticulously crafted tapestries by weaving field recordings, and ambient sounds through the looms of melodic tape-warped country-rock (‘By the Water’s Edge’, ‘Wreath’), haunted skeletal folk (‘Hot Blood’, ‘Hunter’) and lonesome string ballads (‘Wren’).

See A Grave With No Name live:

23rd Jan - Olympic Cafe, Paris FR

25th Jan - The Waiting Room, London UK

'Passover' tracklist:

1. Supper

2. By The Water's Edge

3. Path

4. Wreath

5. Hunter

6. Blunt Knives

7. (Interlude)

8. Pottery & Porcelain

9. When I Pass Through Here

10. Kitchen

11. Canary

12. Hot Blood

13. Wren