Exclusive Interview: Catalysis talk “Innova”!

The rise of the Dundee Scotland based Groove Metal quintet Catalysis has been nothing short of meteoric as they’ve brought riffs galore to the Kings table, gradually building upon the concrete foundations of each prior release and when it seems impossible, outdoing themselves in the process. Their latest offering “Innova” is a stone wall classic that finds them once again utilizing the skills of Death Metal legend Mendel bij de Leij (ex-Aborted) to mix and master, so without further ado, here’s a conversation we had with them not too long ago…

How have you found the reaction to “Innova” so far? “So far, the reception has been hugely positive, both from press and from fans. It’s always interesting hearing what people have to say and finding out what tracks resonate with them, because as band members we all have our own favourites and quite often the ones we like the least are the ones other people resonate with the most. Obviously we like them all, but just like parents with kids, we all have a favourite – even if we’re not saying it”

With both “Relicta“ and now “Innova” you’ve taken a more personal lyrical approach with themes of death, loss, mental health, rebirth and personal development wrapped up in the songs. What brought about the decision to change the direction or was it less of a conscious thing? “I don’t think there was a conscious decision as such, but we wrote both of these EPs during COVID, so at the time we were surrounded by a lot of death – including a dear friend of the band. I think the various lockdowns etc also took a fairly large toll on mental health, worldwide. As musicians, we definitely felt this – being unable to spend time with our friends, unable to perform and also having the plans we built around our full length absolutely ruined. It was a frustrating, dark time. Even just this weekend, we had to adapt last minute due to COVID – Pabs (bass) tested positive on Saturday morning, meaning he couldn’t play our launch show. A rapid re-shuffle, and Sean was on bass and we’re down to 1 guitar. So even now COVID is still causing us stress, damaging mental health etc. I think it has a huge part to play in the lyrical shift.”

“Before the Fall” has an absolute ripper of a solo from Drew Cochrane; when you’re demoing the more virtuoso parts are you ever conscious about not overcooking things or do band members keep others in check when things get a little too elaborate for everyone’s liking? “Thank you kindly – as a guitarist it’s always nice to hear someone refer to my solos as “rippers” and calling the parts virtuoso. That’s my ego inflated for today! I think as a band we largely self police these things. Sometimes Calum comes up with a wild and complex drum part when we have written a section with heavy stomp in mind etc, but we discuss it and always go for what works for the good of the song. In terms of solos, all of our tracks have had solos from day 1, so it’s definitely a part of our established sound. On the last EP, Relicta, I feel like I really found my stride as a lead player, and I just pushed that a bit further on Innova. I try to write solos that are melodic and memorable but still have a bit of flash and flare to them, and I think I now have a better understanding of how to achieve that”

To our minds you’ve been nothing short of prolific in writing and releasing new material; do you ever feel like you should sit on your laurels for a bit or do the creative fires burn all the time? Where do you find your inspiration? “We do write a lot, that’s for sure. I think as a small band, it’s important to keep people interested, which means keeping releases coming. People have a short attention span and the market is so saturated with bands due to the fact that everyone can release music to the global audience through streaming platforms so it’s really important to stay relevant and interesting. You can see it in our Spotify stats – there’s never more people listening to us than right after a release! In terms of inspiration for writing, I guess it’s the same as any other bands – primarily listening to music and drawing inspiration from stuff we’ve heard but without ripping it off. The other reason for writing constantly is that it keeps things interesting for us – nobody wants to get together and rehearse the same 30 minute set every week for 2 hours. Writing new stuff keeps rehearsals interesting and keeps us motivated”

What made you choose “Shadow Parasite” and “Before The Fall” as singles to promote “Innova” with? “In terms of Before The Fall, it was obvious as soon as we started jamming it, it was going to be a song that’d go off live. The groove of the verses is huge, the riff is quite simple and it’s easy to put in 100% energy in while playing it. It made sense to have it as a single, it works as a set opener due to the clean intro etc. Shadow Parasite was a case of needing to put something out to get people talking about the EP. We knew we could do a lyric video and have it turned round quickly, and I really liked the lyrics for this track and the song is sick so we picked this one. It’ll be a live set staple for a while at least, too”

The new record feels darker and heavier without leaving behind the Groove Metal that you previously offered up; it also feels like vocalist Col MacGregor’s range has grown over time. Do you ever stand back and think about what you’ve achieved or is it always onto the next thing, no need to inflate the ego? “In 2020, Col put down the bass to focus on vocals and it’s the best thing that’s happened to us as a band. He’s gone from strength to strength and it’s brought an incendiary element to our live show too. On Relicta and Innova, we’ve also tried to approach the vocal recording more akin to how we’ll perform live – so there are a lot of parts on the newer EPs that are actually Sean or I, since we do those lines live. We often think back on how far we’ve come – we started the same as any other local bands, just hoping to play a few shows and have some fun. To think that we’ve released tracks with Phil Demmel from Machine Head, supported bands like Sacred Reich, played in Europe, recently won the Metal 2 The Masses and will be playing at Bloodstock, it’s great. We’ve achieved far more than we ever thought we would, and far more than we initially set out to do. It’s a great source of pride, but rather than allow it to inflate the ego, we always use it to push us forward  and look to what we can achieve next”

What’s next for Catalysis?  “The most immediate thing is Bloodstock. We’re playing the Friday – that puts us on the same day as legends like Behemoth, Exodus, Testament etc. We’ve also got a bunch of headline shows around Scotland this year, and we’re looking into revisiting Europe next year – if we can navigate the red tape shitshow that is Brexit. Obviously we’ll release new music, too. Innova has been out 4 days and we’ve already got 6 songs demoed for the next release!”