Introducing: Cataclysmic

Promising newcomers Cataclysmic fully embody their violent name with an angsty, chunky riff-laden, moshpit-instigating nu-metalcore sound that they describe as “heavy and pissed off” and “in your face.”

The duo of Ava Toton and Derek Romero, who hail from California and Texas, met at a show they were both performing at around 18 months ago. Since then, they’ve both been mentored by Monte Pittman, the long-time guitarist for Madonna, who suggested they join forces.

The duo released their debut single Death Is Just A Doorway, which gives us an intriguing insight into their vicious sound, on Friday (18 July). The sub-two-minute track kicks off with a chunky riff with little guitar flurries, which gives way to heavy vocals intersected with big stabs of guitar. Low-tuned guitars cut in as a piercing synth sounds come in over gruff guttural vocals. A fun stabbing riff takes over alongside vicious vocals “Rotting away, It’s much too late, Nowhere to be found, ‘Cause you’re three feet in the ground,” which end with a little “bleugh.” A vicious scream sets up big doomy guitars bringing the track to a powerful conclusion.

On the track, they told us: “We’ve been wanting to release this song for months, and recently we decided that we should just get it out there to kick off Cataclysmic. People should be expecting a very energetic but short song filled with heavy riffs, leaving you wanting more.” Check it out in the guitar playthrough video here:

The Cataclysmic sound has been influenced by the likes of Thrown, Spiritbox, Loathe, Periphery, Alpha Wolf, HEAVENSGATE, fromjoy and Kublai Khan.

And on what inspires them to write music, they told us: “There’s no better feeling than writing a chunky riff. We try to write songs that we could imagine a crowd having a mosh pit to.”

If that quick taster of Cataclysmic has you hungry for more, then you’re in luck as the duo are intent on releasing plenty more new material. They have an EP in the works, building up to a full album in the future, with a bunch of social media content also incoming. And they’re available for mixing and production services.

You can follow Cataclysmic on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Soundcloud and YouTube.