I Am the Trireme is an extreme progressive metal band, who are pushing the boundary from music to film. Joe Cantamessa, who has worked and lived in Hamilton for 20 years produces and plays guitar with the band IATT, as they are known by their initials. Joe and bandmate and fellow guitarist Alec Pezzano spoke about their latest album, concept film and future.
How long has IATT been together in its current form?
Alec: IATT’s been around for over 18 years at this point. The band was founded in 2008 by me and bassist Jay Briscoe. This current 4-piece lineup has been together since 2014. We always say that a big part of what makes us so special is our longevity. It’s allowed us to create this palpable chemistry, and that seems to really resonate with people.
Tell us about the new album and associated projects?
Alec: Our new album, Etheric Realms of the Night, is a concept centered around sleep, dreams, and the liminal space between reality and the subconscious. It explores themes like somniphobia (an intense, irrational fear of falling or remaining asleep, often rooted in anxiety about nightmares, or dying in one’s sleep), astral projection, and the fear of losing control as you slip into the dream state. Sonically we worked hard to represent the themes with fluidity and painted with a broad spectrum. It’s very much a continuation along the evolutionary line of IATT; our signature flavor of genre-bending prog and extreme metal cranked up even higher.
What makes this release different is that it’s not just an album; it’s paired with a full-length film. The goal was to present something to be experienced in a new light and honor the connective nature of the album’s concepts.
Will there be touring to support the new album?
Alec: Absolutely. We’re already working out the details with our booking agent and will be announcing a bunch of touring info soon. It seems like the theme of 2026 for IATT so far has been “go big!” We’re excited to announce more of the stuff we’ve got happening–in due time.
Who were some of your early influences in music?
Joe: My earliest musical influences really came from whatever my parents were playing during those formative years.
My mom was usually jamming 80s and 90s pop and dance music from the car stereo while we went shopping when I was a kid. Those bright melodies, big hooks, catchy choruses, and shimmering synths were the first sounds that stirred something in me, well before I even had the words to understand why they moved me. My dad introduced me to the other side of the musical universe, the world of prog rock and guitar driven, experimental music. Bands like King Crimson, Yes, The Allman Brothers, Al Di Meola, Pink Floyd, Camel, and Mahavishnu Orchestra filled our home with this deep sense of mystery, complexity, and emotional weight. As a kid, that music felt like stepping into another dimension, and honestly, it still does. It was cinematic, spiritual, and endlessly curious.
From there, it made perfect sense that I gravitated toward heavy and progressive metal as a teenager. Those genres carried the same adventurous spirit and emotional intensity as the music I grew up with, just filtered through a different lens. All those sounds; pop, prog, metal, ended up weaving together to create the foundation of the artist I am today.
Your work appears to go deep into classical themes. Are the band members students of history, poetry and the metaphysical?
Alec: I think in a lot of ways, yes maybe not in a strict academic sense, but all of us are drawn to those kinds of subjects. We’re always looking for ways to connect emotions and ideas within our concepts, and to find threads between the human condition and the world around us.
What fight/struggle do you have regarding your art?
Joe: For me, the greatest struggle is carving out the time and space to honor the creative impulse when it arrives. Life moves fast. Between work, relationships, and responsibilities, creativity doesn’t always wait for a free afternoon or a cleared calendar to present itself. There are days when burnout or obligations try to dim the spark before I can follow it.
My studio space plays a big role in keeping that spark alive. I need an environment that feels calm and almost sacred, where the noise of the world fades and I can listen to whatever comes through. When the energy in the room is right, it’s easier for me to tap into that flow-state and create without resistance.
Was making the film for the new album fun, exhausting, exciting or all three?
Alec: Short answer: Yes, all three! It’s a wild concept, and at first it was very daunting. We had spent in total about 18 months working on storyboarding, location scouting, working with actors, shooting and editing, and we had to do it without telling anyone. There’s a reason why this is not a thing bands do, it was incredibly hard, time consuming, and at times very stressful. We shot in basically every weather condition imaginable, sometimes doing 13 hour days. The team, our crew, our actors, and everyone involved were incredible, and if it wasn’t for their commitment and enthusiasm to be part of this project, it would have been impossible to achieve.
How is feedback from the fans?
Alec: We couldn’t be happier with the response so far. With the album being released in early May and the film following in late July, we’ve been keeping a lot of elements close to the vest. We’re just now entering the phase where reviews and early feedback are starting to come in, and it’s been incredibly validating. You sit with your work for so long during the writing, mixing, and mastering process, and then add creating a full-length film on top of that you start to question whether what you’re hearing is what others will experience.
Is the band is evolving?
Alec: We’re absolutely evolving progression has always been the goal. In terms of direction, we’ve really been leaning further into building something that feels distinctly our own. We’ve developed a signature sound, and now it’s about expanding that world; experimenting more, pushing the dynamics, and making everything feel more intentional and immersive.
What is on the horizon?
Alec: There’s a lot of things we’ve still yet to unpack with Etheric Realms of the Night. We’ve got some amazing things on top of the album and film. Things we’ve been working towards and partnerships that are coming to fruition and opening new avenues for us. We’re very busy throughout the rest of 2026.
We will be hosting an official film premier event in Philadelphia on July 23rd. There will be a meet and greet, screening of the film, and Q&A with the cast and crew.
We will have an album release show on May 29 in Mount Holly at the Union Firehouse, at which we will be performing the full album live. Fans will be able to hear the complete album live for the first time.
Online: iattrealm.com. Search for I Am the Trireme on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and more.
