New interview with Colin Ryley of Canadian band HYPERIA. Their 3rd studio album THE SERPENT’S CYCLE available November 17th.
THE METAL PIT: Your 3rd studio album is about to be released. Mostly your bands lyrics are inspired by horror movies/themes. Tell us about the bands love for horror and incorporating it into your lyrics?
Colin Ryley: A lot of the lyrics are story-based around some ideas that Marlee (vocals) comes up with, but a lot of the lyrics are also quite personal to her and some mental-health and societal problems she’s been through. The lyrics are never directly horror-influenced per se, but I think we all agree that the dark side of life is quite interesting and has a lot of creative possibilities attached to it.
Can you share some insight into your songwriting process? How do you typically create and develop your music and lyrics?
CR: Typically I write the majority of the riffs and then we jam on them as a band to finalize and arrange them into finished songs. I usually just sit down alone in my room with my guitar and recording software and start recording a bunch of ideas that come to my mind, then I puzzle them together into a rough demo of a track. All the lyrics mostly come from Marlee, which are usually written after the music. This is our first album that we didn’t consciously create a concept or theme for, however looking back there’s definitely a lot of similar ideas throughout the album.
Can you describe the musical style and influences that define Hyperia’s sound?
CR: I’m strongly influenced by a wide variety of music, anything from Mozart to Black Metal and everything in between. I love a lot of modern and classic thrash – bands like Havok, Warbringer, Exmortus, Stone – but also love a lot of the Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal bands like Children of Bodom, Norther, Brymir. I take influence from lots of sources but in the end I feel Melodic Thrash just happens to be the sum of all those combined influences.
Your last album came out just last year. Are any of the songs left over from that album or was the band just excited to get more music out to the people?
CR: These were all brand-new songs, I don’t think there was even 1 recycled riff to be honest. Even though Silhouettes Of Horror was released in 2022, it was actually finished in 2021 – so it feels a lot longer to us haha. I think we were just excited to get some new stuff out there since we felt we were evolving into a more concrete Hyperia-sound.
Do you have a few favourite tracks from your new album The Serpents Cycle?
CR: For me it’s been changing all the time, but the ones that stand out to me at the moment are Spirit Bandit, Psychosomatic and the title track.
The music industry is constantly changing with more and more streaming music services. There’s often a challenge in getting your work out there. Can you discuss how you’ve approached marketing and promoting your music and band?
CR: There’s definitely pro’s and con’s to the way things are now – on one hand it’s easier to get your music out there to be heard, but on the other hand it’s so easy that there’s a million bands that you have to compete with to stand-out. I think a healthy competition is a good thing since it forces us to make creative decisions as well as take inspiration from the other musicians out there. I think at the end of the day as long as you are putting out music you’re proud of and getting the proper PR and Marketing done, you’ll reach the right people and have successful results.
The band is from British Columbia, Canada. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being from BC?
CR: The metal scene here is great, all of Canada has a bunch of great bands and it’s awesome to be able to be among them and be friends with them. The biggest downside is how geographically big Canada is, it makes touring here very difficult and sometimes not worth the cost. Sometimes you have to drive almost 13 hours just to get to the next playable city, which is obviously quite extreme, not to mention gas prices these days.
Is there any bands from BC or Canada that really influenced you or paved the way for you to think we can do it too?
CR: Definitely, I’d say bands like Annihilator, Exciter, Razor and more. These bands were at the forefront of the Canadian Thrash scene and I think any thrasher these days would agree how influential they’ve been for putting Canadian thrash on the global map.
Music videos and visual content have become increasingly important. How do you approach creating music videos that complement your music and add to the overall experience?
CR: We really enjoy the visual aspect of making music videos and video content. I think we’re in an age where people need that kind of content to keep them engaged – unfortunately the art of actively listening to music without doing any other activity is pretty rare these days. I think putting the time to make a killer music video is super beneficial to getting exposure.
Does the band have any major touring plans in place yet to support your new album?
CR: We’ve been in the works of planning a 2024 European tour for the past couple months and are still just trying to work out the logistic details – we’ve been having a hard time finding reputable booking agents and want to make sure we do it the right way. Otherwise we plan on hitting up the U.S as well as Eastern Canada in 2024 too!
The heavy metal genre is known for its passionate and dedicated fan base. How do you stay connected with your fans, both online and at live shows?
CR: We always take time to interact with fans – both in person and online. I think having this connection is super important and will definitely make people want to continue listening to you. We’re always happy to have a drink and chat with anyone who comes up to us after a show!
What has been the early reaction to your new material?
CR: been great so far! We’ve been super happy with the response we’ve gotten for our singles as well as the album reviews we’ve received. We’re excited to release it to the world and hear what everyone thinks.
THE METAL PIT’s album review
Does the band have a favourite live show you have performed at?
CR: For me personally it would be opening up for Soulfly and Toxic Holocaust in 2020 or playing Hyperspace Metal Festival in 2023 opening for Exmortus, Paladin and more.
I know we have a husband and wife in the band, but how did Hyperia come together as a band, and what’s the story behind the band’s name?
CR: Marlee and I had just returned from our 13-month honeymoon/gap year thing across Europe and Asia, and all I had was a little travel acoustic guitar that we carried with us on the trip. The hardest part of that year was not being able to play electric guitar, so I knew that as soon as we got back all I wanted to do was start a new band and thrash. A lot of the initial songs for our first album were actually written on that travel guitar which is kinda funny haha. The band name was a combination of the words Hyper and Hysteria – 2 words we felt fit the music well and luckily wasn’t taken.
Thanks for your time talking to THE METAL PIT. Please add anything you would like your fans or future fans to know?
CR: Thank you to everyone for supporting and checking out our music. We can’t wait for our new album to be released on November 17 and we hope to come play a stage near you very soon!
Check out HYPERIA on FACEBOOK
HYPERIA – BANDCAMP
Interview by Blake Mossey