The Metal Pit interviews Western Canadian thrash band HYPERIA. Featuring a husband(guitar) and wife(vocals) team. Their 2nd full length release SILHOUTTES OF HORROR was released in March 2022.
Your band made the move from Calgary to Vancouver. I assume the band made the move just to move to a bigger city. How has the move been so far for the band?
Vancouver, being both a huge metropolitan area and with easier access to the West Coast of the US has lots of potential for any band.
We’re all loving it and thriving out here on the Coast.
Did Covid hurt the band or was it good for focusing on writing and recording your newest album Silhouettes of Horror?
It hurt us at first when our World tour scheduled for March – June 2020 was cancelled. On the other hand, we had more time and resources on our hands to develop the material for Silhouettes’. Ups and downs!
How would you compare this album to your EP and first full-length album Insanitorium?
Our EP was recorded around 3 months after the band was even formed – it’s pretty rough to listen to for us, as it doesn’t quite represent how we sound.
Insanitorium took that EP to a further polished and professional step up, while Silhouettes is several steps up the ladder from both Insanitorium and the EP we feel.
Silhouettes of Horror is a very impressive album. Do you have a few favourite tracks from the album?
We dig all the tracks on this album. Tough for us to choose any favourites – they are our children.
Why did the band pick Abba and their song Gimme Gimme Gimme as a cover song? Were you considering any other songs instead of that one?
We were considering recording our cover of Medusa by Anthrax for the album, but in the end we went for something a little different and daring. I think the song came on shuffle one night while we were drinking and we thought it would be a fun song to cover.
Who are Marlee’s vocal influences?
Marlee likes classic metal heroes such as her mom, Joan Jett, Nicole Lee Ronnie James Dio and Bruce Dickinson.
Was there a particular album or band that turned you on to metal music?
That’s a little different for each member of the band. Bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Anthrax, Megadeth and Metallica were all staples for us becoming metal fans.
Songs on the new album obviously are horror-based. Where does the band (or just you if you wrote the lyrics) get its ideas from for your songs? Movies? Books? Personal experiences?
Some of each this time around! Some movies – obviously Wes Craven’s Wishmaster, some books like Steven King’s “Institute”, band experiences with night terrors and nightmares as a huge influence on the lyrical content.
How would you describe the sound of HYPERIA?
Ultra-fast thrash metal-based in both classic 80s thrash and NWOBHM with some melodic death metal elements
Who came up with the idea for the cover art?
Marlee came up with the main idea, and we had some conceptual help from an artist friend and added other personal touches.
How did the band form?
The band formed in the summer of 2018 when friends and members of the Calgary metal scene got together to jam some demo tracks Colin had written.
Why the name HYPERIA?
We each came up with a big list of possible names and eventually, we decided Hyperia suited the sound we wanted to create. Combination of the words hyper and hysteria.
Are you planning on doing more videos from this album?
That is a possibility in the future.
Do you have touring plans in place?
We have hope for a future tour of the West Coast as well as many ideas for the next couple of years.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. I wish the band much success with the new album and moving forward.
Thank you for having us.
***Photo courtesy of HYPERIA