INTRODUCING: Hypermass
Historically Norway has been known for being the illustrious birthplace of black metal but in more recent years there has been a stylistic shift, with the likes of LEPROUS, KVELERTAK and WARDRUNA exploring exciting creative territories. Hoping to rise to such levels of prominence are progressive quintet HYPERMASS. A collective who have forged a strong companionship since their formative years.
“Myself and Thomas go way back. All the way to kindergarten when we were like three years old!” Explains guitarist Sindre Dagestad. “We met the other guys in school when we were teenagers and were in other bands. We decided to do something together, went through various changes in lineup and after about three or four different band names we settled on HYPERMASS back in 2012. During recess we were all listening to bands like SLAYER and PANTERA but as we grew older we discovered technical death metal and bands like THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, REVOCATION, ALLEGAEON and they really broadened our horizons and shaped the sound we have today.”
HYPERMASS offer a very alluring proposition, combining explosive, energetic instrumentation with undeniable hooks that take little time to win you over. Achieving such a polished sound requires a lot of orchestration behind the scenes but the band feel like they have found the perfect formula. “Our writing process is very much collaborative. We never write songs on our own, we always approach it as a group endeavour,” informs Sindre. “We quickly realised that if we have everyone involved from the initial stages that we were a lot happier with the end product. If one person wasn’t particular sure of the song we would either scrap it or remould it until we were all satisfied. We pride ourselves on having no ego in the band, it’s really important for us that everyone is in agreement and enjoys the music we make.”
“If you are writing songs alone it is very easy to become fatigued of your own ideas without anyone else to counterbalance them,” admits fellow guitarist Thomas Pedersen. “We all have our own tastes and different approaches to how a song should be structured which means it results in a lot of variation in our songs. That is what makes the process so exciting.”
2022’s debut album Empyrean received considerable praise across the board, opening a lot of doors for the band including a string of festival appearances in Norway. One element in particular which was highly complimented was how polished the release sounded and for that, they had a not-so-secret weapon to thank in the form of the master of mixing, Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood. “We invested a lot of time and money into Empyrean so we are incredibly proud of that. We really wanted Nolly to handle the production and we sent him an email not really expecting him to actually respond,” confesses Sindre “He’s worked with some of the biggest names in modern metal and doesn’t just work with anyone so we were overjoyed when he agreed to work with us. We feel he took our sound to the next level!”
All it takes is one viral moment or a well-timed promotional campaign and a band can be propelled into the spotlight, becoming an overnight sensation. HYPERMASS could hardly believe their fortunes when they found themselves rubbing shoulders with a particularly popular Scotsman. “In a complete strike of luck we were playing a concert in Trondheim a few years back and we were informed that a documentary was being filmed with Phil MacHugh and Martin Compston called Norwegian Fling for a travel documentary series talking about Norwegian culture, food etc,” discusses Thomas. “They turned up at the show with a full film crew and they both got on stage with us. We ended up being broadcasted on the BBC as well as the biggest channels in Norway where there were regular re-runs. We’ve had loads of people approach us in the street saying they saw us on TV!”
More recently, the Norwegian outfit released five-track EP Apparition Day, which continues to build on their ventures into fearless experimentation as a new member of the hefty roster of Seek & Strike Records. “It’s fascinating every time you release something and you’ve heard it so much that you don’t really know whether it is good anymore!” Jokes Thomas. “It’s a weird feeling not knowing what the response is going to be but it’s been really awesome. We’re getting more monthly listeners than ever before on streaming platforms. Our videos exploded in views too which was also great to see.”
“We have loved working with Seek & Strike as they don’t really get involved in the creative process,” adds Sindre. “They just let us do our thing and they help us out with the promotional side of things. It makes it so much easier for us to operate as a band as we can just focus on the music.”
HYPERMASS continue to go from strength to strength with the future looking very bright, having cut their teeth in the UK last year they are eager to hit the road once again. “We’re already putting ideas together for the next release and we’re so excited about it!” Declares Sindre. “We’re also doing the usual social media stuff, trying to get our music out there to as many people as possible and hopefully get some more gigs booked for the remainder of the year. We’ve not had many opportunities to play in other countries but we did a mini-tour over in the UK last October with our friends in DECEPTION. We were driving from morning until night and we really wanted to test ourselves to see if we could handle the commitments of touring. We had pretty good attendance for the shows and a lot of people approached us after the show so we’d love to come back.”
Apparition Day is out now via Seek & Strike.
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