HYPEROMM, a one-man melodic death metal infused studio project, lead by multi-instrumentalist Anton Trubin, recently released its second full-length album “Transcendence” in September 2019. With influences such as CHILDREN OF BODOM, KALMAH, and OMNIUM GATHERUM, this album is a must-listen-to for Finnish melodic death metal fans. We had the opportunity to ask a couple of questions to the mastermind of the operation: Anton Trubin. Read the entire interview below…
Can you give a brief history of HYPEROMM for those who haven’t heard yet about your project?
HYPEROMM is a one-man melodic death metal project from Russia formed in 2016. I have two self-released albums on my slate. The first one was released in 2017 and is called “From Nothing to Eternity”. The new album “Transcendence” was released in September 2019.
HYPEROMM is a DIY project. My story showcases what you can do by yourself from scratch. I compose, arrange, play, record, mix, draw… Now that I’ve just written it down, it seems like it’s a little bit too much. (laughs)
What can people expect sound-wise from “Transcendence”? How does it differ from your debut album?
Basically, what people can expect from “Transcendence” is powerful melodic death metal. I think the new album is a little bit heavier than my debut. There are a lot of melodies and it seems to me that arrangements have become more complicated.
It’s always difficult to estimate and compare your own music. This should be done by the listeners. Of course, I love my music and I can say a lot of good things about it, but it will be biased. In general, the second album is a logical continuation of the first. If you haven’t heard HYPEROMM before, I advise you to listen to both albums.
HYPEROMM is a solo project, how do you usually go about recording music? What is the creative process like behind “Transcendence”?
Unfortunately, I have no interesting stories about my creative process. It is just me, my mind, headphones, and guitar. From the outside, it looks like the most boring process ever (laughs). Usually, I don’t wait for the inspiration to come to me. I know I don’t have a lot of free time, and I should compose something in order to move forward. So, I just sit down and start to play. Appetite comes with eating. When you are playing, you immerse in the process and you eventually compose something. The next day you listen to it and decide whether it’s cool or it’s crap. That’s my creative process. When musicians talk about magic inspirational things that come to them – it almost always is the reason for procrastination. Composing music is a skill that you can boost by practicing. Of course, a lot of things could inspire you but it doesn’t happen that often.
Could you briefly describe the recording process?
Well, because I am the only member of the band, I compose and record my music at the same time. I have everything I need at home: guitars, a microphone, midi keyboard, and sound card. I sit down with the guitar and start playing with the metronome. As soon as I get a good riff or melody I start to arrange it by adding bass, keyboards, drums, additional guitars, etc. I record vocals later when an instrumental part is almost done. It’s a cool working process because I hear the almost final result during the record.
There is a concept behind “Transcendence”. Is it a concept album? If so, can you elaborate on it?
Yeah, it’s a concept album. All the lyrics are about the afterlife. Sometimes I think about it. What will be there? Maybe nothing, but maybe there’s something. I think every person has thought about it at least once. Do you know why people fear death? My friend explained it to me once, and he was damn right – we all fear the unknown. Because of that religions tell us the stories about the afterlife. It’s sad but death will transcend life eventually.
Frankly speaking, I suck at writing lyrics, so on the first album I got out of the situation by using poems of classical poets and it was a cool experience. And on “Transcendence” I wanted to touch upon the subject of the afterlife and I asked Demether Grail for help. We discussed the theme, jotted down our ideas and he wrote the lyrics. I was impressed. One track evolved around one religion or myth. On the album, you can find songs about Scandinavian, Indian, Christian ideas about the afterlife and more.
What inspires you to write music/lyrics?
As I said earlier, I don’t wait for inspiration to write music. I just love the process of creating music, and I can’t live without it. Yes, you can be inspired by listening to some music, some random things, but that kind of inspiration just makes you pick up a guitar, you then still need the skill to write music. No magic, just labor.
Who are your role models/biggest influences, in general, at present?
We live in an amazing time. Every person is like a small media outlet. Some generate content, some copy-paste, but we all have an audience on our social media channels. I can’t give you a particular person, but I should try to be like bloggers. I understand that it helps me in my career. I wonder how those guys can generate so much content? Look at Matt Heafy from TRIVIUM, he is on air 24/7, and it’s almost always interesting. No, I don’t want to be like Matt in general, but his blogger skills I could use.
What has been your biggest challenge with the project? Have you overcome it? If so, how?
I wouldn’t call it a challenge, but I was surprised that a lot of people consider one-man-band as something unserious or insufficient. I don’t have any answers why, although it might be because they believe I can’t perform live. But I actually can, and I prepared something interesting for that. Follow me on YouTube and stay tuned.
Any last thoughts that you want to share with our readers before we wrap up this interview?
Thank you for the questions it was interesting. It is not always possible to ask these questions yourself, you just do something without thinking, and sometimes it is useful to stop and think about what you are doing. And I want to advise your readers to check out Russian metal bands, I think our metal scene is rising now and I see a lot of cool bands around.
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