Hellkern Warriors

Interview by Infectious Unease Radio / Subterranean Zone Radio — Voice In The Void

Written by Gordon Lawrence Taylor

 

Hellkern Warriors are not a band born from one rehearsal room, one city, or one local scene. They are a cross-continental creative force moving between Berlin, Pietrasanta, and Ibagué — Germany, Italy, and Colombia — shaped through distance, digital exchange, underground histories, and a shared instinct for atmosphere, tension, and cinematic sound.

The project began in early 2025, when Kabal Apokalypse / Dylan Phoenix reached out to Mauricio Castro with the idea of forming a new musical vision. That first conversation opened the door, but the spark arrived when Tom Radar introduced the early song ideas for “Helkern Warriors,” “Petrol & Water,” and “Endless Road.” From those first demos, the band began to form its own identity: part shadow, part transmission, part emotional architecture.

What makes Hellkern Warriors especially interesting is the way each member brings a different creative history into the project. Tom Radar carries the voice, guitar, lyrics, and post-urban tension of Berlin. Kabal Apokalypse / Dylan Phoenix brings synth textures, composition, poetry, and long underground experience from Italy. Fabian Parra brings bass, guitar, weight, and musical precision from Ibagué, Colombia. Mauricio Castro brings drums, production, mixing, sound engineering, and the studio foundation through Artgot Studios. Together, these elements do not cancel each other out. They collide, connect, and become part of the same pulse.

At the centre of the project is the phrase “The Pulse of the Void” — a concept that Hellkern Warriors describe as movement and emotion inside emptiness, silence, isolation, and vast space. It is not simply a slogan. It has become a creative framework for the music, the film clips, the visual identity, and the international compilation The Pulse in the Void, Vol. 1.

Their songs move through urban decay, night movement, industrial landscapes, personal imagination, and fragments of memory. Their film clips extend the songs into visual spaces where image, shadow, motion, and atmosphere become part of the music itself. Hellkern Warriors are building more than isolated tracks. They are building a world.

In this written interview for Infectious Unease Radio / Subterranean Zone Radio — Voice In The Void, Hellkern Warriors speak about how the members first connected, how the project developed across distance, how their songs and film clips take shape, how the compilation came together, and where the band may move next.

This is a conversation about remote creation, underground connection, digital-era collaboration, and the strange life that can emerge when sound travels through the void.

 

Hellkern Warriors brings together members connected to Germany, Italy, and Colombia — Berlin, Pietrasanta, and Ibagué — each with their own musical history through projects such as Radarfield, Toxic Industry, Binario 0, Dylan Phoenix, Lemarchand, Impromtus ad morteM, Ghoulish Pain, and others. Can you talk about how the four members first connected, how this international creative partnership began, and how those different places, distances, and creative histories shaped the early identity of the band?

The story of Hellkern Warriors truly began in the shadows of early 2025, when Kabal, on synths, reached out to Mauricio, on drums, with the idea of shaping a new musical vision. What started as a conversation slowly evolved into something larger — a creative direction that needed the right spark and atmosphere to fully come alive.

That spark arrived in June, when Tom Radar, on guitar, introduced the haunting early song ideas for “Helkern Warriors,” “Petrol & Water,” and “Endless Road.” Tom recorded the first demo versions himself, including guide vocals, to capture the emotional tone and cinematic atmosphere he envisioned.

The response was immediate. Kabal, Mauricio, and Fabian — a longtime musical collaborator of Mauricio and a multi-instrumentalist contributing guitar and bass — all felt the pull of the music: dark and atmospheric, yet deeply alive and emotionally charged.

Each member brought a different history and energy into the band. Berlin, through vocals and guitars, carries a raw industrial pulse and post-urban tension that strongly shapes the atmosphere of the music. Pietrasanta, through synth textures and atmosphere, contributes a more cinematic and reflective mood. Ibagué, through bass, drums, and mixing, brings emotional intensity, rhythm, and movement, giving life to the darker textures and soundscapes.

Instead of trying to erase those contrasts or distances, Hellkern Warriors embraced them and allowed them to become part of the band’s identity.

Our previous projects and creative histories also played an important role in shaping the early sound of Hellkern Warriors. Some of us came from darker electronic and gothic backgrounds, others from gothic rock, metal, alternative, or experimental underground music. The band became a place where all those influences could coexist naturally without rigid boundaries.

As Hellkern Warriors moved from its first ideas into finished songs, how did the name, “The Pulse of the Void,” and early tracks such as “Helkern Warriors,” “Petrol & Water,” “Endless Road,” and “Rain, Steam and Speed” help shape the project’s creative identity — musically, lyrically, visually, and through the contributions of each member?

As Hellkern Warriors evolved from early ideas into finished tracks, we were initially searching for a slogan that could capture the essence of the band — and in early September 2025, “The Pulse of the Void” was created.

The slogan also became the conceptual foundation for the compilation The Pulse in the Void, Vol. 1, released in April 2026, which we initiated as a collaborative release featuring various international artists and bands from the darkwave, gothic, and alternative scene.

For us, it is about finding movement and emotion within the void — that space between silence and sound, isolation and connection. It feels like the vast, endless space of the universe: silent, yet never truly quiet, where planets and stars are constantly forming and collapsing. Even in darkness or uncertainty, there is still rhythm, still energy — something alive at the edge of infinity.

Tracks such as “Helkern Warriors,” “Petrol & Water,” “Endless Road,” and “Rain, Steam and Speed” each explore different facets of this idea — motion, tension, isolation, and transformation.

Lyrically and visually, this shaped an aesthetic defined by urban decay, emotional distance, industrial landscapes, and nocturnal cinematic imagery. Each member contributes a different layer — rhythm, harmony, texture, or vocal expression — which together forms a collective identity rather than separate roles.

The Hellkern Warriors film clips give the songs another visual life beyond the recordings. How do the film clips develop from the music, and what role do image, movement, atmosphere, and visual storytelling play in the way the project is presented?

The film clips of Hellkern Warriors are not separate from the music — in many ways, fragments of them already exist in the mind while the songs are being written. Certain images, movements, or atmospheres appear alongside the lyrics and later within the video composition process, becoming part of the creative identity of the track from the very beginning.

Image, movement, and atmosphere play an essential role in how the project is presented. We try to translate sound into visual tension — light, shadow, rhythm, and space becoming almost like instruments themselves.

In that sense, the clips do not explain the songs — they expand them. They open another layer where the listener can enter the world of the music in a different way, more abstract and immersive, sometimes closer to memory or dream than narrative.

At the same time, we see video as a necessary element in today’s musical landscape, but not as a literal interpretation. Rather, it is a visual offer — a framework for individual perception and mental processing in the viewer’s imagination.

How do personal experience, imagination, the world around you, and visual ideas come together when Hellkern Warriors develops lyrics, themes, and atmosphere?

For Hellkern Warriors, lyrics, themes, and atmosphere are always formed through a blend of personal experience, imagination, and the world around us.

In the writing process, especially from Tom’s perspective, inspiration often comes from unexpected places: words, phrases, or even headlines encountered in magazines, shops, or everyday environments. It is often just a matter of being attentive to language, photos, and context — small fragments can trigger entire worlds of imagery and meaning.

For example, “Rain, Steam and Speed” began with the image of movement through a city at night — rain, reflections, post-modern railways and cars, industrial structures, and neon-lit streets.

The idea was originally triggered by the title of a text in an English magazine referencing J.M.W. Turner’s painting Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844. We reinterpreted this reference and translated it into a contemporary context, where that sense of tension, speed, and motion became the core of the track.

In the end, it is less about telling literal stories and more about creating atmospheres that feel both lived and imagined. Lyrics, sound, and visual ideas grow together — forming fragments of a world where emotion, memory, and environment continuously reflect each other.

Tom Radar, Kabal Apokalypse / Dylan Phoenix, Fabian Parra, and Mauricio Castro all bring different creative histories and roles into Hellkern Warriors — through vocals, lyrics, guitar, synth, bass, drums, composition, production, performance, recording, mixing, and previous underground projects. How do those different contributions come together when shaping the sound, emotional identity, and creative direction of the band?

We all come from different musical and artistic environments, ranging from songwriting and vocals to guitar work, synthesis, rhythm, production, and previous underground projects.

Instead of trying to unify these differences into a single approach, we use them as complementary perspectives within the same framework.

In practical terms, the creative process often begins with Tom’s vocals and guitar ideas — a combination of lyrics and harmonic structures — which establish a kind of emotional and structural foundation for a track. From there, Mauricio develops the drum structures, Fabian adds the bass lines, and Kabal further expands and shapes the arrangement, gradually turning the initial idea into a complete composition.

Once the track reaches its final form, Mauricio brings everything together in his Artgot Studio, where mixing and final production refine the sound and give it depth, balance, and its final sonic identity.

Hellkern Warriors works across distance, recording spaces, and different creative roles. How do communication, exchange, and decision-making happen when shaping songs, arrangements, production, artwork, and the wider identity of the project?

Working across distance and different recording spaces is a natural part of how Hellkern Warriors operates. Most collaboration happens digitally through constant sharing of ideas, demos, and evolving track versions.

Communication is mainly in English, while for specific topics we sometimes use our native languages with translation tools. Time differences also play a role: when it is afternoon in Europe, it can already be early morning in South America, which often leads to unusual working rhythms — sometimes even conversations at 5 a.m. European time. At times, these time shifts can also lead to natural delays in the workflow and exchange.

We follow what the music itself seems to demand, allowing tracks and ideas to evolve in order to make the best of them.

The same applies to visuals and identity. For the website, we recently brought in a designer from Colombia — a friend of Mauricio — which further strengthens the project’s international and collaborative character.

Hellkern Warriors appears to exist not only as a band, but also as a wider artistic world involving songs, visual identity, collaboration, and compilation work. How do you understand the project beyond individual tracks or releases?

For us, Hellkern Warriors exists more as a wider artistic world — a space where music, visuals, collaborations, and concepts are all interconnected parts of the same identity.

Each song adds another fragment to an ongoing narrative, expanding the atmosphere and emotional landscape of the project. With “The Pulse of the Void,” this idea becomes central: music, visuals, and atmosphere are all meant to feel cinematic and interconnected, almost like parts of a film that is constantly unfolding.

We also try to approach songwriting in a way that explores slightly unexpected or unusual themes, so that the listener is not just comforted by familiarity but occasionally surprised or challenged in their perception.

How did The Pulse in the Void, Vol. 1 come together, and what did Hellkern Warriors want to create by bringing these artists onto one compilation?

The Pulse in the Void, Vol. 1 came together quite organically. The idea was also to interact directly with other bands, to position Hellkern Warriors within a broader context, and to build a kind of network where listeners are introduced to multiple artists as part of a shared framework rather than in isolation.

The participating bands were contacted individually, and fortunately many of them agreed to be part of the project, which allowed the compilation to come together relatively quickly — within roughly four weeks.

In that sense, the compilation became an extension of the Hellkern Warriors world.

Hellkern Warriors has developed across different countries, creative spaces, remote recording, and digital exchange. How has that changed your understanding of what a band can be, and how do you imagine this international creative process translating into live performance or future forms of underground music?

Hellkern Warriors is not limited to a physical rehearsal space or a fixed location — it exists more as a distributed creative system that is connected through ideas, communication, and shared vision.

We do not rely on a traditional rehearsal room or fixed weekly band practices where someone is often missing. Instead, we can focus our time when everyone is available and fully present in the creative process, which often makes the work more efficient and focused.

When it comes to live performance, this is still an area we are developing. Some of the arrangements are quite layered — with multiple synth tracks, guitar parts, and detailed production elements — so translating the full studio setup into a live context requires careful restructuring and preparation.

Looking ahead, we also see this approach as part of a wider shift in underground music — where collaboration, remote creation, and hybrid formats become more natural.

Looking ahead, where do each of you feel Hellkern Warriors is moving next — individually and collectively — in terms of sound, ideas, songwriting, production, visual identity, and the future direction of the project?

Looking ahead, Hellkern Warriors feels like it is moving toward a deeper refinement of its identity and presence. Individually, each of us continues to develop different aspects — whether in sound design, songwriting, production techniques, visual concepts, or performance ideas — and these individual explorations naturally feed back into the collective direction of the project.

The goal is to strengthen the cinematic character of the music and visuals, where sound, atmosphere, and imagery feel even more interconnected and intentional.

At the moment, we are working toward completing a full CD release with 12 tracks, of which eight songs are already in development, alongside five accompanying video productions that are currently in the editing stage. In parallel, we are also looking for a suitable label partner to support the release and help bring The Pulse in the Void, Vol. 2 to life in autumn.

We are always searching for new inspiration to create music and lyrics that remain challenging, meaningful, and emotionally engaging.

Official Links

Website: https://www.hellkernwarriors.com
Bandcamp: https://hellkernwarriors.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HellkernWarriors/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HellkernWarriors
N1M: https://www.n1m.com/hellkernwarriors
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/3Vc4AzxsivRJdoDJlxJjbX
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.de/artists/B0GKW7Q3F1/hellkern-warriors
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/de/album/909086322
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/hellkern-warriors/1873541020

Film Clips

Rain, Steam and Speed: https://youtu.be/R_fO1Y0KD-A
Endless Road: https://youtu.be/jb3d5-OB1DA
Petrol & Water: https://youtu.be/BPOEcvA2ly4
Helkern Warriors: https://youtu.be/H54C3yP2rT4

Interview by Infectious Unease Radio / Subterranean Zone Radio — Voice In The Void
Written by Gordon Lawrence Taylor
Website: https://infectiousuneaseradio.com
Email: info@infectiousuneaseradio.com