FEATURES

"HELLKERN WARRIORS EMERGE FROM THE SHADOWS WITH A DEBUT THAT FEELS LIKE AN OMEN.

ANALOG SYNTHS. SHADOWED GUITARS. PULSES THAT DON’T LET YOU GO.

 

Hellkern Warriors arrive like a shadow taking form. An international darkwave and gothic rock project built between Berlin, Tuscany and Ibagué, the group feels less like a band and more like a force gathering weight in the dark. Their debut single “Helkern Warriors” captures the exact moment that force begins to move.

The project was born in mid-2025. A spark between Kabal and Mauricio. An idea carried across borders, time zones, and a shared sense that something atmospheric and uncompromising needed to exist. The shift came when vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Tom Radar brought in the first ideas: “Hellkern Warriors”, “Petrol & Water”, and “Endless Road”. His demos carried a very specific energy. Cinematic in shape. Shadowed in mood. Vocals that already sounded half-buried in the world they were about to build.

That foundation became the spine of what Hellkern Warriors now call “The Pulse of the Void”. A merging of analog synths, dark guitar lines and rhythms that never settle. The result is hypnotic. Heavy without relying on brute force. Intimate without softening the edges. The sound holds you at arm’s length then pulls you into the centre without warning.

The name comes from a notorious computer worm, Helkern. A piece of code known for being invisible, unstoppable and invasive. The metaphor is immediate. The music moves the same way. It spreads through atmosphere rather than volume. It’s not interested in pleasing you. It’s interested in consuming you.

Each member brings a lifetime of their own worlds into the project. Tom Radar carries the weight of RADARFIELD’s history. Songs spanning a decade. International radio play. Features across magazines like Sonic Seducer, Orkus! and Dark Spy. Rankings that held steady at number one or two on N1M for almost two years. His voice feels weathered by that journey. It fits the project because it already sounds like it has lived through several. Kabal — also known as Dylan Phoenix or Alessandro Vezzoni — has an entirely different lineage. A poet. A composer. A creator of projects spanning black metal, EBM, gothic metal, doom and experimental electronic work stretching back to 1996. His fingerprint is unmistakable. Ritualistic. Textured. A mind that sees the world through symbolism rather than form. You feel that in the songwriting. The sense of something ceremonial tightening under the music.

Fabian Parra arrives from a harder tradition. Two decades of guitar and bass work in extreme metal. Death. Symphonic. Industrial. His playing fills the lower space with intent. Mauricio Castro completes the circle. A drummer, producer, arranger and founder of Artgot Studios. Twenty years of shaping sound. He initiates the project and keeps its heartbeat steady.

Hellkern Warriors feel like a collective sharpening itself in real time. No theatrics. No gloss. Just four musicians building a darkwave landscape that breathes like a living organism. A project that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t flinch from its own shadow. "

​

GENRES: 90s rock, alternative rock, hard rock, indie rock, rock, postpunk, darkwave, gothic rock

MOODS: Shadowy, atmospheric, hypnotic, cinematic, powerful, intimate, dark, immersive, ritualistic, tense, brooding, mysterious

FFO: Darkwave, gothic rock, post-punk revival, 90s dark alternative acts, industrial-leaning rock

​

T A M A R A  J E N N A, Plectrum Magazine, Issue 6