Nightbearer. Interview with Dominik Hellmuth

Interview by Richard Keenahan

Hi Dome, hope this interview finds you well. I first heard Nightbearer through your YouTube channel and your pedal demos. I really enjoyed the video for Beware the Necromancer.

1. Would you like to give our readers a quick history of who you are and the bands you’re involved with?

Hi Rich, thanks for having me talk with you and it’s great that you like our music. We put a lot of effort into making it, so your approval is highly appreciated! So to introduce myself, I’m Dome and I have a YouTube-Channel where I talk about guitar effect pedals, especially Boss HM-2 style pedals, amps, music theory and so on. I’m also the co-founder, lead guitar player and producer of Nightbearer, an old school Death-Metal band from Germany, heavily inspired by Swedish Death Metal. And I recently joined another band, the Melodic-Death/ Thrash-Combo Burden of Grief. They were actually one of the first bands to play Melodic-Death-Metal here in Germany.

2. How would you best describe Nighbearer?

Nightbearer is – in my opinion – the perfect fusion of everything Micha (co-founder and vocalist) and I wanted to have in a band. As mentioned before we play Death-Metal that is heavily influenced by Swedish bands like Dismember or Bloodbath, but also takes inspiration from other bands and genres like f.e. Blind Guardian or some Black Metal. Plus, we want to bring you the ultimate HM-2 sound. Our lyrics however aren’t your typical Death-Metal lyrics, but more on that later!

3. The album Tales of Sorcery and Death was released 2 years ago on Testimony Records, how has the response been on the album?

Oh, the response was very positive. The overwhelming amount of critics were good or even great and we even made it on place 7 in the monthly poll of the German „Rock Hard“. But not only did the „professionals“ like our music, the resonances of the fans were also awesome, which is way more important in my opinion! Even without playing lots of gigs due to Covid we quickly sold out all the vinyls and even our digipak got a second pressing. So all in all, I think people liked what they heard!

4. The art work is fantastic, how did that come about?

I’m glad you’re liking it as well. The initial idea came from Micha, and then Juanjo Castellano Rosado took over and created this masterpiece. The album is called „Tales of Sorcery and Death“ and the cover shows one of those tales. We think that lyrics and artwork or overall design are as big a part as is the music, so we really think this stuff through. However, Micha is the guy when it comes to design. I’m sure he could write you a book about it!

5. Where do the lyrical ideas for the songs come from?

Lyricwise we stay in the realms of fantasy novels and authors like J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin and so on. We don’t want to share our personal experiences or thoughts on different subject, but rather tell stories. If the listener dives so deep into the story that he grabs the book the song is based on afterwards our mission is completed haha. Our next record will be based entirely on a very famous fantasy book series actually, but I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about it yet!

6. Nightbearer is just yourself and Michael Torka for writing, do you have other guys come in for recording?

We are actually a full band that consists of 5 members, but with Micha and Me being the masterminds who decide everything. This was actually an evolution, because Nightbearer started with just the two of us. I even recorded the drums (well... the cymbals to be honest) for our EP „Stories from beyond“ myself. But for „Tales of Sorcery and Death“ and our upcoming release our regular Drummer Manu took over and we recorded the Drums in his studio. Apart from that, all instruments are played by me and all vocals are done by Micha. I also do the production, mixing and mastering included.

7. Nightbearer put out a cover of the Blind Guardian song Born in a Mourning Hall for the 25th Anniversary competition. Was it a challenge to bring that song into the Nightbearer realm and how far did you get in the competition?

I wasn’t challenging at all, because we covered the song before this competition a few times live. We chose it because it was the easiest Blind Guardian song to adapt to our style. Yeah, I know it’s a very cheap answer but it’s the truth. We did in fact make it to the finals, but since it was a voting-competition and we didn’t want to spam everywhere we didn’t won anything. But that’s ok, simply knowing that the guys listened to us and thought we were cool is an outstanding feeling.

8. With Nightbearer you have that wall of chainsaw but to my ears it’s not in that typical Swedish way of songwriting, you’ve got your own identity with that sound. Did you set out to have that chainsaw sound?

Yes, it was our intention to build the band around that HM-2 sound. The songs themselves are written in the style Micha and I write for years, so we couldn’t change it drastically, even if we wanted. But I have to say we kinda evolved since not everything sounds good with a huge chainsaw sound. I mean, there is a reason, Nevermore didn’t use one haha.

9. It says on your Bandcamp page that your from NRW in Germany which covers a fairly big area. I lived in Bielefeld for 4 years and regrettably didn’t get involved with any bands there. What’s the local scene like where you are?

That’s funny, because I don’t live too far away from Bielefeld. Our first gig ever was in Bielefeld actually. I myself live in Warburg, where we don’t have as many bands. Burden of Grief is the only that comes to my mind and I’m now a part of it haha. In Paderborn are a couple more bands and musicians and we are proud to call most of them our friends. The scene is small, but bigger than you think. There were shows on a regular basis in a couple of locations... and will be soon again, I’m sure!

10. Germany has a history of producing fantastic metal but most notably for the big thrash bands, are they are German Death metal bands that you’d like to tell or readers about?

Well, I talked a lot about my own bands, so you should check those two out before anything else! Apart from that we have some fantastic Death-Metal bands like Deserted Fear, Revel in Flesh or Fleshcrawl. If you don’t know, you should also check out Obscura, that are more technical! And be sure to check the music of our friends WILT and Scalpture, that also feature the HM-2 in their music!

11. What does the future hold for Nightbearer?

Well, I said it before but we are currently finishing our next record that will hopefully come out in 2022. Plus we really wanna play live again and have some gigs coming, both club shows and festivals. I deeply hope we can enter the stage soon. And you now what they say: After a production is before a production ;-) The beginning

12. So we’ve discussed Nightbearer but we’re did it all start what was the song or album that set you on the metal path?

I originally started with „Die Toten Hosen“, a German punkband. From there and thanks to some of my friends of that time, I quickly discovered Power-Metal such as Blind Guardian, Iced Earth or Gamma Ray. So... to answer more precisely... The album that set my way was „Opium für’s Volk“ by „Die Toten Hosen“ and the song... I think it was „Melancholy“ by Iced Earth.

13. Bolt Thrower was the band that made we want to play Death Metal. What was the band that pointed you down the route of wanting to play Death Metal?

In Flames for sure. The record „Clayman“ was the first time I listened to them and I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of aggression and melodies those guys could blend together. The song „Swim“, that’s definitely not the best song on this record made the biggest impact on me. And from there on I discovered all the other bands. I have to say that I still prefer a melodic approach in Death Metal. That’s why I’m not really into US Death-Metal for instance. But I didn’t know someone could growl this low until I saw a music video from NILE one night on television. So I didn’t neglect the US guys haha, but I highly prefer a melodic approach over a technical one.

14. So why Chainsaw?

That’s simple! Bloodbath. „Grand Morbid Funeral“ had the meanest and beefiest sound I have ever heard. So I wanted to sound like Bloodbath. I just later found out that even In Flames used the HM-2 on their first records so that’s a nice coincidence because I always liked their tone as well. And from there on, pretty late actually, I discovered all the good stuff and did my research on the sound! YouTube

15. I’d like to talk about your YouTube channel. I first came across Nightbearer through your YouTube channel when I was looking at picking up a new HM-2 pedal. Where did the idea come from to start doing videos on the HM-2?

That’s funny because I initially started doing YouTube-videos to promote Nightbearer. The first videos were even playthroughs of our debut-EP. Mission accomplished haha! I basically thought about what kind of kinda unique content I could bring and since I owned a couple of HM-2s and clones I started by reviewing and comparing them. Plus I thought that all the other videos and comparisons weren’t done properly, so I do them the way I would want to see a pedal demo.

16. You go into a massive level of detail on your videos, the eq comparison really helps get over the differences. Where did the idea for that part come from?

I can’t remem ber why exactly I chose the eq comparison, but I knew that the HM-2 has a very significant EQ-Curve. So I thought that it would be very easy to spot differences if you could actually SEE it and not only listen to it. The YT-compression sucks some details so I thought it’s a nice addition although I know it has it’s limitation. Plus it looks cool haha.

17. You’ve become in my opinion one of the experts on the various chainsaw pedals which is your go to pedal?

Well, I hope I am. Otherwise it would be pointless to own this many haha. For live I use the Lone Wolf Audio Left Hand Wrath. It’s in my opinion the perfect evolution of the HM-2 pedal. Joe (owner of LWA) improved every single aspect of the original design and I simply think it sounds the best out of all the stuff that I have. In the studio I also use the Left Hand Wrath, but in the Deluxe version, that gives me more options. But I don’t limit myself to just use one pedal. I prefer to mix them to get different flavors. For instance I heavily use the KMA Audio Machines Wurm or Guardian of the Wurm as well as their Dead Stag, a Fuzz/Distortion pedal that can produce a nice supporting chainsaw. I also like to use the Decibelics Angry Swede V2, because it’s so small and quiet. I mostly use it for practicing or when I want to have the original HM-2 sound. To be honest: there are too many good options to list here. But I think I covered all my go to pedals haha.

18. Do you think all these new pedals forced Boss into making the Waza craft HM-2?

Well, they didn’t make the HM-2w because they wanted to support Death Metal. I think they made it because they saw the potential market and so many people lusting after an original. That’s why they even put the Standard-/ Custom-mode switch on the side, so that the pedal looks as close to an old one as possible. Without all those pedals, Boss would have never made one, but they wanted a piece of the cake, because the cake was finally big enough!

19. Did any pedal surprise you in its ability to create the perfect chainsaw?

I was mostly surprised that there are so many old pedals that create a chainsaw sound, for instance the DOD American Metal, the Danelectro FabTone or all those japanese/taiwanese plastic clones. The biggest surprise in recreating the original chainsaw was the Angry Swede, because I didn’t expect it to be this close which is basically identical. Another big surprise are all the modded pedals from AIB-Customs from France. They are able to deliver awesome quality and can basically make everything chainsaw. I think that’s a true superhero power! However I wasn’t surprise by any of the Lone Wolf Audio or KMA Audio pedals, because I already knew they were great haha. I also think the Left Hand Wrath delivers the perfect chainsaw sound! Gear

20. What is your go to guitars and do you have set recording and live guitars?

These days I exclusively play seven-strings in all my bands. I’m just so used to them that I don’t really want to go back to six strings. I own a couple, but I mostly use them when I’m in a specific mood or want a different kind of inspiration while writing songs. My main live-guitars are 2 BlacKat Custom fanned fret seven-string guitars, but I should be getting a new guitar by XTN-Guitars soon, which will become my main live guitar. It’s a fanned fret seven string as well. For the studio, I currently use another BlacKat Custom Leon Baritone and a Mayones Setius 7 Baritone. When the XTN arrives, the Leon will retire and one of the fanned fret BlacKats will take its place in the studio. I generally try to have fixed recording and live instruments, so that I’m able to record whenever I want with a new’ish set of strings instead of constantly changing strings or doing mediocre takes that I have to redo eventually. But when I know that I will record a whole album, I use the guitar that fits and sounds best for the project!

21. I know you use the Axe Fx 3 for your videos is it the same love or do you drag out the tube amps?

I simply use the Axe-FX 3 for ease of use. It’s just so easy to fire it up, create a patch and jam or record with it. Plus the sound quality is extraordinary. But I do own a couple of tube amps and I will use them on future records. But as of right know I have to build an isolation room for my cabs. Otherwise my neighbors are going to hurt me badly haha.

22. What’s the rest of your set up and do you experiment at all?

It all depends on the mood I’m in. I have a fixed setup that I can rely on, both in the studio and live. In the Studio it’s mostly a selection of the aforementioned pedals with my Axe-FX 3 and some Jens Bogren IRs for instance. However I own around a 100 different pedals plus a few amps, cabs and mics to select from. Live it’s the Left Hand Wrath together with the Fractal FM-3, the little brother of the Axe-FX 3. However I experiment a lot on rehearsals and of course in the studio. But that’s basically more for the fun of it, because I think that I have found my live-sound. For the studio though... I can achieve a good sound, but maybe I can achieve an even better one with one or two experiments haha. For mixing and all the stuff that happens inside a computer, I use Cubase and a couple of different plugins, most of them from Plugin Alliance and Audiority. My monitors are Yamaha HS-7s and I have a pair of Sennheiser HD650 Headphones.

23. I struggled for years to play even the most basic solos, which do you prefer Rhythm or lead playing?

For years I was mainly focused on rhythm playing but over the last years I took over more and more lead parts and had to practice quite a bit. While I’m not saying I’m a spectacular good shredder or soloist, I can come up with some nice melodies and try to become better with solos. I prefer rhythm though, because it’s much more convenient. And you can better bang your head live!

24. Who made you want to play guitar?

That’s actually a bit embarrassing, but when I was 8 or 9 years old, my mother loved the band „The Kelly Family“ (If you don’t know them, I won’t tell you :D) and so did I, because it was the only stuff I could listen to. And all those guys played guitar and had long hair, so I wanted to play guitar and grow my hair haha. The first guitar players that really inspired me were André Olbrich (Blind Guardian), Björn Gelotte (In Flames) and later on Jeff Loomis and Jason Becker.

25. Over your years of playing to you have any regrets gear wise.

Oh yes, plenty! For instance I once had a Gibson Explorer and sold it for under 700€. And I had an Ibanez RG2027xVV and sold it for around 1000€. Both guitars and much more expensive nowadays. I also bought a lot of stuff I really didn’t need. But all in all: If I haven’t had bought and sold this stuff, I would not be where I am right now, so that’s something! Graphic Novels and Books

26. You did a video where you went over your Graphic Novel and fantasy book collection. I was big a big. 2000AD and Judge Dredd fan growing up. Which is your favourite Graphic Novel series?

I’m a huge X-Men fan, so this will always be my all-time favorite Comic-series. But I also really like „The Darkness“ from Image comics. I have read so much that I don’t want to tell you only one series, so here are 5 runner ups (without the aforementioned 2) in no particular order: Watchmen (Alan Moore) The Life and Time of Scrooge McDuck (Don Rosa) Lazarus (Greg Rucka) Fables (Bill Willingham) Saga (Brian K. Vaughn)

27. In the same video you went over the Fantasy series you like, where did you start with fantasy novels?

I started where everyone should start: The Lord of the Rings. I still think this is the only high fantasy novel you have to read. I think I read every book that was published in German by Tolkien. The Silmarillion twice actually! In the future I want to read it again, but this time the english original! That being said: Game of Thrones is quite good though.

28. Have you ever come across The Belgariad series of books? It’s not got your usual Orks and Elves, which type of fantasy novels do you prefer?

I haven’t read the Belgariad series yet but since you are the second person who suggests it, I will have to check it out haha. I actually prefer Science-Fiction. The harder the better. But I do enjoy Urban Fantasy as well. Apart from LotR, I highly recommend Otherland by Tad Williams, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, the Spin-trilogy by Robert Charles Wilson, everything Douglas Adams has written and basically every book Andreas Eschbach has ever written and will ever write. He is one of the greatest authors I know! His books aren’t always sci-fi, but sometimes it only needs a spark of fantasy to increase the enjoyment enormously!

29. What is it about fantasy novels that seem to work well with Heavy Metal?

Oh, tough question! I think that they have in common, that most of their readers aren’t mainstream and you can really sink into both those worlds and the music. Plus the creators put so much detail and love into their work. The fan appreciates and enjoys this details and stays with it. And the combination of Fantasy and Heavy Music has a history. Led Zeppelin were the first to include some fantastic motives in their music and I think now it’s common sense that it works well without actually knowing why. At least that’s the case with me haha.

30. Would you ever consider doing a Nightbearer series of Books of Graphic novels?

No. While the idea might sound tempting, I have neither the abilities drawing and writing-wise nor the money and time to spend for such a big project. I can only speak for myself though, maybe Micha has already a bunch of scripts under his pillow haha. But since we tell stories that already exist, we would either have to get the right or come up with our own stories.

Or in other words: I love creating music, but I much more enjoy to consume literature than to create it.

However, if there is some artist that wants to do a definitive Lord of the Rings graphic Novel... call me!

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview and stay safe. Rich.