UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
Let’s start with an introduction. Who is Nino Helfrich?
‘The term full-time metalhead from Hamburg, Germany, would probably be the most fitting. I’m a metal producer, studio owner of Skull Tone Studios, guitarist and recently also became Digital Distribution Manager at Napalm Records. Skull Tone Studios is my own studio where I do the mixing & mastering for metal bands from all over the world. As a guitarist I play for the bands Inner Axis and Aeon Gods. I’ve been part of over half a dozen other bands before that though, including Iron Angel which is a founding band of the speed metal genre in Germany. I’ve also been active as a solo artist since 2016 and released several instrumental albums as well as records with guest vocalists’.
When did the idea for your new, fourth album “Shadow Empress” with 13 female metal vocalists come to your mind?
‘I released my first instrumental solo album in 2016, which was a guitar shred album. Back then, I also performed the songs live, including in 2017 as the opening act for Jinjer. Back then, people always came up to me and asked for songs with vocals. In 2017, an album was released with several male guest singers, including Björn Strid from Soilwork. So I had experience doing projects like this in the past. After that, I concentrated more on the studio and my bands. Since these were already existing bands with a fixed songwriting style, I started writing my own songs for another solo release again in 2020. Britta Görtz from Hiraes, who I had become friends with through her previous band Critical Mess, was the first person I asked about working together. It wasn’t planned from the start to make a whole album out of it, to limit myself to female singers, or to make the album so extensive. The commitments from Britta Görtz and Vicky Psarakis were decisive. From that moment on, I knew that this was a unique opportunity to produce something special that hadn’t been done before’.
So you have the idea, and probably some songs ready, and then you need 13 female metal vocalists. Please take us through the process how you chose them.
‘As mentioned, everything started with Britta Görtz as I was helping out her former band Critical Mess as a guitarist. From there on I did months and months of research, contacted vocalists via mail and tried to pitch them my concept once it had formed in my head. It wasn’t planned as an album with 13 guest singers from day one. To my big surprise, Vicky Psarakis was on board very early on. Having her name as well as Britta’s name attached to the project obviously builded trust for others to join in. Nonetheless, there were a lot of changes to the lineup. Some vocalists from well-known bands for example were not allowed to participate either by their management or their label. Having said that, the final lineup is perfect in my opinion so everything happened exactly right’.
THREE OPTIONS
The cover art for the album is very beautiful. Who created it and who is the “Shadow Empress”?
‘This might disappoint some readers as it is a sensitive topic in art right now, but I’ll be completely transparent here. I picked the artwork based on the album title. I am fully aware that it was created with the help of AI. However, if you listen to the album which goes from radio rock and symphonic metal to metalcore and death metal it becomes a challenge to find a suitable album name and artwork that works with such a diverse lineup. I never wanted to be on the cover, my focus was always on the vocalists. Once I had an album name which could carry all those songs and vocalists, there was the challenge of creating an abstract figure that symbolizes a Shadow Empress. To me, every vocalist on the album is the Shadow Empress, as they all perform heavy music on the album and work in the metal industry with their own projects. It was the perfect name to explain the album concept in a metaphoric way. Since one figure had to symbolize 13 amazing vocalists which all are different, it had to look a bit unhuman, yet majestic. The artwork just felt right to what I envisioned, so the fact that AI was used for it wasn’t relevant for me’.
The first single and video from the album was “Our Remedy”, featuring Vicky Psarakis from Sicksense. A very fast and aggressive track that sets the tone for the rest of “Shadow Empress”. Was she the undisputed #1 for you to feature on this song?
‘Yes, absolutely. The song was specifically written for her. That’s the case with most songs. Sometimes it took 2-3 attempts for me to write the right instrumental for a singer, sometimes the vocalists also requested changes to their instrumentals. “Our Remedy” was received extremely well by Vicky’s fanbase as it suits the style she is known for. Unfortunately, her former band The Agonist isn’t active anymore, but her fans were extremely happy to hear her on a new melodic death metal track one more time. The style of “Our Remedy” came very natural to me as it’s very riff based. Writing some of the more vocal driven songs with less guitar focus can be trickier as a guitarist’.
“Our Remedy” was followed by a couple of more singles: “Untimeliness” with Ignea’s Helle Bohdanova, “Alone” featuring Laura Guldemond from Burning Witches and “All Must Die” that has Britta Görtz from Hiraes on vocals. All are top powerhouse vocalists. You must be a lucky man to have them all on “Shadow Empress”.
‘I absolutely am. As mentioned before, Britta Görtz and Vicky Psarakis joined in very early, paving the way for this great lineup. In the early stages of this record, I was also in contact with some young and talented newcomer vocalists as opposed to these already established pros. One of the reasons the album lineup got more and more high caliber vocalists was that pros have their own recording setup. There are only three options to record an album like this: either they can record on their own, or I have to travel to their country which I did in some cases (keep in mind that COVID happened during that time) or you book studios in their respective countries. That’s what I did for Helle Bohdanova and Emelle Elizabeth for example. Doing that 13 times isn’t feasible however, so the lineup had to become more and more professional in order to have some vocalists record on their own. You just can’t expect a young talent to have a Neumann U87 microphone worth 3 grand at home. But a pro like Laura Guldemond has one. Secil Sen who became the vocalist of Warkings over the course of the album was one of those newcomers for example. In her case I was able to drive to Berlin three times to record and work with her on the song. So, in some cases I also got lucky that we recorded before their careers took off’.
LYRIC VIDEOS
The most striking contribution on the album comes from Iris Goessens, ex-Spoil Engine singer, on “Running Out Of Time”. How did you track her down, as she has left the Netherlands to live in L.A. with the love of her life. Why does it say Iris Goes on the cover and not Iris Goessens?
‘Asking Iris to be on the album was a no brainer. Let’s face it, she’s a total badass! When I started working with Iris, she was still in Spoil Engine and about to make the move to Los Angeles. We didn’t know each other personally but she was familiar with people I worked with in the past. Something like that is a good way to build some sort of connection via e-mail. Iris transitioned into new musical directions after some very successful collaborations with DJs in recent years. There she uses the name Iris Goes so we decided to stick with that. It’s a similar case as with Vicky and her former band The Agonist. People were happy to hear her in a heavy scenario which resembled her former band a bit’.
All the singles have beautiful designs as well on the cover based on the album art, and as it looks also created with the help of AI. Is there a story on the covers that you’re trying to tell?
‘The single artworks were picked to work well as backgrounds for the respective lyric videos. I’ve been working for months with Irvan, my videographer wo can create amazing 3d lyric videos based on cover artworks. Since not every vocalist could film a music video, these lyric videos helped us to present more singles. The trick with Irvan’s style is to have lots of smaller elements that he can animate to turn the artwork into a moving piece. Skulls, flowers and other elements worked very well for the first video with Vicky Psarakis, so we sticked with a similar style while making sure that every lyric video looked unique. That’s also why they are quite different in color. It may be an unusual way to approach artworks, but ultimately it allowed the album to have way more singles while creating promo material for social media which reached a lot of new listeners’.
The next single that was released, “Rise Up”, features Emelle Elizabeth from Eternal Frequency. A band who have only released singles and one EP so far. You could have gone for safe and choose a more renowned female vocalist instead, but you didn’t. Why?
‘For me, Emelle is a pro just like the others. I asked vocalists that I personally like, not depending on their reach or band they play in. To me, Emelle’s song is integral to the album, hence it’s number 4 on the track list. Eternal Frequency build up their fanbase with singles, focusing on very high quality instead of putting out a poorly produced debut album. Every single they release has hit potential, which Emelle also showcased with her writing and performance on “Rise Up”. I think more bands these days should approach things like they do’.
WAR DELAY
Are you planning to release more singles before the album comes out on August, 23rd? I would personally love to see “Don’t Look Back” featuring Scardust’s Noa Gruman or “Invisible Beast” with Enemy Inside’s Nastassja Giulia.
‘“Don’t Look Back” will be released as a single on August 20th with an amazing music video. There have been many singles so far, but we haven’t released something as visually complex as this. With 7 or 8 singles in, people may think they have seen and heard everything there is on the album, but they surely don’t expect this as it could have easily been the first release of the album campaign. Nastassja Giulia’s song will be released with a visualizer on August 23rd along with the album. Enemy Inside just announced a new label signing and are in a promo phase themselves. They are killing it right now and I’m very happy for Nastassja! Coming in with a single from an external project might have been distracting to their fans. Sometimes, these things are all about the timing of different releases. But I’m looking forward to present people the track with Nastassja as well, as she did some things people haven’t heard her do in Enemy Inside so far’.
“I had the privilege of working with pretty much everyone I wanted to work with. I also think that these established vocalists and other female talents don’t need to be on an album with me.”
– NINO HELFRICH –
Having 13 female metal vocalists on “Shadow Empress” must have been a logistical nightmare for you to get them all record their vocal parts and send it over to you. How did you handle all this and did you encounter any problems during this process?
‘As explained before, either they were able to record professionally themselves, I had to visit them in their country, or I had to book them a local studio. It was very difficult, also with COVID. That’s the reason the production took several years. I’d like to point out Helle Bohdanova and Noa Gruman, who are living in Ukraine and Israel, however. Helle was supposed to record with producer Max Morton just days after Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022. We had to delay the recordings for months. She never considered giving up on the project and I have the utmost respect for Helle because of it! The situation of her, her friends and family, and her country are way more important than a song on my album. But she made it happen despite all odds. Rarely ever have I seen someone as dedicated to their craft as Helle. Noa Gruman has a similar situation in Israel were the war started in October 2023. However, she just finished filming a spectacular music video for our song on top of a breathtaking vocal performance. I’m very thankful to have spent an entire week with her in Germany earlier in 2023. Anything I said about Helle goes for Noa as well. When you look at the situation in Helle and Noa‘s countries, other problems I might have faced during production become very small’.
Primarily, you are a guitarist. But do you also play other instruments as well? Who played on the “Shadow Empress” album besides yourself?
‘Aside from vocals, I wrote the entire music and played all instruments on the album myself. Some instruments like synths and drums are programmed with Midi, which is a normal workflow for me as a music producer who exclusively works in heavy music. I took a lot of time creating authentic and realistic Midi drums, which is why some people think that there must be other guest instrumentalists. If there were though, this album wouldn’t carry my name’.
MIXING & MASTERING
What are you going to do after the album is released? Was this a one-time project only or are you going to do a “Shadow Empress II” album as well, or perhaps another instrumental album first?
‘In a way, this is already part two, as I released the album “Hourglass” in 2017 including Björn Strid of Soilwork and some others. But obviously “Shadow Empress” is a completely different beast. I’m not sure if a second album with 13 female vocalists would make sense right now. I had the privilege of working with pretty much everyone I wanted to work with. I also think that these established vocalists and other female talents don’t need to be on an album with me. They have their own bands and luckily, I’m in a position with Skull Tone Studios and now Napalm Records where I can contribute to the success of those bands by doing my work in the background. Participating in events like Britta Görtz’s upcoming Harsh Vocal Camp or the Wacken Music Camps, which I’ve been doing for years, is a great way to foster new talent as well. As for new music, my power metal band Aeon Gods will release their debut album through Scarlet Records at the end of the year. My heavy metal band Inner Axis is also always cooking something as well. Having that said, my main focus after the album release will be mixing & mastering other bands in my studio and working for Napalm Records’. ■