Hellkern Warriors: The Darkwave Band Who Turned Turner's "Rain, Steam and Speed" Into a Song
Photo: courtesy of Hellkern Warriors / U-Rock® Network
Hellkern Warriors are an international darkwave and gothic-alternative rock band. Their single "Rain, Steam and Speed" has been approved for the U-Rock® Network.
Berlin and Ibagué
Hellkern Warriors were founded in mid-2025. Their official website describes them as an international project connecting musicians from Berlin, Germany, and Ibagué, Colombia, and lists three members: Tom Radar, Fabian Parra and Mauricio Castro. The band's EPK lists an earlier four-piece of musicians from Berlin, Pietrasanta (Italy) and Ibagué: Tom Radar on lyrics, vocals and guitar, Kabal Apokalypse/Dylan Phoenix on synths, Fabian Parra on bass and Mauricio Castro on drums and production. Tom Radar also co-founded RADARFIELD in 2014. Castro owns and engineers at Artgot Studios in Colombia. The EPK describes their sound as haunting vocals, analog synths, brooding guitar textures, driving bass lines and dynamic drums, built into "cinematic soundscapes exploring themes of futurism, fear, and decay." The band's tagline is "The Pulse Of The Void."
A painting set to music
"Rain, Steam and Speed" was released on Bandcamp on 18 April 2026. In a note to U-Rock® Network, Tom wrote that the song "was originally inspired by J. M. W. Turner's painting of the same name." The band was drawn less to the image of a train moving through rain and steam than to "the feeling it evokes: the encounter between nature, technology, speed, and human perception."
In the song, Tom explained, "every instrument became part of the scene." The bass and drums are "the unstoppable movement of the train." The high guitar lines are its whistle, and the deeper guitar layers and distant, thunder-like sounds give a "dramatic and almost cinematic atmosphere." The analog synthesizers supply "the rain, the steam, the fog, and the endless landscape passing by." "For us, the song is not simply about speed," he wrote. It is about "the excitement of progress, the beauty of a fleeting moment, and the feeling of being carried forward by something larger than yourself."
On the road with it
The EPK says "Rain, Steam and Speed" appeared on DSBP Records' Industrial Assault, Vol. 11 compilation in June 2026. In 2026 it was also reviewed by The Big Takeover, Obscure Sound and Return of Rock, and featured by Side-Line Magazine. It was played on stations including Radio Dunkelbunt, Radio Emergency and Banks Radio Australia, and reached Terra Relicta Radio's Top 10 in May 2026. The band's other singles are "Endless Road," "Petrol & Water" and "Helkern Warriors."
Why it matters on U-Rock® Radio
"Rain, Steam and Speed" turns a nineteenth-century painting of a train in a storm into driving darkwave, and it's now part of the U-Rock® Network.
U-Rock® Network play data: not yet logged. The song was approved for the U-Rock® Network through MusicSubmit on 14 September 2026.
Listen and follow - Official site: https://www.hellkernwarriors.com/ - Bandcamp: https://hellkernwarriors.bandcamp.com/ ("Rain, Steam and Speed": https://hellkernwarriors.bandcamp.com/track/rain-steam-speed) - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3Vc4AzxsivRJdoDJlxJjbX
Sources 1. Hellkern Warriors, EPK (PDF, supplied to U-Rock® Network, 14 Sep 2026) 2. Tom (Hellkern Warriors), email to U-Rock® Network, "Re: Your music was approved!" (14 Sep 2026) 3. Hellkern Warriors, official website — https://www.hellkernwarriors.com/ 4. Bandcamp, "Rain, Steam & Speed" — https://hellkernwarriors.bandcamp.com/track/rain-steam-speed
