Interview with black death metal bands from Germany - HKSPK.
Answered Jim Tonik (vocals, guitars), thank you!
Recenze/review - HKSPK - Heimkehr (2026):
Ave HKSPK! Greetings to the German underground scene. I hope everything’s going well over there. It should be you’ve released a new EP this year. I have to admit, it literally pinned me to the wall. It’s dark, energetic, and cuts like the sharp edge of a knife. It’s very clear that you’ve done a great job and brought a lot of talent to the table. How do you view the new record in relation to your previous EPs and debut? Where did you want to take things, and how do you think these recordings differ?
First of all, thank you very much! And just a small correction: “Heimkehr” is actually our second full-length album, not an EP.
Compared to “Holy Scum” and “The Human Butcher”, I think “Heimkehr” is much more focused. A lot has happened in our lives since the first record, and naturally that also changed the music and especially the lyrics.
The earlier releases had much more absurdity and humour in them. That has not disappeared completely – “White Secretions II” proves that pretty well, haha – but “Heimkehr” deals with much more serious themes.
Musically, we also allowed ourselves more freedom. There is still a lot of death and black metal, but we did not feel the need to make every song fast or aggressive all the time. Atmosphere, melody and slower parts became much more important.
There was no big meeting where we decided that HKSPK now had to become more serious. It just happened.
“Heimkehr” contains all the attributes of good black and death metal, but you can also hear punk and doom metal. For me personally, it’s a record I love coming back to. How did it come together? How does HKSPK compose new material?
Thank you, that is great to hear.
There is no strict formula for how we write songs. A lot of ideas start while jamming. Somebody plays a riff, somebody else adds something and suddenly we realise there might actually be a song hiding in there.
Sometimes one of us already has a very clear idea, and sometimes a song develops completely differently from how it started.
We also do not really care if something suddenly sounds more like doom, punk or something else. If it works, we use it. We are not sitting in the rehearsal room checking whether every riff is officially allowed in black/death metal.
The lyrics usually come when the atmosphere of the song is already becoming clear. For us, the music and the subject have to fit together.
Who’s responsible for the sound? I have to say, the sound is absolutely killer. It keeps making me turn up the volume on my stereo. You’ve got a sound that’s brutal, raw, yet dark and primal – it has an analog feel to it. What was it like working with him, and why did you choose him specifically? Which studio did you record in, and how did everything go?
The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at Room13.
We wanted the individual songs to have their own character instead of forcing everything into exactly the same production.
That is also why some tracks sound noticeably different from others. “Sonnenjäger”, for example, benefits from very punchy and compressed drums because it makes the death metal side much heavier. Other songs need more space and atmosphere.
For us, production is part of the songwriting in that sense. The atmosphere does not only come from the riffs or vocals. The mix can change how a song feels completely.
We definitely did not want everything to sound polished and sterile. If you turn it up and it makes you want to turn it up even more, then I guess we did something right. Haha.
An integral part and a sort of bonus for fans today is the music CD (cassette, vinyl). You released it yourselves, and it features a macabre cover. Who designed it? How did you choose the motif, and how does it relate to the music on the new album?
The artwork is an original oil painting by Steffen Schmolke.
The basic idea was connected very closely to the meaning of “Heimkehr”. You see a bandaged person who has returned, but obviously not unharmed.
For us, homecoming does not necessarily mean coming back and everything being fine again. You return to a familiar place, but whatever happened to you stays with you.
The figure is also writing, which connects to memories and processing experiences.
So there is actually a thought behind it. We did not just decide that a wounded mummy sitting at a desk looked cool. Although it does look pretty cool. Haha.
The physical version is limited to 50 CDs and is available through our Bandcamp. We wanted the first physical edition to remain small and personal.
I’ve been wandering through the underground scene for over thirty years now, and when it comes to music, I go to Germany because I know I can count on it. I think we have similar personalities and tastes when it comes to metal. I really like your bands and follow your scene closely. Maybe I even envy you a little – we only have a few death metal bands back home that are worth checking out. How do you explain the fact that death metal is doing so well in your country in particular? How do you view your scene, the fans, and the labels?
It is difficult for us to compare the German scene objectively with other countries because this is simply the scene we know best.
But Germany definitely has a very active underground. There are many small clubs, festivals, promoters, bands, fanzines and people who have been doing this stuff for years or even decades.
Especially in the underground, a lot still works through personal contact. You play a show, meet another band, somebody recommends you to a promoter and suddenly you are playing somewhere you had never expected.
Of course, not everything is perfect. Small venues struggle, festivals cost a lot of money to organise and there are probably too many bands fighting for the same attention.
But there are still enough people who genuinely care about the music, and that keeps the whole thing alive.
You play old school influenced death/black metal. These days, a band can’t really avoid comparisons, but I’d be interested to know how the idea to form HKSPK actually came about, who your role models were and are, and where you want to take your band. Are you tempted by big international festivals, for example? Would you be willing to go on tour with a more famous band?
HKSPK started in 2023. The basic idea was pretty simple: we wanted to make aggressive music together.
There was never one band that we wanted to copy. Our influences are quite mixed. Bands like Nargaroth, Ellende and Harakiri For The Sky definitely left their mark on the black metal side, while Obituary and Morbid Angel are some of the influences from the death metal direction.
But there is also a lot of stuff outside those genres that finds its way into our music.
And yes, of course we would love to play bigger international festivals. We would also absolutely tour with a more established band if the opportunity made sense.
We like playing live. So if somebody wants to put us on a stage somewhere, we are probably not going to complain. Haha.
When I started my website ten years ago, my vision was to support bands that I felt weren’t getting enough attention to let the world know about them. I think I’m doing pretty well at it, at least judging by the feedback. How do you approach promotion? Do you leave it to the label, or do you send CDs out yourselves for reviews? For example, I buy albums that I really enjoy. How about you? Are you also fans who like to support your peers often? Do you go to concerts? Do you party?
We do not have a label, so most of the promotion is organised by ourselves.
Tina handles a large part of our press work, applications and contacts. She sends out the material, talks to magazines, zines, radio stations, playlist curators and promoters and somehow keeps track of all of it. For “Heimkehr” we also worked with external PR support to reach more international media.
So yes, there is quite a lot happening behind the scenes before anybody even hears the record.
And of course we also go to concerts and support other bands. The underground only works if people actually turn up, buy something, share music or simply tell somebody else about a band they discovered.
As for partying: “White Secretions II” probably answers that question better than we ever could. Haha.
On the one hand, a band just starting out today has plenty of ways to get its name out there, but on the other hand, there are a huge number of bands out there, and fans get lost in the crowd. A lot of people just download MP3s from the internet and, instead of going to a concert, prefer to spew venom on Facebook. How does modern technology affect you as HKSPK? What do you think about downloading music, Google Metalists, streaming music, and so on?
Modern technology is both incredibly useful and incredibly annoying.
Without streaming, social media, Bandcamp or YouTube, a band like us would have a much harder time reaching people outside our own region. We have listeners and press contacts in countries where we have never even played, and that would have been much more difficult twenty or thirty years ago.
At the same time, everybody can upload music now. That means you are competing with thousands of new releases every week.
Streaming is simply part of how people listen to music today. We cannot pretend it does not exist just because physical releases are nicer.
And as for people who spend all day arguing online about which band is “real” metal and which one is not: they can have fun with that. We would rather be in the rehearsal room or on stage.
I like to ask musicians what death/black metal means to them. How would they define it – is it more of a philosophy and lifestyle for them, or “just” a way to unwind? What does it mean to you? How do you perceive and experience it?
For us, it is not a religion or some strict philosophy.
But music is obviously a huge part of our lives. You spend hours rehearsing, writing songs, travelling to shows, standing around backstage, meeting people and then getting home at some ridiculous hour.
It becomes more than just something you do for two hours after work.
At the same time, we do not think you need to follow some lifestyle manual to be a “real” metalhead.
We make this music because we love the sound, the atmosphere, the energy and the freedom that comes with it. That is enough for us.
To wrap up, a classic but important question. What does HKSPK have planned for the coming months? Where can we see you in concert? If you have something on your mind and would like to share a message with labels, promoters, or fans, this is your chance…
The main plan now is to play “Heimkehr” live as much as possible.
We will be playing at Spirale in Berlin on 12 October, and we are already working on more shows and festival appearances for 2027.
At the same time, we never really stop writing. There are always riffs and ideas lying around somewhere, but we are not going to rush straight into the next album. “Heimkehr” has only just been released and we want to give these songs some time on stage first.
To promoters: book us.
To labels: if you have an interesting offer and understand that we like keeping control of what we do, feel free to talk to us.
And to everybody who listens to the record, buys a CD or shirt, comes to a show, writes about us or simply tells somebody about HKSPK: thank you. That kind of support matters much more to a small band than people sometimes realise.
And thank you for the interview and the kind words about “Heimkehr”. Hopefully we will meet somewhere in front of a ridiculously loud stage one day.
Cheers!
Jim / HKSPK
Thank you so much for the interview. I wish your new album every success and hope your fan base grows as much as possible. I look forward to seeing you live somewhere, and I wish you all the best both musically and personally. I’m off to blast “Heimkehr” again!
Recenze/review - HKSPK - Heimkehr (2026):
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