Nachtmahr interview: ‘The setlist is the script for the movie we present every night’
Thomas Rainer talks about Nachtmahr’s “IMPERIVM”, released 26 June 2026 on Trisol, the piano sessions before it, and the project’s largest tour to date.
Photo: Karo Kratochwil
When Thomas Rainer and I spoke in 2024, “Verboten!” was presented as a decisive stage in Nachtmahr’s development, a record moving the project toward something more mature and less interested in obeying its own established rules. Two years later, Rainer slightly revises that interpretation himself: “Verboten!” did not complete an evolution, it established the method for what came next. That next step is “IMPERIVM”, released on June 26, 2026, ten tracks in which ideas first tested on “Verboten!” are refined rather than repeated. Between the two records came “Dominant: The Piano Sessions”, apparently moving in the opposite direction by removing much of Nachtmahr’s electronic machinery and exposing the construction underneath. Rainer, however, sees the piano record as a separate exercise, one intended to demonstrate something he considers fundamental: beneath the production, the songs have to survive. “IMPERIVM” then returns to force, rhythm and electronics with that confidence already established. The title creates another, more interesting complication. “IMPERIVM” inevitably suggests command, hierarchy and centralised authority, ideas that already sit comfortably within Nachtmahr’s visual vocabulary. Rainer’s interpretation is different. The Empire here is the relationship between the project and the people who have sustained it; many of the record’s lyrical ideas were informed by their experiences. Resistance, in his account, is not presented as party politics but as resistance to conformity, exclusion and the pressure to become easier to categorise. That tension becomes clear when Nachtmahr moves from record to stage. The upcoming “IMPERIVM” tour is being presented as the project’s longest and largest to date, with Cygnosic and Bagger 258 joining the tour; the first three dates take place in Poland, in Wrocław, Poznań and Warsaw, before the itinerary continues through Austria and Germany. What looks like excess from the audience side is, Rainer explains, built on considerable precision behind it. The starting point is not the lighting, uniforms or visuals, but the setlist. Everything else follows its dramaturgy.
We spoke about what “Verboten!” actually changed, why stripping Nachtmahr down to piano mattered, the meaning behind “IMPERIVM”, politics and the limits of artistic influence, the paradox of creating a safe space through an aesthetic built around hierarchy and discipline, the scene’s attachment to nostalgia, and why losing control onstage requires a great deal of control everywhere else.
Karo: When we spoke in 2024, you described “Verboten!” as the album that would complete Nachtmahr’s evolution toward a more mature, less playful sound, and you said its release would herald a new era for the project. Two years later, “IMPERIVM” is already here. Looking back, was “Verboten!” actually the arrival point you imagined at the time, or did making that record reveal another direction you had not yet foreseen?
Thomas: “Verboten!” was not the album that completed an evolution, but it set the course for the future. It was a successful experiment that paved the way for the sound and writing of “IMPERIVM”. Many techniques and structural improvements were first introduced during the production of “Verboten!” and then refined, expanded and improved for its successor.
Karo: Between “Verboten!” and “IMPERIVM” came “Dominant: The Piano Sessions”, reducing Nachtmahr material to piano before you returned with something far more forceful and electronic. That is an interesting sequence: first removing much of the machinery, then rebuilding it at full pressure. What did you discover about your own songwriting when rhythm, distortion and production were stripped away? Did any of that feed back into the way you approached “IMPERIVM”?
Thomas: The piano album was a standalone project and can be seen more as a sister concept to the acoustic releases “Flamme”, “Funke” and “Feuer”, as they all follow the same idea: deconstructing and rebuilding Nachtmahr’s music to bring out aspects of the compositions that were overlooked before. Ultimately, they proudly proclaim that our music also works in a stripped-down version because, in its essence, these are simply good songs. Something that most bands in our scene couldn’t achieve.
Karo: “IMPERIVM” is a loaded title. Empire suggests hierarchy, command and centralised power, while the record is built around resistance, nonconformity and refusing to be broken. Nachtmahr has always borrowed the language and aesthetics of authority while often directing the content somewhere much less obedient. Has that contradiction become more central now: the possibility of appropriating the appearance of power in order to question power itself?
Thomas: “IMPERIVM”, both as an album and as a title, is a monument to our incredible fan base that has carried us on its wings over the years, through light and shadow. Our fans and us, indivisible and forged together in fire and flame, are an Empire. An army is nothing without a commander, and vice versa. This is what the title stands for.
Karo: Taken together, titles such as “Unterwerfung”, “Willenlos”, “Stärker als ihr Hass” and “Neue Ufer” seem to establish a tension between submission and refusal, being acted upon and reclaiming agency. Is there a movement through “IMPERIVM” from one condition toward the other, or are you more interested in the uncomfortable fact that power and submission can coexist inside the same person?
Thomas: It is hard to find a common denominator for all the titles you mentioned, as they all have very different meanings and intentions, both lyrically and musically. One common theme remains, though. As I already explained in relation to the title, the red thread binding all the songs together is the connection between our fans and us. It was their stories and experiences that inspired me when writing the lyrics. That ranges from “Stärker als ihr Hass”, which is a strong statement for self-expression against all external factors, to “Unterwerfung”, which deals with self-discovery in a BDSM context.
Karo: In our previous conversation, you were very precise about one boundary: you said that the influence an artist receives from an audience creates a responsibility not to turn that power into political endorsement. At the same time, the language around “IMPERIVM” now invokes resistance, solidarity and revolution. Has that boundary become harder to maintain? When does resistance remain an artistic or existential idea, and when does an audience inevitably begin to read it politically?
Thomas: There is still no political statement whatsoever. We praise individuality, self-discovery and self-expression above all. There is resistance against social norms, solidarity with those oppressed for expressing themselves, and revolution against a system that wants to keep people conforming and alike because that makes them easier to rule, steer and oppress. This has nothing to do with politics per se, but with things everybody can change or take action on themselves.
Karo: The current presentation of Nachtmahr also speaks about the project as a space for outsiders and people who do not comfortably fit social norms. That creates an intriguing tension with a visual vocabulary built around severity, uniforms, hierarchy and control. Is that paradox important to you? Can a space feel safe because everybody inside it understands that the threatening imagery belongs to an artistic construction rather than an actual hierarchy between the people in the room?
Thomas: There is a paradox, but that is exactly the point. The uniforms, hierarchy and discipline are part of the artistic world of Nachtmahr, not a real hierarchy between the people in the room. Quite the opposite: everyone enters that world on equal terms. I think that is why it can, and should, feel liberating. Everybody knows that the threatening imagery is theatre, and that gives people the freedom to step outside their everyday roles for a while, perhaps even discovering their true selves in the process.
Karo: In 2024, you told me that Nachtmahr’s success had finally given you enough confidence to stop caring about the stylistic boundaries of the scene and to give each song whatever treatment it required. After almost 20 years, is crossing genre boundaries still liberating, or has the more difficult challenge become escaping the conventions of your own musical language?
Thomas: After so many years, you can easily start repeating your own formula. “IMPERIVM” was about avoiding that. Every song should sound the way that song needs to sound, even if that means stepping outside the Nachtmahr rulebook, if there even is one. The scene we mostly operate in thrives on nostalgia, and it would be easy, and maybe even more successful, to keep repeating that formula. But my own artistic standards make me want to reinvent over and over.
Karo: The new tour is being presented as something much larger than simply performing songs from “IMPERIVM”: sound, visuals, outfits, light and attitude functioning together as one system. When you construct a Nachtmahr show now, where does that process begin? With the music, with an image, with the physical reaction you want from the audience, or does the performance only really exist once all those elements begin influencing one another?
Thomas: Every tour design begins with the setlist. This is the key. Once the dramaturgy is established, all the other elements follow suit. The setlist is the script for the movie we present every night on tour, adapted to the local circumstances. It is a short answer and it may sound simple, but trust me: getting the setlist right takes weeks and can make or break every show, no matter how good the other elements are.
Karo: You are opening this tour with three nights in Poland, Wrocław, Poznań and Warsaw. There is something appealing about beginning a large production in club rooms where the distance between performer and audience is relatively small. Does starting in Poland carry any particular significance for you, and what do those first nights need to tell you before the rest of the tour unfolds?
Thomas: Starting the tour in Poland was a logistical decision at first, but in the end it is the perfect kick-off for what we plan to bring to the stage. Judging from my previous experiences in Poland, the crowds are very enthusiastic and welcoming. On the other hand, there are always certain insecurities within the band when you present a new programme for the first time. I am 100 percent sure all of those will be swept away by the energy of our Polish fans, and that wave will carry us all the way through the other dates of the tour.
Karo: Cygnosic and Bagger 258 are joining you on the tour and bring rather different approaches to electronic physicality. When you choose touring partners, do you think primarily in terms of compatible audiences, or about the architecture of the entire evening? Can the support acts change the state in which the audience eventually receives Nachtmahr?
Thomas: Good support acts are very important for how every night goes. They can make it easier or harder for the main act when they enter the stage; for example, a well-warmed-up crowd is already at a point that you would normally need to take them to yourself. The main factor in whom I take on tour is a personal one, though. I want to tour with people I genuinely like and who share the same morals and work ethic as my team and me. You know what they say, “one bad apple can spoil the whole basket”, and this is very true on tour. I speak from experience.
Karo: There is a fundamental contradiction in Nachtmahr live that becomes more interesting as the production grows. On your side of the stage, enormous control is required: sound, light, visuals and presentation have to work together. Yet what the performance seems to seek from the audience is almost the reverse: surrender, physical release, catharsis. How much control do you need to exercise in order to create a space where everybody else can safely lose theirs?
Thomas: I have a wonderful band and crew who take the need for control out of my hands, so I can completely let go onstage and simply become one with the energy of the crowd, opening the floodgates of my heart and letting all my emotions pour out. The same is true for the crowd. They should completely lose themselves in the music. The safe space you mentioned can only partly be created by us. Mostly responsible for that is our wonderful fan base, which is accepting and welcoming to everyone, and of course the great promoters of each show, who also do their part.
Karo: This is being presented as the largest and longest Nachtmahr tour so far. Rather than asking what people can “expect” from it, I’m more interested in what you expect to discover. After almost two decades of Nachtmahr, what can a tour of this scale still teach you about the project that you do not already know, and which of the coming shows are you personally most curious to experience?
Thomas: Honestly, I am mostly curious about discovering my most recent songs in a live context, performing them and maybe falling in love with them all over again. I want to see which parts of which songs resonate with whom in the crowd. And secondly, I am looking forward to hanging out with and meeting our fans.
Nachtmahr tour dates 2026
- 1 October 2026 – Wrocław, Poland – Klub Łącznik
- 2 October 2026 – Poznań, Poland – Klub Pod Minogą
- 3 October 2026 – Warsaw, Poland – VooDoo Club
- 17 October 2026 – Vienna, Austria – Escape Metalcorner
- 5 November 2026 – Munich, Germany – Backstage
- 6 November 2026 – Nuremberg, Germany – Der Cult
- 14 November 2026 – Hamburg, Germany – Logo
- 15 November 2026 – Berlin, Germany – Frannz Club
- 27 November 2026 – Erfurt, Germany – Club From Hell
- 28 November 2026 – Dresden, Germany – Strasse E
- 4 December 2026 – Oberhausen, Germany – Kulttempel
- 5 December 2026 – Mannheim, Germany – MS Connexion Complex
- 12 December 2026 – Aarburg, Switzerland – Musigburg
About Nachtmahr
Nachtmahr is the Austrian industrial electronic project founded by Thomas Rainer in 2007. Beginning with the “Kunst ist Krieg” EP, Rainer developed a severe musical and visual language built around hard electronic rhythms, distorted club structures, uniforms, discipline, sexuality, confrontation and theatricalised images of authority.
Over almost two decades, the project has expanded from Rainer’s original conception into a full live band. Its catalogue now encompasses eleven studio albums and nine EPs, alongside extensive international touring. While Nachtmahr is frequently situated within industrial, EBM and dark electronic music, Rainer has resisted treating those categories as compositional limits.
Recent releases show that widening vocabulary clearly. “Verboten!” arrived in 2024, followed in 2025 by “Dominant: The Piano Sessions”, which reinterpreted Nachtmahr material through piano arrangements. “IMPERIVM”, released on June 26, 2026 through Trisol Music Group, returns to the project’s electronic force while developing the compositional and structural ideas Rainer says were first tested on “Verboten!”. The album contains ten tracks, including “Wer Wind sät”, “Unterwerfung”, “Stärker als ihr Hass”, “Willenlos” and “Neue Ufer”.
Interview by Karo Kratochwil.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.
