What on earth is a Nachtkrapp??

The Nachtkrapp is a huge frightening ravenlike black bird, who strikes terror into peoples' hearts in Austria and Southern Germany. He is greedy for human flesh, espescially for that of  children. For this reason children in these areas are told not to sleep with the window open and, of course, to behave well  in general.
They know: when the Nachtkrapp is coming for them they are lost. He will displace them to a spot from where they'll never find their way back home. But most likely he will devour them neck and crop.

How everything began

At the age of eight I started to play the classical guitar. A few years later I taught myself the electric guitar. I learned to play together with others early: in a little band in  elementary school, in a guitar ensemble, in an orchestra of the youth music school and in the music school band. At the age of sixteen I had my first real band.

I had lots of fun with this band.
When it was over I tried to start several bands with all sorts of people. But the projects never endured beyond the beginning time. Our  tastes of music were too different or  we simply were not on the same wavelength.
If it had not been for this one mate who told me that you can record music just with your pc, I perhaps wouldn't have started making music exept for playing my guitar once or twice a year.

I became enthusiastic and asked him how to do all this recording stuff and wormed everything out of him he knew about the subject.  To tell the truth it was not much, but at least it was a beginning. I knew that even without other people, I could make my own music, record it piece by piece so in the end everything could sound like a whole band was playing!

I was hooked and so I began to take my first steps in homerecording. It was not easy.  Things proceeded  very slowly: I needed money for hardware and software, knowledge and therefore could not at once set free all the music that had been slumbering inside me for so long. But I hung in there. The first  results strongly motivated me and I knew that this was right up my alley!

Now after a few years and much frustration, I'm on the point of finally being satisfied with the results of my recording. I am now happy to present my music to the "outside world". I hope you'll like it!
By the way I am always glad to get some feedback, whether it may be good or bad.

The "band" and the instruments

The band itself is a one-man-project consisting only of me, Nic Berndt. I am responsible for everything that has to do with Nachtkrapp: I compose the music, I write the lyrics, I play all the instruments (guitars, bass, keyboard) and I do the vocals as well. The instruments are all played "by hand", only the drums are artificial, but programmed by myself.

The mixing of the music

I'm lucky to have a pal who sound-mixes metal concerts as a hobby: 'Der Hein'.
I asked him to try the same in a simplified studio situation and to help me in getting a good sound for my music. Now I am very happy with the results of his work. Therefore I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to him at this point!

The music

As you hear (in the 'music' area you can listen to and download some music of Nachtkrapp) the musical style I play is Metal or rather Death Metal. Since I am and want to stay open-minded towards almost all kinds of influences I do not want to limit myself by using more precise style definitions. I believe that concerning metal there are already too many (mental) bounds and too much pigeonholing.
I listen to many different styles of music. I love variety and alternation. For this reason I will be producing several styles of metal as well as incorporating complete non-metal elements. Experiments are always part of development - in music and in life.
I believe that this is an important benefit of being the only band member: musically I can do whatever I want!