There are albums that are written for fun. There are others to turn you upside down a bit. Elysium on Empty does just that. With the creative minds of both Blood & Bones and Neon Dark in one package, this project addresses the themes of greed, control, exhaustion, and a world slowly falling apart, all in a compelling mixture of current metalcore, industrial sound and raw, emotional songwriting.
The album starts with a bang, beginning with their double single Crown of Leeches and Pump and Dump. The fact that these two tracks instantly reveal how diverse and yet similar the artists on this record are, is proof enough. Crown of Leeches combines AI-generated and human sound elements for a layered, living sound. Pump and Dump is more industrial, more doop, more on the side of feelings of being exploited and powerless, which are felt by many people in a quiet or secret way.
Blood & Bones and Neon Dark didn't try to make their styles fit, they wrote their best songs, with a common theme. It is an album that revels in contrast, that sees two worlds of very different music collide and yet remain bound together by an intense emotional backbone.
In this interview, we learn more from the artists about making Elysium on Empty, finding synergy between AI and their own creativity, and a message they hope will remain with listeners long after the music is done.
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Crown of Leeches and Pump and Dump arrive together as a dual single. What made you want to introduce Elysium on Empty with two tracks instead of one?
ND: we wanted to introduce both of our sounds at the same time. The album has a lot of dynamics with sonic textures. We figured we’d just come out of the gate raging.
The album's central theme is greed and systemic decay. Where did that vision first take shape, and what made now the right time to put it into a full record?
ND: with Nico being in Germany, and me being in the United States, we would often talk about the disparity of culture and lifestyle. There’s a lot of suffering going on in the daily lives of the average worker here in America.
Blood & Bones blends AI vocals with real human instrumentation. Can you walk us through how that hybrid process actually works when building a track like Crown of Leeches?
Nico: For me, the process usually starts with the lyrics and the rhythmic foundation. I often have a clear idea of the drum feel very early, because that decides how the whole track moves and how aggressive or direct it becomes.
After that, I spend a lot of time generating and shaping the AI side of the song. AI stems can already sound impressive at first, especially for atmosphere, vocal ideas, or broad arrangement concepts, but they are rarely finished in a way that works for a good metal production in my opinion. The biggest weakness is the guitar work. It often lacks the physical feel that you need in heavy music.
That is where the human element makes the biggest difference. On a track like “Crown of Leeches,” the guitars, and John’s vocals give the song its body and its identity. The AI-generated vocals and instrumentation add another layer, but they are not just dropped in and left untouched.
The actual generation is only one part of the workflow. Most of the work happens afterward in the DAW: editing, arranging, layering, replacing parts, refining transitions, balancing real and AI elements, and making everything feel like one coherent track. It is about producing it into something that feels imperfect, human and alive.
Neon Dark brings a colder, more synthetic edge to this collaboration. How did you approach blending that industrial electronic sound with Blood & Bones' metal core on Pump and Dump?
ND: this was a song I’ve been working on for over a year. Since Nico and I started discussing this project. I started with the bridge and the beat that I wanted for it. Almost like a ticking and pulsating machine.
It was genuinely the sound I wanted to express this emotion. That emotion of feeling exploited and powerless, and also with a smirk. I kept going harder and harder with it until I got it where I wanted it, sounding like a messed up machine, grinding people along.
Overall, we haven’t thought about blending our sounds sonically. The vocals seem to be where we are having the connecting thread. We decided, as we were writing the songs, just write the best songs we could for the theme rather than trying to blend the styles.
And I absolutely love Luna’s vocals on the chorus blending with my own
Overall, we haven’t thought about blending our sounds sonically.
Both songs take an unapologetic eat the rich stance. How do you balance that level of political and social anger with making something that still works as music people want to listen to?
ND: I don’t know that we really thought about it in those terms. We were writing what we were feeling. And with that, we want to make heavy music that we genuinely want to listen to. We’re having fun doing it, and I think it comes through in the songs.
I think people are looking for an honest, earnest perspective in music that they can put themselves in.
Crown of Leeches features a full band lineup with Tobias Müller, John Cullimore, Daniel Maurer and Nico Ehlers. What was the energy like bringing real human performance into a project that also leans on AI driven elements?
Nico: Since the second Blood & Bones album, I have been bringing real instruments into the generated material, so that hybrid approach has become a big part of the project. But “Crown of Leeches” felt special to me for another reason.
Tobias, Daniel, and I all worked together before in the doom and death metal band Decaying Days, so having them involved made it feel a little like bringing part of that old band energy back into a new context. There was something really satisfying about taking this AI-driven Blood & Bones framework and then grounding it with performances from people I have a real musical history with.
John’s vocals also add a lot to the track. His voice works extremely well alongside Luna’s generated vocals, and that contrast gives the song more depth. Instead of the AI elements feeling cold or detached, the human performances pull everything into a more emotional space.
That is what I like most about this process. The musicians bring weight, character, and history. On “Crown of Leeches,” that combination made the song feel much more alive.
Pump and Dump explores manufactured hype and market manipulation. Was there a specific moment, story, or event in the world that pushed you toward exploring that theme?
ND: Pump and Dump uses the phrase as a metaphor for the experience of the worker. They hype you with “perks” and such, give you a treat and in reality, are manufacturing an unsustainable life where your blood, body and efforts are used, depleted and discarded. It’s gross.
I think people feel used. I wrote this while working retail, doing curbside pickup. And I got the pre-chorus line in my head, about equating this life with a bad sexual experience in the back of a car… and it made me laugh. So, I’m hoping the song is received with the tongue firmly planted in my cheek.
You have described the border between Blood & Bones and Neon Dark as not staying clean on this album. How intentional was that bleed between the two sides, and how did you know when it was working?
Nico: It was very intentional, but not in a forced way. To me, Elysium on Empty sits somewhere between a split album and a full collaboration. Blood & Bones and Neon Dark both keep their own sonic identities, but the borders between them are allowed to blur.
Some tracks lean more into the Blood & Bones side with heavier modern metalcore energy, while others carry more of Neon Dark’s industrial and alternative DNA. But the point was never to keep everything separated into neat boxes. We wanted the songs to play off each other, sometimes contrasting, sometimes bleeding into the same space.
I think we knew it was working when the contrast started to feel like part of the album’s identity instead of a problem to solve. John’s voice became a major thread through the record, and the themes gave everything a shared emotional center. Greed, collapse, control, exhaustion, and resistance hold the album together, even when the sound shifts.
So the bleed between the two projects became the whole point. It sounds like two different worlds reacting to the same broken system.
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ND: I truly enjoy the contrasts. I simply can’t write music the way Nico does. It’s just not how my brain works. Mine is filled with 90’s era grunge, undustrial and Dance music. When my friends were showing me Pantera I was belting it out to Smashing Pumpkins. I think the contrast is a great ride for the nervous system, and I truly hope listeners will listen all the way through to the diverse gems that are going to be scattered througout.
I just finished recording the vocals on a Blood & Bones song called “In Greed We Trust.” I appreciate the way Nico will hand me the track and just say “Go with it and do your thing” and I can get alone with it and use my voice in so many different ways to paint sonic pictures around Luna. I am having so much fun with it.
Elysium on Empty sounds like it is built to provoke as much as it is to entertain. What do you want listeners to feel uncomfortable about by the time the album ends?
ND: Absolutely. Metal, Punk and Industrial have long traditions of using doing both. And industrial has a long tradition of taking synthetics and using them to create art and expression. To me, this is a natural evolution.
For the listeners? I want them to feel uncomfortable disrespecting their own hearts and minds. I want them to question the illusion of powerlessness that our culture tends to reinforce. I want them to know that they matter, and their choices have genuine capacity to change the world directly around them.
With Crown of Leeches and Pump and Dump setting the tone, what can listeners expect from the rest of Elysium on Empty as the album unfolds?
The album oscilates between truly epic metalcore anthems and the slogging, shoegaze industrial vibe that Neon Dark brings. Many songs are not what they seem at first, some beginning tired and slogging and ending with driving, heavy metal dance hall anthems.
Chants, gang vocals, and cathartic breakdowns are laced throughout every track. We give the listeners ample lines to echo in their heads and hearts and souls. The combination of efforts makes for song after song of driving and grinding sound and screams while carrying melody, harmony and so much room for the listeners to sing along.
