The industrial/EBM act Nachtmahr is an alias for Thomas Rainer, a producer, singer, songwriter, and musician based in Vienna, Austria, whose other projects include L'Âme Immortelle and Siechtum. Long before founding Nachtmahr, Rainer founded L'Âme Immortelle in 1996 with Sonja Kraushofer, and the industrial/darkwave duo proceeded to release a series of albums in affiliation with Trisol Music Group and, later, Sony BMG. Also prior to founding Nachtmahr, Rainer released a few albums in collaboration with Joachim Sobczak as the industrial/EBM act Siechtum from 2000-2002 in affiliation with Trisol Music Group. In addition, Rainer was a resident DJ at Club Pi in Vienna, where he spun various styles of industrial dance and grew inspired to found the solo project Nachtmahr as an outlet for the production ideas that came to him while DJing. He made his recording debut as Nachtmahr in 2007 with the remix-heavy EP Kunst Ist Krieg in affiliation with Trisol Music Group. Rainer then released his full-length album debut as Nachtmahr, Feuer Frei!, in 2008.