NERO is a London electronic trio comprising producers Daniel Stephens and Joseph Ray and vocalist Alana Watson. Formed in 2004, the group grew out of Stephens and Ray’s teenage music-making after they met at a specialist music school in Pimlico. NERO has cited science-fiction films as an influence and described Depeche Mode as a continuing inspiration. Its sound developed from drum and bass into a mix of dubstep, house melodies and vocals.
Among the group’s early releases was the 2008 single Audio Phreaks, Vol. 6 on Audio Phreaks. NERO later collaborated with Skrillex on a remix of “Promises”, which won a Grammy Award. The group released its second album, Between II Worlds, in 2015.
After Stephens and Ray worked separately for a period, they began exchanging musical ideas again around 2019. Remote sessions during the pandemic helped them collaborate before they reunited in the studio. NERO described Into the Unknown as a link between the heavier character of Welcome Reality and the more band-like approach of the 2015 album, and said it completed a trilogy begun with the former and continued with the latter. Recent singles include 2022’s Renegade, made with RL Grime for Sable Valley Records, and 2023’s Quanto male mi fai, with Defurias and Paranoic. In 2025, NERO released Innocence 2025 with Taiki Nulight and Destruction on 2808 Recordings. Its 2026 single We're Not Alone, also made with Taiki Nulight, came out on UKF.