Coldwinter Interview

Entombed in the silence of endless night, Coldwinter channels atmospheric doom as a vessel of ritual gravity. Their sound moves with glacial inevitability—slow, crushing riffs and cavernous resonance that summon the weight of forgotten ages. Hints of blackened dissonance coil within, but it is the doom-laden atmosphere that defines their descent: a solemn march through pagan memory, cosmic exile, and the dread of eternal winter.

This interview sinks into Coldwinter’s abyssal chamber—where doom becomes a rite of endurance and blackened shadows whisper at the edges. Guided by the band’s spectral vision, we traverse the frozen expanse, answering thirteen questions.

Thirteen Questions Beneath the Desert Moon

Q1: Coldwinter’s music is steeped in sorrow and atmosphere—how did the band first come together, and what vision guided its creation?

Alessandro: The band Coldwinter was formed in 2014 in São Paulo, Brazil, with the goal of creating music that reflects the sadness and melancholy that permeates life…

The vision that guided the creation of Coldwinter was the end of the band (Without My Shadow) That’s when Eduardo and I started composing new songs, creating a dark and emotional atmosphere that expressed the pain and loneliness that many people feel…

Coldwinter music is a way for the band to express the sadness and melancholy they feel, and to create a connection with listeners who also feel these emotions…

The band Coldwinter believes that music is a form of healing and liberation for the soul, and this is what motivates them to create music that is authentic and emotionally dark, that people feel connected to through the music and the emotion…

The band’s vision is to create a connection with people so that they feel connected through music and emotion, and that they find comfort and support in shared sadness and loneliness…

Q2: The name Coldwinter evokes bleakness and solitude. Where did the name come from, and what does it symbolize for you personally and artistically?

Alessandro: The name Coldwinter reflects the dark and melancholic atmosphere the band seeks to create in their music. Although there is no official statement from the band about the exact meaning of the name, it is likely inspired by the winter season, which is often associated with coldness, darkness, and loneliness…

For the band, the name Coldwinter may symbolize a state of mind, a feeling of isolation and introspection that is common in people suffering from depression and anxiety. The word “Cold” can also refer to a lack of warmth and emotional connection, while “Winter” can represent a period of darkness and desolation…

Artistically, the name Coldwinter can be seen as a metaphor for the band’s music, which is characterized by dark and melancholic sounds. The band seeks to create an atmosphere that envelops the listener in a world of introspection and reflection, where emotions are intense and loneliness is a common theme…

It’s important to note that the interpretation of the name Coldwinter can vary from person to person, and the band may have their own reasons for choosing that name. However, it’s clear that the name evokes a feeling of melancholy and loneliness, which is reflected in their music…

Q3: Your lyrical themes explore despair, heartbreak, and loss. How do you transform personal or collective pain into ritualized music?

Alessandro: Transforming personal or collective pain into music is a complex and intimate process. For the band Coldwinter, music is a way to express and process their deepest and most difficult emotions…

Music is a way to release repressed emotions and process pain in a healthy way….

Lyrics are a way of telling personal and collective stories, creating a connection with listeners who have gone through similar experiences…

Music is a way of ritualizing pain, transforming it into something more bearable and meaningful… Music is a way to create a connection with listeners, sharing common experiences and emotions…

The band Coldwinter believes that music has the power to heal and transform, and that’s what motivates them to create music that is authentic and emotionally honest….

Q4: Can you walk us through your songwriting process—does the atmosphere come first, or do lyrics shape the soundscape?

Elvis Limac: When Alessandro invited me to join Coldwinter in 2021 to record a new album, he told me he wanted a sound with strong Doom Metal characteristics, carrying a melodic and melancholic atmosphere, and he shared some references of what he had in mind. So I started thinking about creating something different from the previous album and distinct from what I usually do in my project Rites of Passage, shaping a unique identity that would fit this more melodic, depressive direction and the lyrics we had.

We worked track by track until we reached a result that everyone in Coldwinter is very pleased with. Everything is there: melody, introspection, heaviness, and the purest emotions (Where Memories Drowning) was a long and collaborative work, and I hope it will be an album capable of awakening the most varied feelings in the listener…

Q5: How do you balance guttural intensity with melodic passages to create that immersive Doom/Black Metal atmosphere?

Gustavo Grando: For me, the balance between intense guttural vocals and melodic passages stems from two complementary places: the inner self and nature. The extreme vocals carry the weight of what is dense, hidden, and ancestral—what we talk about in Doom/Black Metal as internal forces, psychological ruptures, shadows that need to be confronted. The melodic parts, on the other hand, represent the other pole: the search for clarity, for inner silence, for contemplation that I find both in spirituality and in contact with nature…. 

I don’t think of these elements as opposites, but as layers of the same experience. The guttural voice is the earth, rough, deep, full of emotion. The melody is the wind, which crosses this density and creates space. 

When I compose, I try to feel exactly where the atmosphere calls for rupture and where it calls for breath. It’s almost like observing the movement of a forest: moments of storm and moments of stillness. This dynamic creates immersion….

I also greatly value the aesthetics of Doom Metal: the slowness, The extended time, the space between the notes. This allows a more intense guttural voice to coexist naturally with clean, recited, or melancholic vocals, without either sounding out of place. They become two voices of the same internal ritual…. 

In short, balance emerges when each timbre serves the feeling of the music—when the guttural vocals express depth and the melody expresses transcendence. It is from this fusion that the atmosphere I seek is born: melancholic, ethereal, contemplative, and at the same time, full of strength…

Q6: Which bands, writers, or mythic traditions have most influenced Coldwinter’s sound and lyrical vision?

Alessandro: The band Coldwinter is influenced by a mix of styles and traditions, but there is no official statement about specific influences..

The band’s sound is a blend of Atmospheric Doom Metal with dark keyboards and lyrical themes that speak of sadness, despair, anguish, depression, heartbreak, pain, loneliness, loss, and grief…

Some possible influences may include Doom Metal, Funeral Doom Metal, and Black Metal bands such as Anathema, Evadne, The Howling Void, HellLight, and Mythological Cold Towers…

Regarding writers, the band draws inspiration from themes such as poetry and romantic literature, with themes of lost love, sadness, loneliness, death, grief, and transcendence. I write all the lyrics myself.

It is important to note that the band does not follow a specific line of influences, and its sound is a unique blend of styles and themes…

Q7: Do you view the act of composing and recording as a ritual—something that transcends music-making and becomes almost ceremonial in its atmosphere?

Elvis Limac: Excellent question and the answer is complex and lengthy, so let’s dive in. For me, composing and recording have always carried the essence of a feeling. It goes far beyond simply arranging notes or building harmonic structures; it becomes a suspended moment where time slows down and the emotional weight of the music takes control. When I enter the compositional process, I feel as though I’m stepping into a dimly lit place, guided by intuition, by memories, and by shadows that insist on having a voice.

There is a sense of ceremony in shaping melodies filled with sorrow, in creating atmospheres that breathe melancholy and transcendence. Each layer, each whisper of sound, is like lighting a candle in an immense cold hall, illuminating reflections that reveal fragments of something deeper. Recording, for me, is the culmination of this moment the point at which these emotions are sealed, where feelings express themselves in something that will exist beyond me.

In that sense, yes, the entire process becomes a personal rite. It is where vulnerability meets creation, where silence transforms into meaning, and where the music itself becomes a vessel for everything that words alone cannot contain&hellip

Q8: Your upcoming album Where Memories Drowning promises nearly an hour of atmospheric doom. What themes anchor this release—particularly the story of pain that does not go away, and the second track’s attempt to escape that pain?

Alessandro: Coldwinter’s new album (Where Memories Drowning) is a deep dive into Atmospheric Melodic Doom Metal, with almost an hour of dark and melancholic music. The album explores themes of sadness, pain, loneliness and loss, reflecting the band’s emotional journey…

The second track, “I Tried To Forget You,” speaks of the attempt to escape pain and suffering, but the inability to overcome it. The song is an expression of the internal struggle to cope with loss and longing…

Q9: How does this new work differ from Cold Light of the Horizon Dawning and earlier releases?

Alessandro: Coldwinter’s new album (Where Memories Drowning) differs from their previous album (Cold Light of the Horizon Dawning) in terms of atmosphere and sound…

While both albums are characterized by a dark and melancholic sound, (Where Memories Drowning) presents a more introspective and emotional approach, with a greater emphasis on creating an oppressive and suffocating atmosphere…

Compared to previous releases, (Where Memories Drowning) features more refined production and greater attention to detail, with a more balanced mix of Melodic Doom Metal elements. Coldwinter is exploring more personal and emotional themes in their lyrics, which adds a layer of depth and authenticity to the new album…

Some of the main differences between (Where Memories Drowning) and (Cold Light of the Horizon Dawning) include: More oppressive atmosphere (Where Memories Drowning) has a darker and more oppressive atmosphere, with a greater emphasis on creating a sense of despair and desolation, The lyrics of (Where Memories Drowning) are more personal and emotional, with a greater emphasis on exploring themes such as pain, loss, grief and loneliness, sadness and loss of faith…..

Q10: The track Everlasting Pain features Fábio de Paulafrom HellLight. How did that collaboration come about, and what did it add to the song?

Elvis Limac: It’s really cool to talk about this partnership, which was very rewarding for us. Fábio de Paula’s participation in the track “Everlasting Pain” happened very naturally. We had admired his work for quite some time in Helllight, a band that has always known how to express pain, dark spirituality, and emotional depth with unique honesty.

When we were working on (Everlasting Pain) there was a moment when I felt that the song needed another voice, not just a guest, but someone capable of intensifying the emotional weight that the track carries. The melancholic and dragging aesthetic that we wanted to convey seemed incomplete without a vocal presence that contrasted with, and at the same time, dialogued with, my interpretation.

That’s when the invitation came about. Alessandro contacted him and sent the track, and he agreed to participate and understood the spirit of the song. The way he interpreted the feeling of the song fit perfectly with what we were looking for. He brought a new horizon to the song, more density, more texture, and more depth. His presence made the atmosphere even more expressive.

(Everlasting Pain) gained another dimension with this collaboration. It became not just a song, but a conversation between two melancholic worlds that meet in the same emotional abyss….

Q11: Given the heavy emotional weight of your music, how do you hope listeners connect with it—whether through recordings, headphones, or personal reflection?

Elvis Limac: I hope that each listener finds, in their own way of listening, a space where our music can dialogue with their own suppressed emotions and feelings. If someone listens to it on a recording, at high volume, letting the sound fill the room, I want them to feel that wall of melancholy like an internal storm, an echo that resonates deeply. On headphones, I hope the experience becomes even more intimate, whispering directly to the heart that kind of emotional contact that only Doom truly provides. And for those who listen in moments of reflection, alone, perhaps in the silence of the early morning, I hope it functions as a mirror. 

Not to bring answers, but to allow each person to recognize their own pain, losses, and memories. May the music become a companion in dark times, not as an added burden, but as a deep embrace of understanding, and may pain, when transformed into music, be a path to finding meaning in what seems impossible to name…..

Q12: Your music feels deeply immersive. Even without live performance, how do you envision listeners experiencing that atmosphere—whether alone with headphones, in shared spaces, or through immersive recordings?

Elvis Limac: The atmosphere of our music has always been built to exist beyond the stage. Even without live performances, I believe that listeners can feel this immersion because Coldwinter works with sound as if each track were a space, an emotional place that you enter, cross, and carry with you. It is in this conception that every detail, the echoes, the whispers, the layers of melancholy, finds a direct path into our music. It is the most intimate way to experience our music, as if the listener were walking alongside their own memories while pain, beauty, and darkness intertwine.

In these aspects, what I hope is that, even without the physical stage, our music continues to fulfill its role: to create atmospheres that envelop, welcome, undress, and accompany. May it touch the intimacy of each person wherever they are.

Q13: Looking ahead, what do you hope Coldwinter’s legacy will be—not only in Brazil, but as part of the wider Doom/Black Metal tapestry?

Gustavo Grando: I believe that Coldwinter has already left an important mark on the Brazilian scene, but looking to the future, the legacy I envision for the band goes beyond geography.

For me, the great value lies in how they managed to combine melancholy, coldness, and raw honesty within a style that often repeats itself. Coldwinter was never about virtuosity or following formulas; it was about conveying a real feeling — that existential weight that Doom/Black Metal carries when it’s made with soul….

If there is a legacy, I hope it is precisely this: the demonstration that emotional intensity surpasses any current trend. That a band can be profoundly atmospheric, profoundly sad, profoundly true—and still find its own path within a genre saturated with conventions….