Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Dominik Winter and I’m the head of Frigoris. Besides playing the guitar and doing the lead vocals, I write the songs and lyrics and do all of the management stuff.

It took a lot more time to compose this album. The first fragments were already written in 2010 and could evolve during the following 2 years. I already knew that the sound should castaway most of the pagan elements of the earlier records and so I focused on creating a complex, absorbing atmosphere while writing the songs.

Last but not least it also was our first time recording in a professional studio which gave us the chance – besides creating a great sound – to work highly concentrated on some details of the songs which is not possible in a rehearsal room to that degree.

Writing your own music is a hunt for the perfect song, perfect atmosphere and perfect sound. There is always a little something that could have been better but without that the excitement of doing all that would be gone. I think Wind is a well-rounded record and I really like what came out but I also learned a lot while writing the songs as well as visiting the studio and so the hunt will go on and drive us further.

·What groups or artists would you consider to be your biggest musical influences, not just in terms of style but those that got you into music in the first place?

It is very hard for me to specify that. When I started Frigoris I was a die-hard fan of Amon Amarth but I never got at least a vast sound that could have been considered similar to them. I would say it is all about atmosphere – at least it works for me this way. For example when I listen to Der Weg einer Freiheit I just forget everything around me enjoying the feeling they create and when I write music I try to reach the same. Somehow I managed to create my own writing style and when music inspires me it incites me to reach that great level of music in my own writing. On my way so far there are not many bands that managed to touch me for a very long time. Some of them are Nagelfar, Agalloch, Alcest or This will Destroy you.

I think especially our generation of musicians really profit from the internet because it is much easier to spread your music not just in your region but in the whole world. On the other hand it’s much harder to step out of the mass of bands that try to get their music promoted. But this is just for the first insight in a band. If I could choose between a download or a real Jewelcase I would never choose the download. Holding a CD in your hand gives you a feeling of having something really valuable and creates a much greater bond between the listener and the music. So I’d say that the internet is really great for promotion but buying a CD instead of downloading it is much more satisfying 

There was an important turning point in our history in the end of 2010/early 2011 when Pelle joined us on the drums and we started playing the first songs of Wind live. From that moment we began to feel an acceptance in our local “scene” due to our development towards atmospheric black metal combined with a stable and good live line-up. Since then we gained more and more fans here and therefore also the interest outside the ruhr-area and even outside of Germany grew. I hope this will continue and that we will have more opportunities to play shows in whole Europe. Wind will be an important milestone for that.

If there was any guest musician I would like to participate on a Frigoris album it would be Alboîn from Eïs. He has a really great voice and already had some guest appearances in great records like the first Lântlos album or Argypnie’s 16[485].

I’m expecting very much of the new Deafheaven album. Roads To Judah was very inspiring and I hope Sunbather will even exceed that.

Due to the fact that we visited a professional studio we had the chance to use a lot of equipment we don’t have in our rehearsal. 

I think the best advice I could give anyone starting an ambitious band is: Do it yourself. If you want to play gigs – organize them. If you want to have contact to some more important people – just write them. Don’t rely on other people. We experienced that you can’t get forward if you show no initiative.