The Spaniards of Frozen Dawn have released "The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods" (read review here) a superb black metal album, which immediately captivated me. To find out a bit more about the band, I asked their singer/guitarist Grinder a few questions. Who does not know this album yet, should definitely catch up, because it is really done right from the cover to the music!

Michael

Hey, how are you doing? Can you introduce Frozen Dawn a little bit more to our readers?

Hello everybody. Well, about Frozen Dawn we are a black metal band from Spain, founded around 2006. We have released four albums to date, including the last one "The Decline of the Enlightened Gods".

Were you nervous about the album release?

Yes, we were really excited about the new album. We have put a lot of effort on it and we strongly believe that this is our best work to date. It has been a long journey from the conception, the songwriting, the recording, and finally the edition of the album. We are also much pleased that a label the size of Transcending Obscurity has put such trust in the album and the band.

As I wrote in my review, "The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods" is a fantastic album and probably the highlight in your discography. Are you satisfied with the result or would you have liked to change anything in retrospect?

We are more than satisfied with the result, almost for every point of sight. From songwriting, production quality, and engagement the people are experiencing. For sure there is space for improvements, but to date, this is without any doubt the release we are most proud of.

In the past your music sounded quite similar to the typical Scandinavian black metal that was done in the 90s, nowadays you sound like a slightly more melodic version of Necrophobic (and you covered them on the new album). Are these your main influences or is there some more you draw your inspiration from?

This is always a recurrent topic, about the band's influences. And it is always strange to me somehow. People tend to classify the music always to be similar to one or another band, and that's right, but I won't say these are our "main" influences, as I hear a lot of bands, not only related to black metal, that are also reflected in the music. I also think that our music has evolved from the first album to the last one.

You are the vocalist and guitarist in Frozen Dawn. Who is your all-time favorite singer / guitarist?

Well, I would say that I have no fav vocalist or guitarist. I see music as a whole concept, where every member has their place in the songs. I have instead favorite bands like Dark Fortress, Immortal, or lately In Aphelion.

The album title sounds quite mythological. What is the deeper meaning behind it?

All of our albums are about an imaginary world called Winterland. Each of the albums touches on different aspects or stories about this land. And for the last album, I agree with you that we have focused on the Winterland's cosmogony and how these gods fell.

Does the band have a certain philosophy in general?

No, there is neither philosophy nor politics in the band, except for the taste of good music. We think that music should be excluded from any political sign and should be only an art expression.

In the past you were on the Spanish label Xtreem Music, now you were signed by Transcending Obscurity Records. How did it come to this?

Well, when we finished recording the new album we started the search for a record label. Although Xtreem Music is a great label and we have such a good relationship with Dave Rotten, we wanted to try other paths to expand our music. That's when it came to Transcending Obscurity. As soon as we sent the demo to them, they were immediately interested in our music.

Are you satisfied with the label's work for you?

It has been a long journey until we got the album released due to the big schedule in the label, but in the end, we are very pleased with them and with the result. Kunal knows very well how to deal with the band and with the promotion, as well as with the merchandise.

I guess that you are together with Obituary, one of the last bands that use a cover by the great and much too early deceased painter Mariusz Lewandowski. How did you make this possible and did you get to know him personally? I really adore his works.

Mariusz Lewandowski was a friend of Kunal, and Kunal worked with him for some of the other releases. Then Kunal suggested to us, wisely, to select a painting from Mariusz. He said that its painting will fit very well with the music and the whole album concept. That's how we got to know its art, and we were instantly captivated by the power that Mariusz's paintings project.

Do you have any plans for 2023? I read that you're going to play a show in Bavaria soon – anything else?

Well, let's see how the year evolves. These days it is quite hard for a band of our size to perform too many shows without being bankrupt. But for sure we will try to do some gigs here and there when possible.

You are also a live musician in Haemorrhage. Do you know anything about their future plans, too? I guess it is time for some new surgery stories that have to be told!

With Haemorrhage we will be playing some summer festivals this year and hopefully new material will come soon….

Muchas gracias por la entrevista!

Many thanks for getting us interviewed!!! See you all in winter!!!!!!!