The Helmfest Storm – An Interview with WINTERSTORM

Zur deutschen Version geht es hier. 

It’s time for interview number two from Helmfest 2024 and thus somehow also for a little trip back to my teenage years! I associate a lot of things with the music of WINTERSTORM and even though the guys from Bavaria have been a bit quiet in recent years, there’s something enduring about their music. Nostalgia in combination with a good portion of curiosity finally led to this interview. Singer Alex and guitarist Michael share their thoughts on the current album Everfrost, what it’s like to be on stage together again after a long time and why they can’t release a new album every week. 

Thanks again to lightinmirror.de for the wonderful pictures!

Shieldmaiden’s Voice: If WINTERSTORM had a slogan, what would it be?

Alex: No matter if serious or not, have fun in front of the stage!

SV: How would you describe your music to someone who knows nothing about you?

Alex: Imagine listening to ORDEN OGAN, ENSIFERUM and a bit of EQUILIBRIUM, just the melodic parts, but there’s never any screaming, just singing!

Michael: Our music, our songwriting, is also very catchy and even if it’s sometimes a bit heavier, it still has a certain friendliness. We always convey fun, joie de vivre and it’s authentic and funny!

SV: You’ve been on tour with WARKINGS after it’s been a bit quiet around you in recent years, especially considering the gap between Cube of Infinity and the current album Everfrost. How does it feel for you to be „back“ now?

Michael: Refreshing! People are creatures of habit and things that are taken for granted somehow lose their value over time. You get used to things that mean an incredible amount and we’ve now seen again how much we value each other as people and how much we missed that live experience!

Alex: I really enjoy being on stage with the guys! For me, there was nothing to complain about today and it was a well-rounded experience for us. It just feels really good!

SV: Let’s talk more about your latest album Everfrost! How does it differ from its predecessors?

Alex: The first thing is that Michael wrote everything. We had a few line-up changes and before that Armin wrote everything. For us it was the first time songwriting without Armin. We did meet with him and asked him for his opinion and it was fine. It was totally cool for us because Michael took over Armin’s role, continued it and developed it further. I think the music still sounds a lot like WINTERSTORM. The lyrics I write were very fantasy-heavy before. Everfrost was the first album where I consciously decided to go in a different direction and deal more with the world around me. I took the world of Atlantis as an example. That was a mythical culture that claimed to be the best and that’s exactly how it is with us now. We live in a world that is working far too fast and destructively and that is the subject of the song The Phoenix Died, for example. Humanity doesn’t think about how many resources there actually are. 

Michael: It has also become more mature overall. It’s also more real and more tangible. 

Alex: It’s perhaps not quite as much fun as it used to be! But the problem was that we did it after two crises, namely the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Ultimately, people want to go to concerts to have fun and not to talk about problems. 

Michael: We also create fantasy worlds. That’s how we see ourselves! First of all, it comes from us and we want to create these worlds and that is transferred to the audience. 

Alex: Did you see our performance? Did you get the impression that it was a serious atmosphere?

SV: The first thing I heard from you was Kings Will Fall, which was a long time ago. You’ve always had a new vibe with every album. It ended for me with Cube of Infinity, because there was a long cut after that. With the first singles from Everfrost, I was still unsure where the journey was going for you. In itself, it suits you, because as an artist you always develop and we all age too. But overall I would say that the new songs are more melancholic because they are more thoughtful in terms of the themes they deal with.

Alex: Yes! I totally agree with you on that! The previous songs were all set in a fantasy world!

SV: What are the goals you still want to achieve with the band?

Michael: There are always two types of goals: The one that is realistic and the one that you always wish for. The big goals have always been big and the smaller goals have always been small, but we’ve always exceeded our goals. It was crazy what we achieved, but that didn’t impress us either. Many people rest on their laurels, but we were always pleasantly surprised when we achieved something. We are at a point where we are very happy about what we have already achieved, but we have also achieved enough to be able to say that we have achieved something. We want to carry on like this! We’ve been to Wacken, Summerbreeze, on tour in Europe and in the charts. That doesn’t sound bad, but we don’t want to overdo it either. We don’t want to produce something over and over again for no reason, just to have produced something. We make music out of passion!

Alex: What the band wants and what the market offers are different things. There are so many bands that all have a right to exist and their own fans. We have our fans too. A current problem is simply that you have to keep delivering. But we demand of ourselves that we want to deliver good and meaningful material. Of course we could release a new album next week, but that wouldn’t be a true WINTERSTORM album.

Michael: The technical conditions make it possible! You just have to press a button and several songs are written!

Alex: When I look at the deeper meaning of Everfrost, it’s actually about the fact that we treat our world badly, use too many resources and nobody cares. You can’t just make an album like this at the push of a button!

Remember, dear children: just because it’s technically possible doesn’t mean you should do it! That or something similar is certainly the quintessence of this interview. And that’s it for the Helmfest Festival 2024! But the next event is already casting its shadow: the Wolfszeit Festival is coming up and when the wolves call, we’re happy to follow!