WinterMoonShade is a black metal band from Portugal, whose music is the very embodiment of the ancient woodland spirits and children of Gaia.
They weave haunting melodies and tortured stories mixed with an otherworldly beauty carved from the bones of the world itself. Let’s know more about them – here’s our interview with the vocalist & guitarist, called Haze.

Beginnings:

The three of us are from a little town on the west coast in Portugal. Me and Fenrir were schoolmates a long time ago. I got a desire to forge a band digging into the landscapes of black and death metal. The original idea was to start as a two-piece group only with a drummer and a guitar. Zefir came along with the concept and everything emerged. Then we decided to record bass on the tracks and Fenrir fitted in with temptation to be a permanent member of WinterMoonShade.

Behind the name:

To match the soundscape that we play the band’s name should be linked with nature. “WinterMoonShade” is a name inspired by a feeling that we get when we are camping near a waterfall in the surroundings of our home town. The place is covered by trees that slightly let the moonlight in and the shadows turn that into a magical place. So the name came up just like that.

Inspiration:

Our primal inspiration is drifting into sound landscapes that reflect nature’s tranquility and human interactions towards it. Also some reflections from nightmares and emotional fields. Perceptions from the past in comparison with nowadays lifestyle. These are some paths we walked through. With a focus on a new album, the brand new songs besides the debut album are growing in a more consistent and deeper alliance with our present identity that is evolving into a much darker nature connection. Also, we dig into black and death metal genres and bands across the years. Names like Cradle of Filth, (our countrymen) MoonSpell, Immortal, Dissection, Dimmu Borgir Behemoth, and so on… Come easily to refer to our main influences. We are still listening to these bands and many more emerging in the black/death Metal genres but also a lot of folk and fusion music bands like Wardruna, Heilung, or (our countrymen) Urze de Lume.

Teamwork:

The three of us are feeding the new songs with their own imagination that inspires the next to better themselves. Sometimes it is only a tiny spark that grows into a wildfire as we join our inspirations together. We guess that we are now printing a deep brand into our songs that are defining well the WinterMoonShade’s identity.

COVID-19:

All of this situation crossed our path as everyone else’s. As a young band starting in 2020 obviously this has a huge impact on the idea of starting to play live that is now in a sleepy mode. For now, our debut album is out and we are tuning into writing more music and improving our skills and personalities as musicians. When all these black clouds are gone we guess that something will come up naturally and we will grow up as a live band as well.

Online concert:

Once live shows are out of the question, for now, we are planning to do some things for reaching more people online in the near future. Videoclips, rehearsals records, and things like that. Also with our characters getting aligned in a deeper personality, some photoshoots are in line to captivate more metal fans towards our music and image. The imagination will lead us through uncertain paths as the inspiration comes and for sure we will get the right channels to reach people.

Describe your music in five words!

Dark melodic nature whispering tales!

Fun facts:

Besides our serious image and dark melodic music, we are a very well modded band. Our rehearsals are sometimes pure comedy. Mostly Zefir is always joking about something and we have a great time together. We got a lizard living and walking around our practice spot ceiling and Zefir is terrified at it. Obviously, we sometimes scare him by saying that the lizard is right above him so he jumps off his drum kit… Well, we guess now we ruined forever our black metal rough guys image… (laughs)

Stay tuned and follow WinterMoonShade all over the World Wide Web and when the pandemics finally over go to the shows and support live music as well. There are a lot of good bands coming up. So, refresh your musical knowledge and dig into new sounds! Stay Metal. Respect each other and Mother Nature.

MESSAGE TO THE FANS