Winds Of Nowhere are a band that seamlessly blends atmospheric black metal with elements of folk and melodic black, crafting expansive soundscapes that evoke both the raw power of nature and deep introspection. Emerging from the underground metal scene of Istanbul, Türkiye the band is building a reputation for their evocative compositions, rich melodies, and lyrical themes. WoN offer listeners a journey through soaring highs and melancholic depths, and invites listeners to join them as they brave it outside in the cold winds of nowhere.
Winds Of Nowhere released their excellent self-titled debut album in 2024, so you could be forgiven for having not heard it just yet. However, if that is the case, I implore you to rectify this fact, especially if you are a fan of bands like Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, Drudkh, Fen, Alda, and the likes.
Today we’re joined by Alp, to talk beginnings, black metal, and what the scene is like in Türkiye.
Winds Of Nowhere Interview (Alp Interview By D, February 2025)
Alp, appreciate your time today!
Let’s start at the beginning. Having only formed in 2022, I imagine there are still a lot of people who are still yet to discover your excellent debut album, so, in your own words – what is Winds Of Nowhere, does the name come from a Dissection song, and what inspired WoN’s creation?
The name comes from the Dissection song, that is correct. Since a lot of bands take inspiration from their favorite artists regarding band names, song names or album names, I also wanted to continue the tradition and use a Dissection song as an inspiration since they are a huge influence on our music. The band itself started as a solo project years ago, but other than some unreleased demos it didn’t go anywhere. Around 2022 I made another attempt at reviving the project and in 2023 I was able to finally find our vocalist, James.
As far as I can tell, this is a debut project for all the members involved, is this correct? And your vocalist is from America? Are they based in Türkiye or is this an international project? How did you all meet?
Winds of Nowhere is technically an international band at the moment, but since I write and play almost all the music with other guitarist Utku you can say we are based in Türkiye. I’ve met vocalist James and guest vocalist Jacy via Reddit, and Utku, who is an excellent guitar player, is an old friend of mine. Our vocalist James is from America and has a one man thrash/death metal band called Bombination. He had released an excellent album with his project before, so technically this is his second project.
Let’s talk about influences, in your own words, what or who would you say influenced or inspired you most during the creation of your debut?
Our music is inspired by various bands like Dissection, Dawn, early Naglfar, early Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Wintersun, Alcest, Agalloch, early Empyrium, early In Flames, Immortal, Rotting Christ, Drudkh, Moonsorrow, and so on. Recently I’ve also got influenced heavily by atmospheric black metal bands like Midnight Odyssey, Severoth, and Evilfeast, and that influence brought all the keyboard-laden atmospheric, ambient sound into the mix which added another dimension to our music.
What does 2025 look like for Winds Of Nowhere? What do you guys have planned?
We are currently working on the second album. Our plan is to release it in 2026, but nothing is certain yet. We may release an EP before that but there are no concrete plans for now. I want to put some of our old demos out there as well, we’ll see.
Outside of Türkiye, which countries have shown the most appreciation for Winds Of Nowhere? Is there anywhere, as a band, you guys would like to visit in particular?
According to analytics it seems like our album has been mostly appreciated by people from United States. Going there would be great, but for now it is not possible unfortunately.
Let’s talk about Türkiye, as it is a beautiful country with a rich and fascinating history. How does your homeland inspire your music?
Türkiye is a beautiful country and Turkish culture is very rich but unfortunately from musical perspective we are very detached from Turkish music traditions and melodies. There are a lot of bands out there who use these influences on their music very successfully though. For example, the most successful Turkish metal band Pentagram (known as Mezarkabul outside of Türkiye) is a great example of using traditional Turkish melodies in a more traditional heavy metal setting and making it work.
I know virtually nothing of the Turkish black metal scene, in your opinion, what are some of the standout Turkish bands, other than yourselves, who people should be more aware of?
Ominous Grief is an underrated Turkish melodic black metal band which released a great album called Nothing in Remembrance and disbanded some years ago. There are also bands like Raven Woods, Baht, and Seal of Solomon, which blend Turkish folk melodies with more traditional black and death metal sound. Serpent of Old is a more recent band that released a great death/black metal album in 2023, which seems to be received really well.
Leading on from that, how is the local scene for black metal in Türkiye? Are there many shows? I always remember the picture of Mayhem playing in Izmir, so I know it has a long history with black metal but how do you find it? How is Türkiye in regards to protester or government interference when it comes to putting on these kinds of shows?
Mayhem concert in Izmir is almost like a folk legend among metalheads here, you can find many people who claim to have been on that show years ago. Black metal has always been well liked and well appreciated among Turkish metalheads. Mainstream local black metal bands are very rare to see, as consistency is a big problem in Turkish metal scene, but there have been many smaller, underground black metal bands appeared in the scene and went away through the years. Regarding any protests, other than some satanic panic moments that happened many years ago, local and foreign black metal artists fly under radar usually. Bands like Marduk or Mayhem have had many shows in here throughout the years without any problems or controversies. Black metal scene seems to be left alone by the powers that be and hopefully it will stay that way in the future.
Visions of a Forgotten Past is such an ambitious track, how challenging was the recording process for this one? (For the reader: Visions of a Forgotten Past is a single track that is 36 minutes long)
It wasn’t as challenging as you would think. The song actually has a very traditional structure that is really stretched out, so that made things a bit easier. Since I had demoed the song 3-4 times in its entirety throughout the years recording process was really quick. Real challenge was deciding on the final arrangement, as I changed/added/removed sections and riffs countless times. Even now the finished product doesn’t feel 100% completed to me but it is close enough.
Are there any plans to turn Winds Of Nowhere into a live band? If yes, would you also be ambitious enough to perform Visions of a Forgotten Past live? (haha)
I would love to perform our songs live, unfortunately it doesn’t seem feasible for now. But I think our songs would translate into live setting really well, even Visions of a Forgotten Past would work in a live setting I think, either as an abridged version or as a full song. Opeth showed us that it can be done by playing Black Rose Immortal live, though we are no Opeth obviously. But I think it is doable, and it is something we definitely would love to do in the future.
Leading from that, what equipment do you use to achieve your sounds? And what equipment would you like to add to your arsenal later?
I recorded and edited everything at home with Reaper, and sent to Nekkomix to be mixed and mastered and he did his magic. I used a Schecter Hellraiser Special C-1 to record all the guitars. Main guitar sound comes from AmpliTube 5 CS, free version of AmpliTube 5 as it was more than enough for my needs. Synth sounds are mostly from Cakewalk TTS-1, and drums are from MT Power Drum Kit 2. I used plenty of other VSTs here and there as well. I’m a sucker for 90s black metal synth sound so I’m trying a few different plugins to get closer to to that without going overboard, that’s my aim for the next album.
In your opinion, what are some of the things we should be checking out? This could be literature, music, movies, whatever. What does Winds Of Nowhere recommend we check out next?
Aran and Bloody Valkyria from Finland, Blencathra from England, and Fathomage from Australia are great one man atmospheric black metal bands that more people should know about. These days I’m mostly listening to Myrkgrav, Kvaen, and Midvinterblot, and also some Steve Roach to get my ambient kick. As for literature, Lord of Light is a book by Roger Zelazny that I really, really enjoyed recently so I recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi books that don’t have a straightforward narrative.
It’s probably clear from the fact I’m speaking to them that I genuinely enjoyed Winds Of Nowhere’s debut. Though, what’s better, is as a result I discovered it has also opened my eyes to a whole new country of black metal that I have had very little exposure to previously.
So, if you’re reading this and you’ve not already, make sure to check out Winds Of Nowhere’s self-titled album and go be impressed by the majesty and scale of Visions of a Forgotten Past like I was, you will not regret it!
Guys, any final thoughts or comments you want to make?
Thank you everyone for your support, and we appreciate anyone who listened to our album. We will bring you some new music very soon, so stayed tuned on our Bandcamp and Instagram.
Appreciate your time, Alp!
BOSTKTB,
HTBLOF.
Mithraic Magazine 
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