Coldwave is a style of Post-Punk/New Wave music that originated in Europe in the late 1970s/early 1980s, known for its generally dark, gloomy (thus “cold”) atmosphere and heavy reliance on synthesizers. It was popular predominantly in France and Poland in the 1980s, and consisted largely of bands that were heavily influenced by British post-punk acts such as Joy Division, The Cure, Bauhaus and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Some of the more notable French examples of this style are Asylum Party, KaS Product, Martin Dupont and Trisomie 21. Polish examples are Variété, Bruno Wątpliwy, Siekiera and Made in Poland. In both countries the original British post-punk bands that were influential to the genre are sometimes referred to as coldwave as well.

By coincidence, the term was also used during the 90s to describe bands from the US industrial rock underground, especially those signed to or affiliated with Reconstriction Records.

Notable examples of this “American Coldwave” are Chemlab, 16volt, and Acumen Nation.

Coldwave, also written as Cold Wave, is a term that describes two different genres of music:
* the French coldwave, a musical movement in France from the late '70s until the late '80s.
* the American coldwave, a term used in the USA in the 1990s for industrial metal.