It feels kind of funny to be turning in an album review for Paysage d'Hiver, as Wintherr largely built his name in the black metal underground with a series of demos and splits over the course of 22 years. However, the project emerged triumphant with its first official full length album in 2020: Im Wald. That album was nothing short of a modern black metal masterpiece, a sprawling work of atmospheric breadth backed up by endless streams of catchy riffs and ripping vocals. Perhaps in an effort to hone his creative output, Wintherr followed this up with Geister, a collection of terse and immediate tracks of cold, raw fury. And thus we arrive at Die Berge, a new offering that stands between the creative worlds of the previous two works.
On the one hand, Die Berge sees Wintherr return to the longer, mesmerizing songs that characterized Im Wald and the legendary demos like Steineiche, Kerker and the 1999 self-titled release. This gives the listener a chance to really breathe in every riff, snare hit and vocal utterance and immerse themselves in the dark world of "Der Wanderer."
However, Im Wald was also a deeply emotive work that used the emotive power of the riffs to maximum effect. It wasn't "atmospheric" for it's own sake. Of the album's two tracks, there's two that reach the same levels of sonic power achieved on the best moments of Im Wald (e.g., "Über den Bäumen," "Le rêve lucide"). "Verinnerlichung" is a forceful and ferocious work that evokes the daunting mountains of Wintherr's homeland, racked by the harshest snowstorms. Likewise, "Ausstieg" is both pulverizing in its aggression and fascinating in its rich tapestry of guitars. This is Paysage d'Hiver at its absolute best.
However, there was something really cool about Geister too. For those of you who crave a similar approach with menacing hooks, go straight to "Transzendenz I." On this song, the drums and guitars clash with synths to create a striking dynamic: hypnotic, but also kind of badass! And its well complimented by the release evoked on part 2.
But there are a couple moments where the shorter song lengths on Geister might have helped the album overall. "Transzendenz III" could have been condensed a bit, as it serves more as an interlude than a standalone song. And this is especially true for the album's final song, "Glipfel." I understand that atmosphere is kind of the point for a project like this, but there is such a thing as a song that drags. At more than 17-minutes long, Wintherr makes a point he probably could have gotten across within 10 minutes. It's good to let a series of riffs breathe, but maybe not all over the listener again and again for nearly 20 minutes.
Still, none of this should deter devoted black metal listeners from exploring the dark, cold world of Die Berge. According to the album's official description: "Die Berge takes the wanderer into the 14th chapter, which might end up as his last. The main theme of "Die Berge" is death and this time the enigmatic wanderer's journey is comparable to that of a Zen monk who hikes to the peak of a mountain on feeling that his time has come."
Let's hope there's still many wanderings in store for all of us.
