siLLy puPPy In the world of lo-fi kvlt black metal perhaps no other act has done a better job at keeping it so old school pure as Switzerland’s PAYSAGE D’HIVER which is French for “wintery landscape.” Formed near Bern in 1997, this has been the lo-fi playground for sole member Wintherr which is an alias for Tobias Möcki who also poses as Wroth in the band Darkspace. Wintherr has been a master of cranking out lengthy sprawling ambient black metal albums over the years but really takes things to a kvlt extreme by classifying them all as demos. Only in 2020 with the release of “Im Wald” has he allowed a release to be classified as an “album,” but whatever! right? With most releases over 60 minutes, they’re friggin albums already :D

PAYSAGE D’HIVER was very much inspired by Burzum’s earliest albums, especially “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” and “Filosefem” which is obvious on this debut release STEINEICHE (German for “Holm Oak”). Despite the Burzum influences of mixing extremely lo-fi raw production styles with atmospheric ambience and sprawling soundscapes that flow on like frozen rivers in the Alps, PAYSAGE D’HIVER isn’t afraid to crank out some of the noisiest and most aggressive examples of black metal as heard by Darkthrone, Mayhem or Immortal. Add to that a touch of excellent songwriting that allows different segments of this behemoths to stand out and keep the tracks from falling into tedious drudgery, it’s not hard to hear even on this first offering why PAYSAGE D’HIVER has become such an underground kvlt sensation.

STEINEICHE only consists of four tracks yet reaches the whopping running time of over 72 minutes! Wow! Two tracks along exceed 20 minutes and the shortest is 11 and a half. To be honest that’s only true on the first CD-R as all the following releases removed the track “Déjà Vu” which didn’t fit the plan after Wintherr constructed a thematic approach which continues to link his albums together even to the modern day. Technically the music of each album tells a different story about a realm known as PAYSAGE D’HIVER with each track adding a different dimension to the story but when all is said and done that’s mumbo jumbo because if you’re in it for the creepy lo-fi black metal fix then these narratives don’t really add much IMHO. The secret of PAYSAGE D’HIVER is to construct side by side tracks of black metal and dark ambient which could theoretically be separate tracks but work so much better together.

The opening “Baumfrau” hits the 20 minute mark and is the most aggressive track on board with ferocious high tempo black metal aggressiveness rampaging in tandem with darkened ambient sounds of winter. The lo-fi aspects keep this firmly planted in another dimension that is merely bleeding through but never quite accessible in full spectrum. The music is vicious and perfectly depicts the cruel brutality of a frigid winter and its unforgiving punishing persistence. “Baummann” offers a slower funeral doom metal side of the black metal universe with the atmospheric ambience dominating while funeral dirge-like riffs echo in tortuous glee as nature and the underworld plot to bring the living to its knees. Once again Wintherr knows how long he can milk any particular motif and subtly changes things up without sullying the atmospherically bleak procession into the abyss.

“Der Baum” is the lengthiest track which almost hits the 25 minute mark. Beginning with a creepy synth marching along it takes several minutes before a demonic voice whispers from the netherworld however it’s unclear what frightful utterances emerge. This one requires a bit more patience as the dungeon synth drones on for a good long time but just as it sounds like it’s about to fade into oblivion around the 18 minute mark the percussive march of ambience transmogrifies into a swirling vortex of ambient bliss as if your consciousness has been lifted into the astral planes at least the shadowy regions where the light is in short supply. However just when all hope is lost, angelic voices emerge from the misty sonic brume and sheds a glimmer of hope and the track ends its 24 minute ambience in a completely unexpected way without a lick of black metal to be heard.

While the track “Déjà Vu” has been removed from STEINEICHE after the first CD-R, somehow i feel compelled to include it simply because it was originally part of the master plan before a larger picture started to emerge in Wintherr’s agenda. This song is based on a David Crosby song titled “Orleans” and possibly titled after the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album. Yeah it takes six minutes of howling wind and creepy synth notes to begin the song but finally it begins and i couldn’t agree more that this track totally didn’t belong on this album. So after this one is nixed from the mix the album is only 60 minutes long on other releases other than the first however it’s not a bad track at all. Burzum seems to be a favorite of atmospheric black metal buffs and although i do like the early albums, his style has never grabbed me substantially. Personally i prefer PAYSAGE D’HIVER who picked up Burzum’s style as he sat in his prison cell and ran away with it. While this debut tends to get ignored, i actually love this one quite a bit. True it’s not an every day occasion when i wanna sit back and soak in bleakness but when i do, STEINEICHE.

Warthur Tobias Möckl, AKA Wintherr, premiered his distinctive, chilly mixture of hyper-lo-fi black metal and delicate, considered dark ambient keyboard tinklings on this tree-themed concept albums. (Note that later editions do not include the track Deja Vu, since it doesn't fit the concept of the album - Wintherr intends to rerelease the orphaned track in other projects along the way.) With Der Baumfrau offering fast-paced black metal, Der Baummann offering a slower, doomier take on Paysage's sound, and the central mystery of Der Baum being a pure dark ambient track, this demo offers a grab-bag of all of Paysage d'Hiver's different styles which subsequent demos would continue to unpack and explore.

Wilytank Tobias Mockl and his gang made some very excellent music in Darkspace, but I feel that I should give some recognition to Mockl's solo project, Paysage d'Hiver, so that I can avoid looking like an ignorant cad. I did say in one of my Darkspace reviews that Paysage d'Hiver doesn't grab my interest the way that Darkspace does. That obviously doesn't mean I don't like P d'H at all. I'm sure part of the lesser appeal is me not liking to listen to winter themed music in the heat of summer though. However, winter always comes back, and one of the albums I always go back to listening to is 'Steineiche', Paysage d'Hiver's cold-hearted debut.

So how does pure winter work its way into twenty minutes? Exibit A: "Die Baumfrau". Two and three quarter minutes of lo-fi ambient and wind sounds, then a blizzard of black metal. It's a storm of tremolo riffs, blast beating drums, and screeching vocals all in lo-fi production. Is there variation? Yes there is. The original passage is changed at the 4:36 mark, but it is not until the 5:26 mark where the blizzard calms down for the first time. Keyboards and slower guitar notes are played which are continued when the drums and tremolo rhythm kick back into play. At a certain point in this movement, the screeching vocals are replaced by lower sounding vocals (you still can't understand what they're saying). Quieter music comes back again at the 7:43 mark with the keyboard and a lead guitar's soft playing only audible once again continued when the rest of the storm returns. The slower, softer plucking of the lead guitar is eventually replaced by a swarm of tremolo notably more prominent than the rhythm guitar's storm. The song slows down around the second half of the tenth minute, which is nice to have just to acknowledge that not every minute of this song has to be backbreaking fast. The tremolos are mostly maintained, but the drumming slows down noticeably, but finally returns at the 12:30 mark. Yet another quiet section of ambient and calm guitar starts just thirty seconds later. Toby extends this break a little longer with his muted snarling, and a more electric sounding guitar eventually creating a buildup of sorts. Then, the original black metal section near the beginning of the song is given a reprise. Though I can't say that this song doesn't repeat any sections anymore, it's not that big of a deal since it's over ten minutes since that riff was played. Within the latter end of the 16 minute mark, another new passage is played with some choral like wailing and odd percussion played alongside the blastbeating drum machine. Once that ends, the song slows down (without going into yet another calm break) with slower riffs and drumming and the sound of a bell tolling. This is maintained as the song fades out to silence.

"Die Baumfrau" is the only song on the album that gets fast paced the way it did. All the other songs are much slower, but they perfectly maintain the winter atmosphere with other approaches.

"Der Baummann" is slower and doomier. There's a calm guitar providing an atmospheric blanket over the raw sounding riffing and a bell tolling in the background once again. After about three minutes, the bell and calm sounding guitar are replaced by keyboard ambient. The vocals in the first part of this song are low growls. At 5:38, a melodic sounding interlude begins with little activity from the bass and drums. A little more than a minute later, the song switches back to the normal style, different played section. The calm guitar also returns to play a little melody only to be replaced by the keyboard just before the ten minute mark is reached. There's also some violin playing that comes in around the 12 minute mark. When the violin kicks in, the music pretty much maintains the riff it has until it fades out leaving only violin and wind sounds in the final two minutes of this song.

And the remaining track, "Der Baum", is...actually not metal at all. It's the longest piece on the album, but it's all keyboard ambient. You know what, though? I'm perfectly fine with it. Beginning at the 3:50 mark, there are vocals. This time, they are delivered in whispers to add a creepier effect. There's two verses of lyrics to read, but if you don't follow them, they seem to end before you know it; and at that point, you're barely a third of the way through the song. The rest of the song features more glorious keyboard ambient along with bits of tolling bell. Within the final three minutes, a female voice singing in an operatic fashion completes the journey and image, of the song and of the album.

Tobias Mockl has crafted an album/demo about winter in such a way that winter themed metal will never find an equal. The imagery is perfect for it. The fast and raw "Die Baumfrau" makes me feel like I'm trying to survive a blizzard, the slower death doom metal styled "Der Baummann" makes me feel like I'm wondering in a snow covered forest without having any idea where I need to go, and "Der Baum" gives me the feeling of me finding a large stone with engravings on it in the ground in the middle of the snow covered forest. After reading the engravings, I realize that this stone is my gravestone, and my soul is lifted from my mortal shell, becoming one with the spirit of winter. That is the magic of 'Steineiche'.