PAYSAGE D'HIVER — Paysage d'Hiver (review)

PAYSAGE D'HIVER — Paysage d'Hiver album cover

Album · 1999 · Atmospheric Black Metal

4.5/5 · 2012-12-01
Doomster

"Summer is the hottest every year, every winter there's a different sky Every spring there's a different sky, every sunrise feels so right" --Drudkh, Eternal Turn of the Wheel

It's that time of year, everyone. The first of December; when the light rots out, the darkness sets in, and you prepare yourself for a cold, long, and brutal winter.

To celebrate this dreary occasion, I will be reviewing one of the most notorious black metal bands of all time, in my opinion - Paysage D'hiver. Paysage D'hiver is a one-man black metal project by Tobias Mockl, a.k.a. Wintherr. At the read of "one-man black metal project" I can already hear some people clicking away from this review...well, bare with me here for a second.

Tobias Mockl, setting aside his desolate and arguably even more dreary interest in the cold, black veils of space, instead with his project Paysage D'hiver he turns his head to the season of winter.

Out of all seasons, there is something absolutely enthralling about winter, specifically a major interest of mine in terms of music. It's cold, clammy, desolate, dark and wet - what better season is there for metal music? It's my favorite time of year, but it's also my least favorite - it's beautiful, soothing and sorrowful, but at the same time, depressing and dreadful. All perfect attributes for good metal music.

Tobias' work, his self-titled album Paysage D'hiver, can easily be summed up in a few words: a blizzard turned into music. If a brutal snowstorm could have an audial sound, it would definitely be this.

Paysage D'hiver can easily be described as ambient/atmospheric/"depressive" black metal. While it's not necessarily music to kill yourself to, it can certainly work as a decent substitute; however, this type of black metal, in my opinion, sounds like that of a person who has had so many regrets in his/her life and that they are meeting their end by brutal snowfall - a final closure to their lifetime full of regrets and tragedies.

The metal on this album is raw, violent, frostbitten and evil - behind the buzzing, lo-fi, razorblade guitars and piercing fast drums, there is definitely something sinister concealed behind the chaos - something that is not only sinister, but sorrowful as well; something longing for something better with it's life.

There are also many violin sections scattered throughout this 54 minute album, and goddamn, they are seriously beautiful. Not only did I almost cry upon first hearing the two sorrowful violin melodies in the track "Welt Aus Eis" it certainly conveys not only what Tobias set out for (that being winter), but also a sense of relief and yet, dread. It's a complicated, confused, cold mix of emotions.

Tobias' vocals, however, are among my favorite part of his music. At the risk of sounding like a stoner, I really dig them; hidden beneath the struggling, enraged screaming, it's more than just incoherent mumbling, the vocals are...strangely human. The vocalists of depressive/atmospheric black metal music always makes me think that the lyricists are constantly striving for something better with their lives; something better above depression, despair and anger. It makes me think.

Also, like many atmospheric BM bands (and atmospheric in general music, too) the songs here are long as fuck - three tracks totaling in 54 minutes. The longest is "Welt Aus Eis" (World/Land of Ice), which is a whopping 19 minutes in length. Even then, the shortest song here is "Der Weg", which in itself is over 17 minutes. (!)

This album/demo is essential to any type of black metal fan. Good luck findin' this shit, however - unfortunately such good BM bands are so overlooked these days. All in all, if there's any music to die in a blizzard to, it's this. 93% is a fair rating for this album.