Black metal cult PAYSAGE D’HIVER return.
Geister KUNSTHALL PRODUKTIONEN
Switzerland’s revered black metaller comes back quickly from the cold
CONSIDERING IT TOOK
23 years and numerous demo and split releases before Swiss mastermind Wintherr released the first Paysage D’hiver album proper, it’s a pleasant surprise to see album number two arriving just over a year afterwards. At a solid 70 minutes, Geister
is still epic in scope, but feels noticeably trimmer than 2020’s sprawling Im Wald. There’s much less focus on ambience this time – with the exception of chilling 10-minute outro, Geischtr, of course – and significantly more abrasive, fiery riffing. Tracks like Bluet and the brutish, almost Gorgoroth-like Wüetig
maintain a pounding, authoritative stomp. The album’s immersive wall of sound doesn’t really let up until its very final moments, bristling with a more ferocious, caustic energy than the previous album’s more introspective, forlorn tone.
In fact, if Wintherr wasn’t so notoriously reclusive, it’d be tempting to think of this album as a direct response to some of Im Wald’s more vocal critics; anyone who thought that record was too long and dream-like for its own good now has a much leaner, more focused and riffy record to contend with. That’s not to say Geister
is a complete departure, however. The production is very similar to Im Wald, keeping that murky lo-fi aesthetic whilst still being crystal clear and powerful sounding, and the hypnotic, ethereal quality of Wintherr’s songwriting is still undeniable. The seething, blizzardlike assault of tracks like Äschä feel much more direct and streamlined here too, compacting his usual expansive soundscapes into more confrontational yet digestible chunks.
Geister doesn’t feel as grandiose or definitive a statement as its predecessor did, but it doesn’t really need to. As a more aggressive, compact follow-up, it works perfectly, and is a reassuring reminder that Wintherr didn’t come anywhere near to exhausting his riff vault with that two-hour opus.
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FOR FANS OF: Urfaust, Xasthur, Darkspace
KEZ WHELAN