paysage d’hiver

The prolific Wintherr returns with second black metal stunner in as many years

Soon after last year’s two-hour atmospheric black metal epic Im Wald, Paysage d’Hiver returns with yet another full-length album (or is it a demo? The terms are interchangeable here.). Featuring a ferocious, riff-centric style, Geister (“Ghosts”) marks a new era for Paysage d’Hiver: one which is marked with a new approach, but consistent spirit. ¶ “After Im Wald, I felt that the next album had to be something quite different,” Paysage d’Hiver mastermind Wintherr says of the upcoming LP. “I wanted to go back to experimenting more, like I used to do a lot with the early recordings. Geister definitely was an experiment for me, as it is a music style and way of songwriting I have never done before.” ¶ “Geister doesn’t mark a new style,” he explains, “but will stay as a singular experience in the story of Paysage d’Hiver. The next album, which is already in the making, will again be something very different.” ¶ The Paysage d’Hiver narrative, which has been woven in a cyclical, out-of-order timeline across the project’s body of work, ventures into new territory, as well. Concentrating on the cult of the “Tschäggättä”

from the Lötschental valley, Geister sees the story’s protagonist enter the human realm, rather than Wintherr’s own metaphysical world of ice.

“This mask cult of the ‘Tschäggättä’ always screamed black metal to me,” he continues. “I carried this idea with me for over 20 years, and because I was curious if I would be able to create music that actually sounds like it could come from these ‘Tschäggättä,’ I at some point spontaneously started trying to manifest my vision. In my opinion it was successful, otherwise I wouldn’t have released it.”

Though this is the most recent public Paysage d’Hiver release, to Wintherr, it was completed long before Im Wald. “I wrote quite some music for this album on two evenings about 13 years ago, so basically I just took this old material and finally finished it,” he says. “The first three songs are from ‘back then,’ and each other song has at least one riff also from ‘back then,’ except for ‘Anders’ and ‘Geischtr,’ which are both totally new.”

“After Im Wald I was in such a good flow,” he continues, “that I just felt like finally doing something with it. [Geister] was mastered in April 2020, Im Wald was mastered in September of 2019. So, Geister was finished well before Im Wald was even released.”

Wintherr closes with a plea: do not listen to this and compare it to other Paysage d’Hiver recordings. “[I]t will be compared to the other recordings, which doesn’t make much sense to me,” he explains, “because it stands out as something quite different compared to Im Wald, Winterkälte, or Das Tor, for instance. Then again, Kerker also stands out as quite a peculiar album, and I see Geister much more in this tradition than the ‘typical’ Paysage d’Hiver