Review by Sonny for Paysage d'Hiver - Steineiche (1998)

Steineiche is the 1998 debut album / demo (delete as necessary) by a young Wintherr (Tobias Möckl) and his fledgeling Paysage d'Hiver black metal project. In its most widely available version it consists of three lengthy tracks, each quite distinct, and has a runtime around an hour. The original, limited edition, CD-R version had a fourth track, Déjà Vu, which doesn't appear on subsequent versions and which I haven't heard.

Even at this early stage it was evident that Wintherr had an uncanny knack of wringing an enormous amount of atmosphere from the most basic of palettes. The length of the tracks inevitably leads to a degree of repetitiveness, but Wintherr's genius is in never allowing such to become monotonous or boring, but continuously evolving each track so that listener engagement is maintained, whilst not straying too far from the original premise and enveloping and immersing said listener in the atmospherics. The production values are exceedingly lo-fi as anyone familiar with the project would already guess, yet Wintherr works this in the music's favour, using sparse, lo-fi recording techniques to infuse his work with an inherent iciness that feels sharp and brittle like winter frost and is eminently suited to the atmosphere of this album in particular and the wider concept of "The Wanderer" that makes up the entire discography of the project, thus laying out his manifesto very early on.

As I mentioned at the outset, the three tracks are each very distinct, yet they complement each other inordinately well. The opener "Die Baumfrau" ("The Tree Woman"), begins with an ambient intro complete with that staple of Pd'H releases, samples of a winter wind blowing frostily from the speakers, before erupting in a shivering blast of black metal iciness that is probably nearest to what most would expect from the project, but which is no less effective for that, it essentially being the acorn from which that particular black metal oak germinated. The riffing and blasting is of a pummelling intensity and the high-pitched shrieks are searingly harsh and sound like someone taking a power sander to an orc's balls, but the track feels even more sinister when these give way to a deep, spoken-word section where the vocals hover around on the edge of audibility before the frantic shrieking reasserts control. Subtle little details like this, along with the insertion of a gothick-y guitar melody over the main riff in the middle section and another near the track's end that sounds like bluegrass banjo-picking, prevent the track from becoming stale whilst still maintaining the direction of travel, a skill with which Wintherr has proven to be admirably proficient over the years. By track's end, such is the impressiveness of his nascent songwriting ability, you don't even realise that twenty minutes have elapsed.

For the second epic, very different, track we get to hear from The Tree Woman's spouse "Der Baummann" (The Tree Man). This is a much more moody-sounding piece that has a doomier ethic with a guitar sounding at times very similar to Celtic Frost, or more accurately Triptykon. Overlaid with thin keys and a picked guitar melody and featuring guttural croaking vocals mixed quite low, this has a sinister, ominous edge to it, contrasting superbly with the savagery of the opener, as if the threat of "Der Baummann" is deeper and more profound than the mere physical violence of "Die Baumfrau". Ending with a tortured (possibly synthesised) violin scraping at your mind, the track seems to threaten the annihilation of soul as well as body.

The closer is a twenty-five minute ambient piece with a haunting, ritualistic atmosphere. Now I am not known for my patience with long ambient tracks. My dislike of "Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität" on Burzum's "Filosofem" seemingly flying in the face of popular opinion, for example, but Wintherr here shows Varg how to construct a lengthy epic with quite simple building blocks that never threatens to become tedious. From ritualistic and almost martial-sounding beginnings it reaches for the stars and becomes more cosmic and occult. With barely audible spoken vocals that feel like the probings of a Cthulhian titan seeking to escape its cosmic prison, it hints at secrets of the universe that a mere man's mind could not possibly comprehend, nor soul withstand. Ending with a female operatic aria, "Der Baum" leaves a quite stunning impression.

I must confess that, for some inexplicable reason, I had never checked out this debut until now, but now I have I would probably list it as one of Paysage d'Hiver's most interesting releases. The songwriting is extraordinarily accomplished and as he was responsible for everything on the record, Wintherr's technical competence cannot be sniffed at either. Whilst I accept that some may struggle with the sparse production, I find that the lack of high production values removes a layer of artifice from between artist and listener and allows an unvarnished reopresentation of Wintherr's intent to be heard, to everyone's benefit.