Nordlicht - Nebelmeer (2002) Review

If you're a regular visitor of this blog or have somehow landed here of your own accord, there's a good chance you are already familiar with the Swiss artist Tobias Möckl (a.k.a. Wintherr) and his involvement in the prolific projects Paysage d'Hiver and Darkspace. 

I've spent some time reviewing a couple of releases from both projects, even though a deeper dive is borderline mandatory and would be the perfect counterweight to surviving this dreadful summer. Apart from the interest in the discography, a more observant listener should have already noticed that Paysage d'Hiver material is consistently being released on Wintherr's own label, Kunsthall Produktionen.

Kunsthall has been operating essentially since the beginning of the project itself in the late '90s, almost exclusively licensing its own releases with very few exceptions (like Trist, Nordgeist and Devilgroth). What you might have missed is that back in the day, the label used to be co-ran with another individual named Nimosh, who also made music under the moniker Nordlicht.

Nordlicht from Bern released a full-length album named Nebelmeer in 2002, which is the sole and main release you'll find around. The album title (sea of fog) may have been inspired from the famous painting Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) by Caspar David Friedrich, or it might just be a term similarity, we'll never know.

I've bought Paysage d'Hiver's Shnee (2020) compilation, which features the track "Schnee (III)" taken from a split of the project with Nordlicht way later, in 2017. And somehow, I still didn't pick up the memo for checking the latter too. It must have been an inner collaboration between the two musicians, for old times sake, but it has a 16-minute piece that I need to check out after listening to this album.

Nebelmeer consists of four main ambient black metal tracks, sprinkled with short interludes in between, yet the total length of the record is not anything like what you imagine from this description. Everything happens in just 28 minutes, but it somehow feels enough.

The pure dark ambient tracks are quite more varied than I would have guessed, often touching astral textures apart from the obvious wintry ones. I thoroughly enjoyed the moments of pure black metal, where Nordlicht focuses on riffs that don't shy away from repetition and aggression, sometimes even in the vein of Hate Forest.

This is especially clear on the first track "Winterweg", as a more traditional raw / atmospheric black metal pattern is adopted for the spacey followers "Nebelhall", and "Herbstrot". Wonderful piano segments can also be found around in their most exhausted form, as sometimes employed in Nortt, or yes, Paysage d'Hiver.

Vocals are high-pitched, distant and almost echoed, while drums are stripped down to the most basic form of monotony, almost as if they stand on the side for the rest of the instrumentation. The record has the infamous underground black / death metal distortion of its time and actually even earlier, as it would totally fit somewhere in the '90s too.

One of the moments I found the most interesting is the eerie guitar melodies of the last track "Nebelherr", followed by middle-paced offbeat riffing and some clean vocals. Nebelmeer may try to present itself as minimal, but there's surprising variation in such a short total length.

Of course, it's for fans only, and especially people into the music of the aforementioned bands from Switzerland. Even after all these years of frequent digging and searching, I somehow completely ignored the existence of this project or this album, until just a few days ago. Better late than never.

Kunsthall Produktionen

Darkspace - Dark Space -II (2024) Review

It's been 10 years since the last Darkspace album and we almost forgot about them. In the meantime, we did get Paysage d'Hiver full length albums from Wintherr though, which is pretty groundbreaking for people aware of the specific project.

I have to say, the case of Darkspace is one of a kind and if you get behind it, you don't dislike anything from them, as the direction and the concept is quite specific and never going to change. Not to mention, these are the only people that are worth of acquiring the label of "cosmic black metal". Many have tried, all have failed except Darkspace.

Things have been quiet, the Swiss brand name returns in the usual enigmatic manner, after an almost experimental album in 2014 that didn't win me over. My opinion that Dark Space III is by far their best has not changed, and it is the same with Dark Space -II.

There's not the usual approach here, Darkspace explores some distant funeral doom in the way Elysian Blaze does, focuses 100% on building the atmosphere, and the idea of a riff is splintered.

Apart from a quite long introduction of almost eight minutes, the one piece in Dark Space -II makes you happy the band is back, but that's it. These 47 minutes of music are enjoyable, maybe with too much meandering but all the haunting presence of Darskpace is quite strong.

It is objectively a great album, but maybe a slight disappointment considering what they are capable of doing. Insta-purchage without a question, and a nice return after a decade, making 2024 a little bit "darker".

Let the vastness of space consume you. [3.5 out of 5 - Great]

Bern, Switzerland | Season of Mist

Website | Listen

Track listing:

1. Dark -2.-2

Total runtime | 00:47:12

E-L-R - Vexier (2022) Review

Band: E-L-R

Country: Switzerland

Album: Vexier

Label: Prophecy Productions

Website: Facebook

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The second full length by Swiss doom / psychedelic rock / blackgaze / atmospheric-post metal band E-L-R sees the light of day three years after their promising debut Mænad, and proves that it is sometimes rather senseless to force a genre label to something, after this description surpasses two words. It is still a case of an artist that has, to me, quite clear musical leanings, yet I can't stick just one genre tag on them, and I was reminded of this through their latest installment, a brand new full length named Vexier. 

E-L-R is a concoction of a few but assertive elements: powerful middle-paced post-metal riffing (similar to which, you have heard from the giants of the genre), a few slow ritualistic passages, even fewer intense, black metal-ish moments and dominant atmosphere in reverb. They sure take their time with Vexier, as tracks repeat and repeat themselves and you catch yourself nodding without realizing it. This is a double edged sword though: the music works perfectly almost as a secondary presence, but might lose a more impatient listener, who doesn't focus on anything else at the time of listening, along the way. At the same time, Vexier has the complete skillset to absolutely captivate and let everything drawn in to its world, once the conditions are right.

For me, the record has enough variety to stay interesting even when they're pushing the boundaries of repetitiveness at times. Consider how quickly rhythms change in "Three Winds", which dances between a black metal introduction, post-rock clean guitars and atmospheric doom metal with impressive vocals (a point that I will come back to later). At the same time, the droning, funereal tracks "Fleurs of Decay" and "Seeds", barely change tone throughout their duration, bringing in mind the compositional approach of Indian to me, even though the music is of course not the same. "Fleurs of Decay" is great, as is the massive closer piece "Forêt". Its introduction, as if taken from a Wolves in The Throne Room record, builds up for almost six minutes before unraveling long one note melodies and a melancholic ending which goes hand in hand with how Vexier opens during the first seconds of "Opiate the Sun".

That track is also very characteristic of what E-L-R are doing, and the horsepower and weight of these riffs, really make them worthy of the name. In its 12 minutes of length, "Opiate the Sun" is a delight to listen to, exactly because of how heavy the melodies are, the organic production and even more, the ethereal female vocals. By far my favorite aspect of Vexier, which hardly has any lyrics (thank you), is the usage of chanting distant female vocals as layers of specific parts of the compositions, instead of having a leading role, and it works marvelously. I felt the message of the band being successfully conveyed through the tracks, and all the little additions like rain or flowing water samples just put even more force for the ink on the stamp to stay. 

I am all up for the nature oriented adaptation of the band and agree with most of their choices, musical and aesthetical. E-L-R left a good mark with their debut but didn't hook me back then, I think with Vexier I am seriously revisiting the band will be paying more close attention to their creations. As a person who can be easily alienated by uninspired post-metal, I think E-L-R let their ideas grow and construct their own realm in this genre, as a multi-faceted band with more to give than what you would perceive with just one quick listen. And to think I almost missed this!

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Release date: March 11th, 2022

Tracklist:

1. Opiate the Sun

2. Three Winds

3. Seeds

4. Fleurs of Decay

5. Forêt

Listen:

Bandcamp | Spotify

Ungfell - Es grauet (2021) Review

They are their own masters

For me, Ungfell's first album Tôtbringære struck out of the blue and as rapidly as thunder in 2017, a record that should be included in the top debuts of that year and brought a lot of attention to the project. Having just a couple of demos prior to that, they presented a semi-folk / semi-medieval style of fast paced black metal with dynamic, enterprising riffs and wonderful acoustic passages. The only aspect that could have been handled better in Tôtbringære was the harsh production, which was completely turned around with the clear production of their second work Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz, a year later.

What characterizes both these records is how energetic and memorable the guitar parts are. Ungfell construct tracks with unique excess, they have a recognizable sound and while often being hard hitting, they also give comedic hints in their music that makes the result an even more challenging and epic black metal framework. It's now been three years since Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz and the band returns with an effort that not only goes hand in hand with their previous full length, but also clears out the signs of growth in the compositions as well as overall musicianship. Es grauet can be considered the most accessible of their material, because of its even clearer and fuller production, and even at the cover art one can see the evolution from a medieval sketch in 2017 to today's complex, colorful scenes. Ungfell don't spare the listener of any of their frequent tricks in this album either, and again for me the most lethal weapon in their arsenal is the use of the guitars, distorted and not only. Even after a couple of listens you are hooked to these riffs, and the tracks can be easily recognized from one another, while the band has added several different elements adequately to not spoil the repetition.

Once listening to Es grauet, make sure to pay attention to all the different components of the tracks and focus on the melodies, as the band doesn't feel like repeating too much even their most potent moments. It is a treat to fit a lot of top-notch ideas in each track, and Ungfell take it a step further by avoiding even the slightest monotony. Of course, the record maintains its standard character, which is enriched by great samples (for example the sound of sheep bells, rain, other farm animals or church bells, used in some tracks) and finally some well recorded clean vocals. This is more prominent in the two last tracks (a vocal outro and the remarkable penultimate piece "D Unheilspfaffä vom Heinzäbärg"), but also in "Mord im Tobel". The hidden Easter egg of a short sample sound of a "frog honk" (I will name it like this), as it has been placed in parts of the previous records, is also present here as an extra inside joke from the band to the audience, to not only take this music more seriously than they should, but also life in general. Of course, I'm not going to give out which track has it. A couple of interludes with acoustic guitars scattered in the album, are the only songs with short duration, but I didn't find a particularly dull moment in its entirety. There is a lot of interesting content from start to finish in Es grauet, and if Ungfell had been perfecting this for the last three years, they totally succeeded.

I'm still completely in the dark regarding the lyrics or track titles of this band. This won't stop you from appreciating a band that now, with their third release, dares to step into more spotlight not by watering down its material, but by getting stronger and stronger. As -for me- the head of the Helvetic Underground Committee, Ungfell deserve all they talk they get as a rising band from our time period to be remembered in the future. Es grauet narrates another awesome tale, and it doesn't get rusty at all no matter how much you have it consecutively on repeat. After three highly emphatic albums, you can now be sure that this is not an one-night success band. 

Damage: 4/5 [Excellent]

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Paysage d'Hiver - Schnee (2020) Review

 

This year will be a year to remember for many reasons. Little events happened in the scene that surprised me, and one of them was the exposure Paysage d'Hiver got worldwide with their album Im Wald. If you dare to call this the project's debut because it's a full length then you haven't spent serious time with the band, whereas the fact that they actually released and EP (!) in the same year is much more surprising. As a fan for several years now, I lean a bit on the negative side about Im Wald and not because of the popularity it got, but that's for a different post that will probably never come.

On the other hand, here is a collection of tracks that I previously hadn't thought needed to be gathered in a single release. Schnee is a compilation of tracks the self-titled tracks (I) to (IV), composed in a time period between the early 00's and late 10's, specifically "Schnee (IV)" was featured in the 2017 split with Drudkh, a breathtaking mini-album also for a different post. Considering that another compilation was released in 2020, we faced quite some activity from Paysage d'Hiver in 2020, who started off the year with a blast with the live show (remember) in late January and the early distribution of the full length there.

The process of listening to this band is like a patient exploration. It insists upon the subjects it touches for more than twenty years now, so there has to be some serious filtering of material in order to maintain a relevance. Paysage d'Hiver have achieved that in a remarkable manner so far, maybe not totally but mostly. I don't know if Wintherr planned this all along, but the sequence of the four "Schnee" tracks is brilliant, and also plainly describes, the most vital source of influence of the band, in its simplest word. To be a bit clearer, only through exploration one can discover the magnificent guitar part in the middle of "Schnee (I)", which comes at a point when the listener has assumed he has heard everything.

From the four tracks, "Schnee (II)" is definitely the hardest hitting, which is also the shortest composition at only ten minutes. All the main elements of the band are present, from the wind samples to the monotonous, lethargic riffs, distant shrieks and some beautiful clean singing during the opening of the compilation. I didn't need to be reminded of how majestic "Schnee (IV)" is as it was already under frequent spins, but I'm pointing out again how amazing it is. The cover of Schnee might be the same photograph as the cover of the band's split with Nordlicht, where "Schnee (III)" is featured. 

I never expected such an act to attract attention outside of the underground, and a little breakthrough was made with Im Wald. Things are changing as we speak, and this compilation offers a fine dose of Paysage d'Hiver's talent that works as a silent reminder not to neglect the past, when taking steps ahead. Schnee comes in an elegant black envelope, with gentle engravings on the side, on a delicate A5 digibook, proving how this is a jewel not only for its music. 

Schammasch - Hearts of No Light (2019) Review

Origin: Switzerland

Label: Prosthetic Records

Release: November 8th, 2019

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Steadily growing in popularity for the last decade, Schammasch have in their discography two long-talked albums, especially Triangle from 2016, which received a bulky amount of media praise. The determined and ambitious nature of the band draws the attention of listeners outside black metal, and they have won a commendable piece of the scene with their music and evolution during the recent years. Speaking for myself, I was never engrossed to any of their previous material, yet it is an act well inside the radar.

The new work Hearts of No Light is an hour and seven minutes long tome, since they were not shy already from the previous album to create a lengthy release. While Triangle was a journey in three parts, Hearts of No Light has one composition significantly longer than the rest (the last track), which pushes its whole duration to that point. The production is clear and charges a powerful atmosphere, right from the introductory, soaring piano piece "Winds that Pierce the Silence". Then hits a ferocious moment in the record, which is the brilliant track "Ego Sum Omega".

All the malevolent guitar melodies, the shrieked vocals, the compositional mastery of the band, are unfolding and taking over. The musicianship is on point, delivering interesting and filthy riffs, building a certain, chaotic feeling that characterizes the rest of the album too, at least for the most part. Keyboards are kept in use throughout, over the different tunes. Schammasch's compelling sound and their not completely traditional palette makes them very interesting to listen to, as the record surely has some highlight moments all around.

Some experimentation is working like a charm in Hearts of No Light, like the connecting track "A Bridge Ablaze", where I especially like the use of the piano with a more modern percussion approach, something that would even fit in a darker than usual trip-hop band. On the other hand, there is a strange part in "I Burn Within You", with frantic vocals and unstable keyboards, which feels as if the listener has stepped into an aural wormhole and into a Carach Angren record. Thinking of the whole atmosphere that the rest of the album has built, I thought that segment was very much out of place, even though the second part of that song is at least solid.

Things get back in track with "A Paradigm of Beauty", which has plain clean vocals coming from a passionate hard rock / post-punk group of a different time. Schammasch are feeling free to jam a bit in this track and even going to more psychedelic rock ideas, before crushing down with heavier lines in "Katabasis". It's quite pleasant to listen to that, as well as the combination of elements from different background they are employing. The fifteen minute long ending track "Innermost, Lowermost Abyss" is almost ritualistic, and it could be classified as a long dark ambient outro to Hearts of No Light, also justifying the title of the album.

It makes perfect sense for part of the audience to have admiration for this band, and while listening to Hearts of No Light, it is by no means a mediocre record. It is a multi-layered and challenging release, yet for me it was not flawless. Some halting moments in "Qadmon's Heir" or "Rays Like Razors" were longer than needed, "I Burn Within You" was turbulent, but as a whole we are talking about a very solid album that grows and you and has a lot to explore. Schammasch have not disappointed, and that comes from someone who is not a wholehearted fan of the band.