Paysage d'Hiver - Geister ALBUM REVIEW
Honestly, the goblin on the cover of this would make for a great image on a facemask.
I’ll admit something that I had a pretty hard time grasping before I started writing reviews on here: I had very poor music taste. As an example, I pre-ordered both Eminem’s Revival and Migos’ Culture II. That should explain where I was in 2017-2018 pretty well. Ever since then, especially within the last year, I’ve really begun to expand my palette not only on what I listen to but how I listen to it. One of those genres I’ve really dove into is metal, and all types of it too. Black metal, death metal, thrash metal, speed metal, etc. It’s really helped me look into songs as full compositions instead of focusing on one aspect of a track, and let’s just say it’s been an interesting ride. One of these artists that really made me appreciate it in the metal genre is Paysage d’Hiver, a Swiss group that just happened to appear on my radar with their behemoth of an album from last year, Im Wald. When looking at their discography over the last weekend, I saw they dropped a brand new album, Geister, and I honestly had to check that out. Enough talk, let’s get into the album.
When it comes to the subgenre of metal, this is more of a black metal album. Its emphasis on atmosphere over everything else, shrieking vocals, and raw, lo-fi recordings make this a black metal record over, let’s say, the growling vocals of a death metal outfit like Cannibal Corpse. On Geister, specifically, there’s more of a dark ambient influence here that adds to the cold atmosphere that Paysage d’Hiver delivers here, especially on the closing track. The sole member of the group is only known as Wintherr, who does EVERYTHING. His vocals throughout this project seem feral on many tracks here, and his screams are genuinely throat-shattering. I guess that there are some things that I would knock a few points off for on this project, though. It gets a little repetitive as the album starts to wind down, and I personally would’ve thrown a couple extra ambient interludes to space them out.
While I do prefer Im Wald for just how untamed and rawer it is, Geister is a pretty decent showing for Paysage d’Hiver. Even if this album isn’t innovative and super interesting, it makes up for it with some genuinely thought-out songs that are coherent and composed quite well. It almost feels like a commercial attempt to get more of an audience, but I’d say that it worked because, well, here I am talking about it.
7/10
Listen here
YouTube Music
Geister is a Kunsthall release.
I’ll admit something that I had a pretty hard time grasping before I started writing reviews on here: I had very poor music taste. As an example, I pre-ordered both Eminem’s Revival and Migos’ Culture II. That should explain where I was in 2017-2018 pretty well. Ever since then, especially within the last year, I’ve really begun to expand my palette not only on what I listen to but how I listen to it. One of those genres I’ve really dove into is metal, and all types of it too. Black metal, death metal, thrash metal, speed metal, etc. It’s really helped me look into songs as full compositions instead of focusing on one aspect of a track, and let’s just say it’s been an interesting ride. One of these artists that really made me appreciate it in the metal genre is Paysage d’Hiver, a Swiss group that just happened to appear on my radar with their behemoth of an album from last year, Im Wald. When looking at their discography over the last weekend, I saw they dropped a brand new album, Geister, and I honestly had to check that out. Enough talk, let’s get into the album.
When it comes to the subgenre of metal, this is more of a black metal album. Its emphasis on atmosphere over everything else, shrieking vocals, and raw, lo-fi recordings make this a black metal record over, let’s say, the growling vocals of a death metal outfit like Cannibal Corpse. On Geister, specifically, there’s more of a dark ambient influence here that adds to the cold atmosphere that Paysage d’Hiver delivers here, especially on the closing track. The sole member of the group is only known as Wintherr, who does EVERYTHING. His vocals throughout this project seem feral on many tracks here, and his screams are genuinely throat-shattering. I guess that there are some things that I would knock a few points off for on this project, though. It gets a little repetitive as the album starts to wind down, and I personally would’ve thrown a couple extra ambient interludes to space them out.
While I do prefer Im Wald for just how untamed and rawer it is, Geister is a pretty decent showing for Paysage d’Hiver. Even if this album isn’t innovative and super interesting, it makes up for it with some genuinely thought-out songs that are coherent and composed quite well. It almost feels like a commercial attempt to get more of an audience, but I’d say that it worked because, well, here I am talking about it.
7/10
Listen here
YouTube Music
Geister is a Kunsthall release.
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