Paysage d'Hiver / Lunar Aurora

A split LP by what may well be my two very favourite bands from the atmospheric black metal department... how can it get any better? For some reason however, I've rarely actually listened to this convergence of titans, so far having paid more attention to both bands seperately. I decided some in-depth listening was desirable, and upon noticing the lack of reviews, that I might as well make a written account of my findings.

Paysage d'Hiver's side of the split consists of two black metal tracks, Schwarzä Feus and Schwarzäs Isä. Though German is not my native tongue I know that this is not 'normal' German but probably some kind of (Swiss?) dialect, something that binds the two halves because also the Lunar Aurora song is in a dialect as well. The first of the songs is introduced by means of a two-minute piece of darkest ambient before the guitars swell to form their typical wall of piercing radio static-like noise which is not lowered until the end of the song. Below this wall, a monotonous blastbeat can be heard pounding away, though only vaguely, and it is only the snare drum that is at all audible. Wintherr's voice is one of the most abrasive shrieks I've ever come across; icy and choking with tortured fury, and no less so on this release. This obviously fits the extreme rawness of the music like a glove.
To dispel Paysage d'Hiver as mere noise, though, would be a grave mistake, as from behind or beyond this admittedly very noisy wall of sound, there drift all kinds of dreamy guitar and synthesizer melodies, or usually merely suggestions of melodies, so distant and hazy they might not even be there at all. The result is extremely hypnotic, if you can stand the repetitiveness and cold minimalism of the music and the unparallelled harshness of its production. If you can, the sound's extremity will only enhance the atmosphere. It's like being lost at night in a hailstorm while tripping. Seriously.
Like the first, the second song doesn't incorporate any ambient-only parts either, as Paysage d'Hiver songs sometimes tend to have, except for the end of the song. It is generally slower, and perhaps a bit more sparse. Actually, I found both songs to be a bit on the sparse side when it comes to the trademarks atmospherics, compared to the bulk of their black metal outings. But it will still take your mind on a trip through the craggy mountains and snowcapped pine forests of nocturnal Switzerland, like the music was designed for.

The cowing of ravens slowly being overtaken by an abstract guitar line pressing more and more to the foreground serves as a short introduction to the second half of the reslease, and after a minute, Lunar Aurora blaze away with A Haudiga Fluagh. It is the longest track in their entire career, and is also unique because of the lyrics, which, like I mentioned, are sung in the Bayerish dialect of German in Aran's snarling rasp and some deep, low and very strange-sounding (processed?) mumbled/spoken passages. Augmenting their blasting black metal with subtle, mesmerizing keyboard touches they have through the years cultivated a very individual style, something that is showcased here excellently. The sound they portray on this split is mostly reminiscent of that on their sixth album, Zyklus: slightly more ambient-ish and consequently slightly less varied than in both their earlier and their later works, but not by far as harsh and unclear as Paysage d'Hiver. Zyklus happens to rank among my favourite Lunar Aurora albums, so you will not hear me complain for even just a single second out of the twenty one minutes worth of seconds this track comprises of.
It initially seemed to last until past the tenth minute before any major change is introduced into the song (to me, at least) but if you listen real close the first ten minutes you'll see that the entire song is packed with shifting riffs and melodies and small interludes, somewhat obscured by the ongoing blastbeats and quite unmelodic synths (or is this an acoustic guitar? I can't really tell) that lay down a thick carpet of hypnotic atmosphere. But even these are constantly morphing within a certain framework, it seems, which somehow goes unnoticed until you start paying close attention to it. I think that is a sign of extremely intelligent songwriting. Around the ten minute mark the song slows down and the atmosphere becomes more melancholic for a good couple of minutes before continuing in full gear again, gradually merging into an acoustic outro in the closing two minutes. In the great Lunar Aurora tradition, the whole has a very epic feeling without ever becoming bombastic, and though this doesn't top their masterpiece Andacht in any way, the song grabs you by the throat from the start on and does not let go until the final note. And for a twenty-minute song, that is quite special.

While both sides of this split may not surpass either band's masterpieces, it is not at all subpar to the majority of their material. If you are into cold yet intelligent atmospheric black metal soundscapes, you can't pass up on this beauty!