Paysage d'Hiver
Schattengang

THE REVIEW

The darkness... the silence... the peace of a troubled soul... and then the sounds of the winter landscape... The mountain adventures of humble shepherds... the wind carrying with it the howls of distant beasts, but not too far away...

This is "Shattengang", and in general the entire offering of this Swiss one-man band, committed for more than eight years to pouring new, cold, and ethereally dream-tainted life into the now putrid Black metal scene, which takes form in the excellent proposed ambient.

"Shattengang" is, in my opinion, the best chapter of this astonishing reality. An album capable of providing endless emotions, if understood in the depth of its message.

And to truly understand the music of Wintherr (the dark figure cloaked behind the project), one must enter his world made of endless winters and mountainous landscapes, where dark woods, home to dangerous secrets, alternate with dreamy clearings and medieval castles perched on impracticable and rugged protrusions.

An enchanted world with ancestral flavors, where Wintherr guides us to discover his most hidden secrets, like a stern elf who miserably roams among winter landscapes, now at the court of a great lord, now in the darkness of damp undergrounds and secret cellars, now in the endless snowy expanses running with packs of wolves, now solitary at the extreme edges of the world.

Wintherr is the storyteller none of us would ever want to have met, and who is now narrating adventures on the brink of dreams that we shouldn't listen to for fear or to escape madness. A madness in which one stagnates, flounders, up to the moment of extreme calm that precedes death.

The dance opens with "Moloc", a colossal track with dark and misty hues, which at times gives way to typically black outbursts, and at others veils itself from the listener, leaving them at the mercy of ethereal and dreamy keyboards. Following that is: "Die Zeit Des Torremond", and here I would pause to describe what this track has conveyed to me in its over twenty minutes of duration. Bells, the wind howling in the distance, the sound of advancing hooves, then suddenly some howls, and the concerned voice of the shepherd who, warned of the danger, begins to fear for himself and his beasts. The first part unfolds through magical notes of synth and cold distorted guitars that evoke a thousand different emotions with each listen. Then the music again leaves space for the shepherd's story, who now is forced to fight for his life, as the beasts have come running from the forest and are decimating his flock. The snow is stained with the blood of beasts, only the poor shepherd is saved, but for him, there remains still the journey back to his village. Thus the music resumes, narrating the night landscapes that stretch out before the terrified eyes of the man, helpless and defenseless before the nocturnal nature, the cold and gusting wind blinding him, his legs stumbling over roots as ancient as the rock itself. When everything seems over, a distant light is glimpsed among the dense vegetation of the conifers, and the shepherd is finally safe.

The last notes indicate his final weary steps towards safety, the shepherd, now at the limits of human endurance, closes the door behind him, now he is safe in the warmth of his home.

Nature has quenched its thirst for blood, now all is silent, the shepherd's death is accompanied only by the notes of the last track: "Atmosphaere", in full dark ambient style, at the end the dreamy keyboards branch out, and slowly sleep envelops the listener, silence reigns supreme over everything, the winter nature is satisfied.