Review by HanSathanas on May 13, 2026.

I am so glad to have discovered Paysage d'Hiver. Digging deeper, I have found out that Wintherr is also running another project by the name Darkspace. Despite sounding drastically different from one another, both share a common element that revolves around esoteric subject matters. With Paysage d'Hiver, we are forever entombed by its icy cold propensity, left for dead on plains unknown with this album.

Nacht may not have album of the year material, but it is precisely packed full of cold, frostbitten goodness. The primary instrumentals, namely Des Lichtes Sterben I and II, are so mesmerizing yet foreboding at the same time. Both tracks are fashioned with one thing in mind: evoking a sense of paralysing coldness. The main section consists primarily of a droning, reverberating keyboard with mystical incantation performed to add to the dreadful atmosphere. Wind continues to chime in the background, with howling wolves appearing in and out along the way.

Two black metal tracks on this record are what to be expected from Paysage d'Hiver. The energy is raw. Blast beats are used extensively. While the production job is nowhere near stellar, the core instruments are nominally audible. Lengthy tremolo pickings, pounding double kick drums, I mean, what more could you ask for? The epic runtimes for both Ein Getriebener im Schneetreiben and Finsternis, Tod und Einsamkeit allow the minimal songwriting to slowly hypnotise listeners, drawing them closer to a place where everything dies and snow forever falls. For those of you who are looking to discover great black metal bands, Paysage d'Hiver is one of them, and why not start with this album? Unsurprisingly, the two black metal songs also feature a doomy section with a riff that drags you even further into the land of ice.

The cover of this demo shows frontman Wintherr in his cavernous glory. It pretty much sums up what the whole theme is all about: a solitary fare of monumental self-discovery, that we are closer to nature than we would like to think. Grab this release now before it is too late!

Rating: 8.7 out of 10