Vinterriket

Vinterriket is another one man project that blends dark synth sounds with black metal, similar to Paysage d'Hiver. Vinterriket has a ridiculous amount of releases, many of them being compilations and re-recordings, and often the releases offer little as far as new and engaging ideas go. Albums like Finsternis and Winterschatten are solid works of ambient black metal, but they lack the energy and presence of a black metal band like Darkspace or Paysage d'Hiver. Vinterriket also does not generally have much interesting material in the form of ambient, due mostly to the production which is far to clean and rounded to be truly gripping. The exception is Landschaften Ewiger Einsamkeit, an album that gives us over an hour of droning strings at funeral doom speeds. The music is extremely melancholic and the open spaces of the music definitely let the listener interpret a lot into what they are hearing. Actual melodies and rhythms occour very rarely, and the monotony of the strings is entrancing. Not as masterful in imposing it's imagery upon us as Paysage d'Hiver, but therefor also potentially more personal to us because of it's ambiguity.

Official Site
http://www.vinterriket.com/

Peter Broetzmann

Peter Broetzmann may be a name that does not ring a bell with most people, and he definitely is not one of the first to jump to mind when thinking of jazz. He is however one of the most experimental and energetic musicians I have heard to this day, and his explorations in free jazz push the boundaries of how we define music. Often a thick wall of sound will be given to us, and we will be tempted to listen for each individual instrument to see how they interact. While the interaction between musicians, especially in a form as improvisational as free jazz, is a key component of the music, the ultimate brilliance of the music is the combined result of the instruments. Almost always uneasy and extremely dissonant, the music demands our attention and makes us reconsider our preconceptions of what can be done with instruments. All that is needed is the will to approach our instruments without imposing limits upon ourselves regarding what we can do with them. I recommend his masterpiece "Machine Gun" for those not familiar with his work. Those who have only explore more standard be-bop based jazz may be more comfortable trying out John Coltrane's "Ascension" before immersing themselves in Broetzmann's work.

Several live clips
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mbrotzm.html

Extensive discography
http://www.fmp-label.de/freemusicproduction/musiker/broetzmann.html

Summoning

The duo from Austria have long been at the forefront of the epic and atmospheric side of black metal. After Lugburz the duo turned to making polyphonic keyboard heavy black metal. The drums became programmed, with bombastic sounds and deep drums, creating a industrial and martial feel at times, which coupled with the epic and medieval melodies of the keyboards created a formula that remains unique a decade later. Rooted heavily in Tolkien's world, the music often allows us to relive the more heroic moments of his stories. Saying that ones interpretation of Summoning is limited to Tolkien parallels would be discarding an idea even more central (I would argue) to the band than Tolkien, and this theme is that of nature. Summonings music evokes beautiful landscapes and indeed the booklet artwork also helps the listener realize this intent of the music. Summoning help us to see the epic beauty of nature from a musical perspective that few other bands can come close to.

Official Site
http://summoning.info
Label
http://napalmrecords.com

From the album Oath Bound (2006)
Land of the Dead (Short Mix)

Paysage d'Hiver

The one man project from Switzerland (whose name means Landscape of Winter) makes both black metal and minimalistic ambient music. The focus is on themes of winter, solitude, and darkness. Releases such as Einsamkeit and Die Festung focus mainly on long and sweeping synth sounds, though they can mostly be interpreted as having very different purposes. Einsamkeit, especially Inneres Licht have a quality that lend themselves to self reflection and to examining oneself in a completely calm and detached environment. The music on Die Festung is very different, taking a look at the bands favorite theme of winter. The music has an extremely cold atmosphere, and is rather a form of escapism compared to Einsamkeit which is grounded in reality. The self titled album takes a completely different approach focusing rather on several points by using black metal instrumentation to bring out the contrast of melodies in the background. The minimalism of black metal is used to create a repetitive feeling that immerses the listener in the sound. I would recommend listening to Die Festung first, and then moving to Einsamkeit and the self titled album, simply because Die Festung is still accessible enough to enjoy purely musically, and will help a listener understand what Wintherr is trying to achieve with the music.

Official Site
http://kunsthall.ch/kunsthall/bands/paysagedhiver/mainpage.html
Distibution
http://grau.cd


Die Festung (The Fortress) (1999)
Eishalle (Ice Hall)
Koenig Winter (King Winter)
Schneekoenigen (Snow Queen)
Eisprinzessin (Ice Princess)
Prinz Frost (Prince Frost)

Paysage d'Hiver (1999)
Welt Aus Eis (World of Ice)
Gefroner Atem (Frozen Breath)
Der Weg (The Path)

Einsamkeit (Solitude) (2007)
Einkehr (Entrance)
Inneres Licht (Inner Light)
Kraft (Strength)

About this Blog

The purpose of this blog is to expose people to music that is more than just entertainment like most modern music. The artists that will be examined here are all similar in that they create atmospheres that can help us understand ourselves and our surroundings. They may achieve this in different ways, and I will try to outline the main feel of every band and link as many resources as possible so that anyone can explore the artists further if they wish.

**None of the music linked on this site is uploaded by a third party, all is taken directly from the bands official site**