Paeonian Gates

Lingedal is one of the old names in the Dutch black metal scene, from the obscure and notorious Gwydion Sagelinge, who is better known from the black metal band Fluisterwoud and the less known (but also highly appreciated) Galgeras. The 2002 demo tape ‘Paeonian Gates’ consists of only 2 tracks but still has an acceptable duration of over 19 minutes.

With Lingedal, we see a combination of ritualistic dark ambient and black metal, a formula that Sagelinge also applied to Galgeras. In one of his more recent projects, he takes his ambient efforts to its limits, leaving all black metal out. The first track on ‘Paeonian Gates’, entitled ‘One Road left to Chivalry’, is composed entirely in his trademark dark ambient style.

This particular style is very recognizable and hard to describe. It is atmospheric, but not in a depressing or purely evil way. It is truly ritualistic and enthralling, but not by working with lengthy, abstract melodies or with an ethereal, angelic sound. He works with an organ synth and rhythmic, simple percussion, creating a very militaristic, march-like work. The overall sound and production make that it sounds extremely obscure and mysterious. It has to be said it is very repetitive, the 8.5 minutes are filled with a few themes and minor variations on them, but I’m glad he did it, because it only grabs you more and more along the way and the sense of intensity keeps increasing.

The second track, ‘Where the Forest talks, the Trees speak of Us’, lasts a little over 11 minutes and is very raw, primal black metal. The organ synth is still present every now and then with orchestral-like themes. Luckily, it’s not always present. If that would’ve been the case, the dominance of the organ sound would have killed the track.

The vocals are very weird, to say the least. Soft, mid-ranged, eerie screeches. I can’t help but thinking this is what a human would sound like if it was a screeching door. Or the other way around. They’re totally indecipherable and somewhat echoing. The fact that they’re relatively soft in the mix makes them all the more haunting.

Guitars are very fuzzy, due to both distortion and the low-quality production. They sound pretty primal and minimalistic, and they’re not extremely innovative but they do succeed in combining minimalism with a sound that just takes you. It’s got obscurity written all over it, and it really is obscure in the true meaning of the word, not obscure like the bands that are totally tr00, unknown and sound like vacuum cleaners gone mad. About halfway through the song, they break down into an instrumental intermezzo without distortion, and they find themselves accompanied by a bird tweeting and a gentle flowing stream. It’s just what this song needed with its length, and the moment the change starts is perfect. The only weird thing is, the atmosphere remains so obscure, and I can’t possibly imagine myself on a beautiful mountain slope now. It invokes no nature in me whatsoever, so it probably missed its goal, but there’s great atmosphere nonetheless, so I’m not gonna cry about it.

A drum computer was probably used and it sounds fuzzy as well. The bass drums, for example, sound as if they’re filled with cushions, covered with a layer of wool and then were recorded. It doesn’t bother me, though. It’s not sounding good at all (but hey, define ‘good’…), nor are they very technical, but they do what drums are meant to do and if they were more innovative, the music would no longer do what this kind of music is supposed to do. Still following? Great. The point is, this is just the black metal interpretation of the Sagelinge’s ambient, and therefore technicality and production are of lesser importance than the atmosphere created and what is behind it. Often, absence of quality production and innovation (but only to a certain extend) are required for such style.

Nonetheless, let it be clear it isn’t easy to create it or get away with it. Lots of bands that follow the path of simplicity and garage recordings end up being silly clones that should be removed from the face of the earth mercilessly.

In conclusion, this is a very weird, eerie, release that haunts you and gives you an uncomfortable feeling. It’s like a ghost house when you were a kid; you know it’s gonna scare the living crap out of you but you’re eager to go inside anyways. ‘Paeonian Gates’ has the same. The obscurity is almost unpleasant, but that’s exactly the reason it is so appealing.

This is the soundtrack to an enormous, clammy mine with narrow passages and pure evil that can be felt but not seen, and it’ll grab you inevitably. Recommended to those who look for the underground of the underground and the obscurest among the obscure.