Review Summary: A journey into the land that permeates the skies.
Summer of 2015. The sun cast heat on the earth below, creating a deceptive sense of warmth and comfort as I gazed at the vast yet minuscule peak of Mt. Washington. From where I stood it appeared no larger than a stone, still all the numbers said it was massive. It's truly difficult to fathom what massive means when you've been confined to gently rolling hills your life. 6,288 feet is far from a gentle hill, and is only a number until I begin to ascend, until the trees clear way and I am scaling slabs of rock, crawling across trails with barely a foot between me and a drop that seems like it never ends. My body wants to tremor, yet my mind knows what danger that would create. So i'm afraid. I'm tired, weary and drained and feel I have been dragged into the pits of hell. Then, reaching the summit, I peer at the world below me. Overcome with euphoria, the pain staking journey suddenly has meaning. This simple slab of stone has become home.
What does this have to do with "Five Treasures of Snow"? Everything, actually. First off in the sonic sense, in the monolithic, cold and harrowing landscape Dzo-nga presents us with, and in the literal sense. The five treasures of snow, for those unknowing, are the five peaks of the great mountain Kanchenjunga. It's a daring mountain, both feared and loved by most avid climbers, due to its precarious nature, unpredictable weather and its sheer height. Such a mountain is both pristine yet monstrous, and this record represents this well. The guitar "riffs" merge seemingly into a monstrous wall of sound and are as pummeling as a Kanchenjunga avalanche. The entirety of the sound of this record is in fact bold and harsh, however not nearly as crushing or suffocating as one would think.
This is where "Five Treasure of Snow" truly shines. It's equally blissful as it is bold, as graceful as it is bitter. This is due to the abrasive yet echoing shrieks paired with the absence of any drumming alongside a less conventional instrument. This would be the Tibetan Singing Bowl. The sound of the Singing bowl is drone-like, often used for the purpose of meditation, making it an ingenious choice on this record. It feeds into the cold and desolate soundscape already presented as well as making the album mesmerizing and alluring.
Five Treasures is the feeling of bitter winds stinging your skin. The feeling when your body is trembling from ache and yet this pain only drives you more. It's the feeling of that last foot of ascension, when with exhilaration you finally approach the peak. It's all aspects of a mountain-harsh and spirit crushing yet awe inspiring-made audible. So I implore you-make the ascent, and listen to "Five Treasures of Snow". This is a journey into a land that permeates the skies.
