Monday, January 25, 2016

Weekly album: Wintersun - Wintersun

Wintersun - Wintersun
2004 / Melodic Death Metal, Power Metal
(Extreme Majestic Technical Epic Melodic Metal)


1. Beyond the Dark Sun
2. Winter Madness
3. Sleeping Stars
4. Battle Against Time
5. Death and the Healing
6. Starchild
7. Beautiful Death
8. Sadness and Hate

Brent Carey: Where to begin… I assume most of the people reading this are well versed in metal and have probably listened to Wintersun or at least heard the name. For this reason I will spare everyone the lengthy history of Jari Mäenpää and his creation of Wintersun. This way we can get to the “meat and potatos” of this post before the elusive release of Time II.

To start out with, THIS IS AN AMAZING ALBUM!! I know it’s a little cliché to say, “this album changed my life”, but I am confident that I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for Wintersun. This album altered my perception of what not only metal, but music could be. It was my stepping-stone to extreme genres and exposed me to my current home, Finland.

One of the primary reasons for this album’s greatness is its implementation of so many different musical characteristics. It encompasses the likes of melodic death, folk, power, neo-classical, and even a little black metal, giving the album an epic, yet dark atmosphere. If anyone were to ask, “What album would you recommend me as a start line to metal?” I would say with confidence, “Wintersun”. There’s truly something for everyone on this record and whatever that may be; it is done with thee utmost perfection.

The central instruments in the album are pretty standard in comparison to most metal acts. The difference is each instrument is employed with a certain elegance and grace that most musicians could only dream of. Jari, the composer and mastermind behind Wintersun, covers guitar, bass, and keyboards (as well as the mixing and production duties), leaving the drum kit to Rotten Sound’s ex-drummer Kai Hahto. The mastery of each musician’s respective instrument(s) is showcased repeatedly throughout the album. Even though every moment on the album is kind of a Jari moment, one of my favorites is his solo on the track “Winter Madness”.  From soaring sweeps to lightning fast neoclassic runs he gives Yngwie Malmsteen a run for his money (and that doesn’t even include Jari’s ability to compose actual music). In the midst of all this Jari praise Kai cannot be overlooked. His pure stamina and technical ability are extremely impressive and (in my opinion) unparalleled in modern metal drumming.  Some of my favorite Kai moments can be found in the song “Beautiful Death” with his unfaltering blast beats and epic fills.

This album is a piece of art and my favorite record to date. Check this masterpiece out (or if you’ve already heard it, give it another listen) and I can almost guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

Favorite Song: Battle Against Time

Orostider: It has been quite a while since I last listened to Wintersun by myself. After 'Time' was released, I sort of lost my interest to Wintersun, for the album was a huge disappointment. Luckily their self-titled album is sort of timeless as it always offers you something. You either notice something entirely new or feel the joyful nostalgia.

The first time I noticed Wintersun's existence was when I had just found out about Ensiferum's first albums and fell in love with Jari's performance. After the first time I listened to the album, I almost instantly thought of it as one of my favourites. This is no longer the case, but the album itself is still an amazing piece of melodic metal, which should be familiarized by everyone into the genre. It's kind of sad that nowadays Wintersun kind of acts only as a nostalgia trip to my early teenage years. Favourite song nowadays: 'Beautiful Death.' 

tp5170: During the years I have started slowly drifting away from melodic death metal stuff but there are still a couple of albums I have a huge respect for. The debut album of Wintersun is one of those. When I originally came across it, I instantly thought that it had to be the greatest thing in the world. I do still think that it’s probably the best the genre has to offer and that’s because it is not afflicted with the problem I have had with almost every album of the genre, - the tracks not coming nicely together.
On Wintersun’s debut I think that every track has its own place and purpose and despite being fundamentally quite different from each other they still work together pretty well. The faster songs are really energetic with their cheesiness and power metal influences, but what strikes me as the most engaging are the slower songs and their simple yet fascinating melodies. I could still easily sit down for the duration of the album and enjoy my time with it.

Kattroll: I already wrote about my undying love for Ensiferum's early albums, so naturally the solo material from the same era impresses me too. Even if I had already listened to Wintersun before, it wasn't until the summer of 2013 that I remembered Wintersun and oh how many times this album spun during the summer. The said summer was a warm and perfect festival summer. Wintersun's performance at Nummirock was one of the festival's best shows.

Wintersun's slot was right after Ensiferum (too bad Mäenpää didn't pay his old band a visit) and we weren't sure if we wanted to go and see Wintersun, for the camping area, alcohol and the grill were calling us to come and in our opinion, Time wasn't as good as its predecessor. I'm glad we went! The first two songs were from Time, both decent live songs, but after them the barrage started: Beyond the Dark Sun, Death and the Healing, Winter Madness and Beautiful Death were played one after another. After that, we were able to return to our camp with joy. Wintersun's set at Ilosaarirock later that summer wasn't nearly as good, but Beyond the Dark Sun felt great while lying down in the sunshine. 

Even if the themes of this album are wintry, this modern classic reminds me of summer instead. 





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