Review:
The Finnish melodic death metal/folk metal band Wintersun burst onto the scene
with their magnificent self-titled
album in 2004 (it being one of my five favorite metal albums of all-time,
the other four are: Dawn’s Slaughtersun
[Crown of The Triarchy], Slayer’s South
of Heaven, Opeth’s Morningrise,
and At the Gates’ Slaughter
of the Soul or Behind The Scenery’s …of
honesty forbidden – it is too hard to choose). Fans of folk metal band
Ensiferum knew Wintersun’s leader and songwriter Jari Maenpaa from his great
work on the band’s first two (and best) albums before he left to start
Wintersun. Maenpaa is the master of epic symphonic metal orchestrations (and a
very good guitar player) and Wintersun’s debut shot to the top of many fans’
lists as a classic. Thus, his fans wanted more.
Wintersun announced they were
beginning work on their second album in 2006, but due to numerous delays
(including Maenpaa’s computer not being able to handle the amount of tracks he
had on each song) the album, entitled Time (ironically now), kept being pushed
back. And so here we are eight years later, finally there is new music from
Wintersun.
Time I represents the first half
of the full album (split in two because it was too big to fit on one CD), with
Time II due out sometime in 2013 (we hope). Being only the first half, it does
feel a little incomplete (as it should) and it is hard to really fully
appreciate it without hearing how it ends. Plus, after eight years, Time I
basically offers us three new songs (there are five tracks, but one is an intro
and one is an interlude) – three fantastic songs, but only three songs
nonetheless.
The production and musicianship
is top-notch, as expected. Each song is meticulously and intricately structured
and arranged. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed (especially on Sons of Winter
and Stars), but as I continue to listen to the album the songs seem to become
more impressive and everything falls into place. I like it more and more each
time.
Time I is very different from
Wintersun’s first album, as there are not any fast guitar driven songs (like Winter Madness), rather
each song is a building epic full of beauty, power and emotion (and on the
slower side – like Sadness
and Hate). There is a sense that Maenpaa set out to make his epic genre
masterpiece with this album. While it is a bit overwhelming at first and seemingly
overproduced, once it is given time to all sink in, it is quite engaging
musically and melodically beautiful.
Rating this album is very
difficult, as again it feels incomplete. Musically, it is phenomenal and is so
much more than just a metal genre album (though the harsh vocals used at times
will probably scare away any casual listeners, not that there will be any). Yet,
I really need to hear Time II before is proclaim it the masterpiece that it
very well could be. Thus, I am tentatively giving it 4/5
until I hear the rest.
Essential Tracks:
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