Reviewed - 10/08/04
Wintersun
[Nuclear Blast]
Wow, now this album really surprised the hell out of me! I had never heard of Wintersun before, but once their debut album "Wintersun" started playing on my CD player for the first time I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This is definitely one of the best debut albums I've heard in quite a while, and even after a few days of listening to it I still am in awe at the great musicianship and songwriting found here.
One thing that ran through my mind when I listened to "Wintersun" for the first time was "This sounds like something I've heard before". I tried to figure out who this band reminded me of, but I couldn't put my finger on it. All of the sudden it hit me like a bolt out of the blue. Hell, it came to me late at night when I wasn't even listening to it. Ensiferum. It reminded me a lot of Ensiferum. And understandably so because as I was kindly clued in by Dakkon Craves Human Flesh from the Blind Guardian message board, Wintersun's main member is ex-Ensiferum vocalist Jari Maenpaa. Not only does he sing on "Wintersun", he also plays guitar, bass and programs as well. I would have known all of this info sooner if I would have seen the promo material Nuclear Blast sent with the CD right away, but better late than never, right? Jari proves without a doubt on this album that he is one of the most talented musicians out there. The only instrument he does not perform himself on this album are the drums which is performed by the drummer of the Finnish death metal band Rotten Sound. The music is fast as hell and leans towards a more symphonic and folky black metal throughout it's entire length. Hugely epic and swaying movements are perfectly combined with fast and razor sharp guitar riffs. Honestly, this music is extremely fast at times and no matter how speedy the music seems to go, Jari holds everything together. His musicianship on this album almost boarders on being technical, and I find it hard to explain in words how well this sounds. The drums are amazing as well, and they too almost enter the technical realm because they are played with such ease and precision. As mentioned earlier "Wintersun" has a bit of folk influence, but not in the traditional folk metal way. All of the traditional folk melodies are done by just the guitars and keyboards. It's nicer when the actual folk instruments are used in these cases, but I have to say I can't really complain because this all sounds so perfect together. In a few places on this album the keyboards actually became too much, but never so bad that it seemed to ruin any song or make me feel like I was bored. They were just overpowering at times without ever being cheesy, though. The music on "Wintersun" is pure class through and through.
The lyrics are sung in and written in English. I can't really say what the lyrical content focuses on because the lyrics were not included with the promo, but from what I can gather they seem to focus on solitude and my favorite season of the year, Winter. Jari can seemingly do as many things with his voice as he can do with musical instruments. Sometimes he sings in a rawer black metal style, other times he sings in an almost Viking metal choir-like vocal style, and although he does it very rarely, he even throws in a few death metal styled vocals once in a while. All of the styles he pulls off amazingly well and taking this into account along with his ability to play a wide range of instruments, it makes me wonder if he isn't some kind of musical genius.
The production is top notch, but that is usually the case with Nuclear Blast released albums. Everything is mixed right at the proper levels, which is a key thing when you take into consideration the amount of instruments and styles found on "Wintersun". This is the kind of production all bands should strive for in my opinion. If a band like Wintersun can achieve this kind of production on their debut album, there's no excuse for the subpar productions some bands have even after releasing albums for ten or more years.
The entire packaging I can't focus on here because the promo only included the artwork, but that artwork is definitely worthy of some praise here. As with Wintersun's familiar sound, I found this artwork to be familiar to me when I first saw it, and after a bit of research I found out this cover was actually painted by the mighty Necrolord! I should have known this since he's always been one to paint in that one color scheme which is kind of his trademark. This is without a doubt the best Necrolord artwork I have ever seen. I'm sure you can see the art on the side of this review, so just take a gander at it and soak it all in. The colors and attention to detail is downright amazing. Looks like the poor adventuring chap has succumbed to the cold and snow. Now that's a way to go! Really though, the snow-covered trees are almost realistic looking, and the Sun looks icy blue and doesn't seem to accomplish anything in regards to making the scene around the adventurer look warm. Hell, I even love the Wintersun logo even if it does remind me of the Sailor Moon logo a bit.
What I recommend to you all now is to go buy this album as soon as you can. I mean, like right now. Since it's being released in the USA and doesn't need to be imported, I'm sure you can find it most anywhere. Fans of black metal, folk metal and even more open minded power metal fans will love every last minute of this album. I was fully impressed with "Wintersun" and I hope this band releases more albums in the future. Wintersun isn't as good as Ensiferum. They're better.
[Nuclear Blast]
Wow, now this album really surprised the hell out of me! I had never heard of Wintersun before, but once their debut album "Wintersun" started playing on my CD player for the first time I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This is definitely one of the best debut albums I've heard in quite a while, and even after a few days of listening to it I still am in awe at the great musicianship and songwriting found here.
One thing that ran through my mind when I listened to "Wintersun" for the first time was "This sounds like something I've heard before". I tried to figure out who this band reminded me of, but I couldn't put my finger on it. All of the sudden it hit me like a bolt out of the blue. Hell, it came to me late at night when I wasn't even listening to it. Ensiferum. It reminded me a lot of Ensiferum. And understandably so because as I was kindly clued in by Dakkon Craves Human Flesh from the Blind Guardian message board, Wintersun's main member is ex-Ensiferum vocalist Jari Maenpaa. Not only does he sing on "Wintersun", he also plays guitar, bass and programs as well. I would have known all of this info sooner if I would have seen the promo material Nuclear Blast sent with the CD right away, but better late than never, right? Jari proves without a doubt on this album that he is one of the most talented musicians out there. The only instrument he does not perform himself on this album are the drums which is performed by the drummer of the Finnish death metal band Rotten Sound. The music is fast as hell and leans towards a more symphonic and folky black metal throughout it's entire length. Hugely epic and swaying movements are perfectly combined with fast and razor sharp guitar riffs. Honestly, this music is extremely fast at times and no matter how speedy the music seems to go, Jari holds everything together. His musicianship on this album almost boarders on being technical, and I find it hard to explain in words how well this sounds. The drums are amazing as well, and they too almost enter the technical realm because they are played with such ease and precision. As mentioned earlier "Wintersun" has a bit of folk influence, but not in the traditional folk metal way. All of the traditional folk melodies are done by just the guitars and keyboards. It's nicer when the actual folk instruments are used in these cases, but I have to say I can't really complain because this all sounds so perfect together. In a few places on this album the keyboards actually became too much, but never so bad that it seemed to ruin any song or make me feel like I was bored. They were just overpowering at times without ever being cheesy, though. The music on "Wintersun" is pure class through and through.
The lyrics are sung in and written in English. I can't really say what the lyrical content focuses on because the lyrics were not included with the promo, but from what I can gather they seem to focus on solitude and my favorite season of the year, Winter. Jari can seemingly do as many things with his voice as he can do with musical instruments. Sometimes he sings in a rawer black metal style, other times he sings in an almost Viking metal choir-like vocal style, and although he does it very rarely, he even throws in a few death metal styled vocals once in a while. All of the styles he pulls off amazingly well and taking this into account along with his ability to play a wide range of instruments, it makes me wonder if he isn't some kind of musical genius.
The production is top notch, but that is usually the case with Nuclear Blast released albums. Everything is mixed right at the proper levels, which is a key thing when you take into consideration the amount of instruments and styles found on "Wintersun". This is the kind of production all bands should strive for in my opinion. If a band like Wintersun can achieve this kind of production on their debut album, there's no excuse for the subpar productions some bands have even after releasing albums for ten or more years.
The entire packaging I can't focus on here because the promo only included the artwork, but that artwork is definitely worthy of some praise here. As with Wintersun's familiar sound, I found this artwork to be familiar to me when I first saw it, and after a bit of research I found out this cover was actually painted by the mighty Necrolord! I should have known this since he's always been one to paint in that one color scheme which is kind of his trademark. This is without a doubt the best Necrolord artwork I have ever seen. I'm sure you can see the art on the side of this review, so just take a gander at it and soak it all in. The colors and attention to detail is downright amazing. Looks like the poor adventuring chap has succumbed to the cold and snow. Now that's a way to go! Really though, the snow-covered trees are almost realistic looking, and the Sun looks icy blue and doesn't seem to accomplish anything in regards to making the scene around the adventurer look warm. Hell, I even love the Wintersun logo even if it does remind me of the Sailor Moon logo a bit.
What I recommend to you all now is to go buy this album as soon as you can. I mean, like right now. Since it's being released in the USA and doesn't need to be imported, I'm sure you can find it most anywhere. Fans of black metal, folk metal and even more open minded power metal fans will love every last minute of this album. I was fully impressed with "Wintersun" and I hope this band releases more albums in the future. Wintersun isn't as good as Ensiferum. They're better.
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Tracklist:
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| Rating: 9/10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Release Date: 2004 | ||||||||||||||||
| Length: 54:11 | ||||||||||||||||
| Review By: Britton Dicks | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Reviews: (1) | ||||||||||||||||
| Bands Website: Go Here | ||||||||||||||||
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