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Wintersun Album: “Wintersun”
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Release Date:2006-08-15
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:
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Label:Nuclear Blast
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:829410379052
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Review - :
At first glance, a Finnish {\heavy metal} band named {$Wintersun}, whose album cover shows a fallen warrior lying face down in the snow, might elicit thoughts of simplistic {\black metal} infused with pagan or anti-Christian messages, but it doesn't take long for this eponymous debut to prove that first impressions can be deceiving. In fact, the new project of former {$Ensiferum} and {$Arthemesia} vocalist and multi-instrumentalist {$Jari Mäenpäa} merges the hyper-fast precision of {$Yngwie Malmsteen}-like guitar playing (witness the speedy {&"Beyond the Dark Sun"}) with the melodic sensibilities of post-{$Helloween} {\power metal} (see the more diverse {&"Winter Madness"}) and a homegrown passion for {\folk}-styled songwriting descended straight from trailblazing compatriots {$Amorphis}. If there is any sign of {\black metal} songwriting to be found here, it's in the majestic symphonic backdrops draped all over the ever more ambitious offerings that follow: {&"Sleeping Stars"} flirts with {\doom} via its slow-creeping riffs, {&"Death and the Healing"} alternates clean and rough vocals with a jaw-dropping display of pyrotechnic guitar heroics, and {&"Beautiful Death"} comprises a stunning (if quite morbid) {\black metal} tour de force in terms of both words and musical attack. Curiously, each subsequent track runs longer than the last here -- as if {$Wintersun} is consciously using the song lengths themselves as means of upping the compositional ante. And when they arrive at the ten-minute colossus {&"Sadness and Hate,"} which brings the album to a final, fittingly {\progressive} close, one realizes that, amazingly, the ploy works! Therefore, although these unexpected twists and turns can't stop their formula from becoming predictable at times, {$Wintersun}'s superb musicianship (props to drum machine man {$Kai Hahto}, as well) helps them win out against their evident influences in the end, making this a recommended release for lovers of relatively accessible extreme {\metal}. ~ Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide
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