WINTERSUN Wintersun
Nuclear Blast
2004
www.wintermadness.net
www.nuclarblastusa.com
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
Since when did bouncy keyboards get so prominent in modern metal music? I must have missed that, as it is all over the place now. Well, maybe not missed it, but somehow pushed it to the back of my mind. Some bands can pull it off quite well, and other bands, well, just suck at it. Its sad though, as WINTERSUN fall somewhere in between those descriptions. There is something strange about the band, as most of the album is remarkably good, but there are parts of it that just fall flat, and sound too contrived. These sections have a lot in common with a band such as, shall we say, CHILDREN OF BODOM, and are just played out to these ears. I will say this; WINTERSUN is basically a one man project though, being main man Jari Maenpaa, who used to be with ENSIFERUM, which will explain where a lot of the sound from the band comes from. Direct comparisons can definitely be made with BORKNAGAR, VINTERSORG, and unfortunately, CHILDREN OF BODOM.
The albums imagery is that of grim darkness, and just the cold depression of winter. Although, most of the music gives me a very spacey vibe to it. Most of the album is very fast paced, but not blistering fast. They do know when to slow things down at times, and tend to fall back into the fast paced velocity a little too much. The songs are filled with lots of keyboards, and synth melodies that remind me sometimes of a bit of over the top prog metal like STAR ONE, which I do find quite enjoyable. Although there are some times when they do slow it down, with songs like Sleeping Stars which starts off slow and gloomy, much like a HYPOCRISY track. The vocals are handled by one man, but he manages to run the gamut from death metal to black metal; power metal, folkish, and prog. Overall, the album flows quite nicely, and the songs are complimentary to each other. This is the perfect combination of folk metal, synth-ladened black metal, and some decent power metal. WINTERSUN do tend to blend everything together quite nicely. Production is really top notch, and everything falls into place at the right moment of the song. The guitar tones pack a heavy punch, and combine well with the synth work. Drums are well played by the only other member of the band, Kai Hahto from ROTTEN SOUND. He adds that extra bit of melody to the songs, and provides the grooves when needed as well.
When they (he) have their hearts in it, WINTERSUN is a damn enjoyable listen. This is definitely a big surprise to me, and I found myself enjoying this album almost a little too much. Although, there are times where the album does bog down a little bit with too much going on at one time, this is not enough to bring it down any notches. Definitely a horns up!
Rating: 7.5 /10
Evil C
Nuclear Blast
2004
www.wintermadness.net
www.nuclarblastusa.com
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
Since when did bouncy keyboards get so prominent in modern metal music? I must have missed that, as it is all over the place now. Well, maybe not missed it, but somehow pushed it to the back of my mind. Some bands can pull it off quite well, and other bands, well, just suck at it. Its sad though, as WINTERSUN fall somewhere in between those descriptions. There is something strange about the band, as most of the album is remarkably good, but there are parts of it that just fall flat, and sound too contrived. These sections have a lot in common with a band such as, shall we say, CHILDREN OF BODOM, and are just played out to these ears. I will say this; WINTERSUN is basically a one man project though, being main man Jari Maenpaa, who used to be with ENSIFERUM, which will explain where a lot of the sound from the band comes from. Direct comparisons can definitely be made with BORKNAGAR, VINTERSORG, and unfortunately, CHILDREN OF BODOM.
The albums imagery is that of grim darkness, and just the cold depression of winter. Although, most of the music gives me a very spacey vibe to it. Most of the album is very fast paced, but not blistering fast. They do know when to slow things down at times, and tend to fall back into the fast paced velocity a little too much. The songs are filled with lots of keyboards, and synth melodies that remind me sometimes of a bit of over the top prog metal like STAR ONE, which I do find quite enjoyable. Although there are some times when they do slow it down, with songs like Sleeping Stars which starts off slow and gloomy, much like a HYPOCRISY track. The vocals are handled by one man, but he manages to run the gamut from death metal to black metal; power metal, folkish, and prog. Overall, the album flows quite nicely, and the songs are complimentary to each other. This is the perfect combination of folk metal, synth-ladened black metal, and some decent power metal. WINTERSUN do tend to blend everything together quite nicely. Production is really top notch, and everything falls into place at the right moment of the song. The guitar tones pack a heavy punch, and combine well with the synth work. Drums are well played by the only other member of the band, Kai Hahto from ROTTEN SOUND. He adds that extra bit of melody to the songs, and provides the grooves when needed as well.
When they (he) have their hearts in it, WINTERSUN is a damn enjoyable listen. This is definitely a big surprise to me, and I found myself enjoying this album almost a little too much. Although, there are times where the album does bog down a little bit with too much going on at one time, this is not enough to bring it down any notches. Definitely a horns up!
Rating: 7.5 /10
Evil C
