Disc I 01. When Time Fades Away 02. Sons Of Winter And Stars 1 - Rain Of Stars 2 - Surrounded By Darkness 3 - Journey Inside A Dream 4 - Sons Of Winter And Stars 03. Land Of Snow And Sorrow 04. Darkness And Frost 05. Time 06.[hidden track][Mediabook & Mailorder edition bonus]
Disc II[DVD][Mediabook bonus] + Time I Live Rehearsals At Sonic Pump Studios + Licks & Tricks + Sons Of Winter And Stars - Project Demonstration + Photo Gallery
Disc III[instrumental CD][Mailorder edition bonus] 01. When Time Fades Away 02. Sons Of Winter And Stars 1 - Rain Of Stars 2 - Surrounded By Darkness 3 - Journey Inside A Dream 4 - Sons Of Winter And Stars 03. Land Of Snow And Sorrow 04. Darkness And Frost 05. Time
Limited Mediabook (hard cover, wide format) CD+DVD + Instrumental CD of Time I, Certificate (limited to 500 copies, exclusively available at Nuclear Blast)
Limited Mediabook (hard cover, wide format) CD+DVD + Signed photo card Jari Mäenpää (limited to 1000 copies, exclusively available at Amazon.de)
Limited Mediabook (hard cover, wide format) CD+DVD + Wintersun logo shirt gray/black (exclusively available at Levykauppa Äx)
Wintersun - is it real? Well, no, it isn't. We hardly see the sun; for four whole weeks, it never shines.
Allow me to copy the style of DerRozzengarten (the greatest reviewer ever), who knows how to write proper metaphors. Such music is never meant to explain northern life for people who have never actually walked on a frozen river or cleared snow from their car before work (I'm not taking a jab at the French, Dutch, or Danish, who usually overreact when they see 1 cm of snow). Imagine the pre-internet days: it's blizzard beasts, mid-winter, the sun never shines, just 22 hours of darkness and twilight in between. There is nothing to do, only good music, books, or finding a way to channel your creativity. Outside activities, aside from collecting firewood and cleaning snow? I don't think so (but wait a minute, Jari lives in the city anyway?). Anyway, the streets are dead and frozen, the horizon is dark, and night light is ablaze on the snow. All you can do is wait for spring and then summer to arrive slowly. I've done it all my life, still do, and we all did. It's typical northern madness!
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"Another day, another Doug."
"I'll fight you on one condition. That you lower your nipples."
" 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"
After listening to it again, the instrumentation is not that bad but it still sounds like the gayest album I have ever heard, wow. Sons of winter and stars is the epitome of gayness.
You sound unintelligent.
What my ears hear and feel != Me being unintelligent.
Look, I don't mean "gay" in a derogatory sense, it just sounds like it wants to be WAY too epic that it sounds forced and childish, hence why I said "gay", sorry if that affected you in any way
Well, I was waiting for this after I heard "Wintersun" some years ago. Then boom, "Time I" is released. Aaaand...dissapoint. I mean it's not bad. Instrumentation is good, harmonies too, but...it's like Jari lost "something".
Jusy such a shame that all the bands you mentioned don't play melodeath at all They all play a more extreme version of power metal, nothing to do with melodeath.
I know people on other forums who would argue with you that bands like COB, Kalmah, Ensiferum, etc are melodic Death Metal.
However, I think they are wrong and I agree with you. When I hear those bands, the music reminds me a lot of 90s Stratovarius, only with some blastbeats and semi-harsh vocals thrown in.
Not heavy enough to be labelled as Death Metal, Imo.
Kalmah isn't Melodeath? Yup, every band that you don't like should be labeled in power metal genre? Am I right Marcel?
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"Soon its tail raises the mud
The beast is ready for attack
The reel screams the line beings to run
And the struggle shall begin"
Well, I was waiting for this after I heard "Wintersun" some years ago. Then boom, "Time I" is released. Aaaand...dissapoint. I mean it's not bad. Instrumentation is good, harmonies too, but...it's like Jari lost "something".
I actually think there's too much everything. This album could had been much better without the huge orchestration on top of everything. There's plenty of good riffs and melodies imo, but they lost their goodness, because the loud orchestration.
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"Soon its tail raises the mud
The beast is ready for attack
The reel screams the line beings to run
And the struggle shall begin"
Much of the hatred this album receives is because of Jari's antics and how long it took to be released. Looking at the comments from people who gave it low ratings, pretty much none of them debate the actual music, but external factors that have nothing to do with music. The other main reason is that this album tends to be proggy at times, thing which puts off a lot of purists. This is a great album for what it has to offer: entertainment. It has a high level of catchyness, especially during the choruses and the instrumental tracks are very well executed in particular. One of the few albums where I am not forced to skip endless interludes to get to the actual tracks.
Sons of Winter and Stars is the epitome of excellence in metal. Period. This track is flawless from top to bottom in both fast, middle and slow-paced sections. However, the climax near its end makes all the money. Land of Snow and Sorrow is good as well, but not as good as the former track. The title track is the second highlight. All in all, this is an album that deserves a 9.
I mean, you can always listen to the instrumental version of the album if the voices bother you (referring to the gayness mentioned above). They put up a hell of a live show and this album shines there as well. I hope the remade version that's included in the Forest Season package sounds more like the reheasral version on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2p9PsVD9Ho
A pretty average album. The music is nice and epic but that's it. Nothing better than a good Melo Death band and the vocals really suck. At least in the debut, the vocals had some energy.
Genuinely one of the biggest surprises for me. Epic and heavy from start to finish with near-perfect production, catchy well-written melodies and impressive songwriting on all instruments.
This is everything I love about metal in 40 mins and will sit as one of my favourite albums for a long time.
9.7/10 for me.
Bonus tip: The "live" versions of this album are actually better than the originals IMO, the energy is fantastic:
Currently working on a Wintersun parody song (don't ask why, you wouldn't believe me anyway) and listened to this album to refresh my memory. Yep, it's still just as overproduced, saccharine and underwhelming as back then. Jari should make like a Holopainen and write music about graphic novels involving ducks.
Currently working on a Wintersun parody song (don't ask why, you wouldn't believe me anyway) and listened to this album to refresh my memory. Yep, it's still just as overproduced, saccharine and underwhelming as back then. Jari should make like a Holopainen and write music about graphic novels involving ducks.
No. Unless the parody song/video goes viral, in which case yes. The only problem is I already have a sauna so I am not sure what I should ask money for.
Coming back to Wintersun, I think I need listen to the debut again, haven't heard that one in ages and I remember really liking it. It couldn't possibly have been as bland as Time I.
You should give it a try man, just for the fun of it.
To even get an idea of the necessity of 23 pages of comments on this album I suggest you start with the debut, then wait 8 years, and then go to the one at hand.
You should give it a try man, just for the fun of it.
To even get an idea of the necessity of 23 pages of comments on this album I suggest you start with the debut, then wait 8 years, and then go to the one at hand.
...just that you will not be able to wait that long once you have spun the debut, plus seen this bulk of 23 pages on the successor, I predict.
I'm currently about 15 minutes in the first album and so far it's pretty good, nothing really phenomenal but I'm not the biggest power metal guy anyways, if Time is anything like the self titled I probably won't bother checking it out
There are several differences to their debut. While the first album jumped right into the action, this one has an oriental sounding atmospheric intro. This album basically just has 3 songs, but they're pretty good. There are more clean vocals which make the album less "extreme" power metal and more "epic" power metal. Overall, the album flies by pretty quickly, but the short adventure is an enjoyable one
Favorite tracks: Sons of Winter and Stars, Time, Land of Snow and Sorrow