Glad Kai can finally shine!!

Glad they had the solid 2 minutes of ocean waves at the end so I could sit and reflect on my disappointment properly.

It's on the level of the first one, which by now is honestly an absolute win. The Way Of The Fire and Storm are total bangers.
This ain't forcibly overrated trash like The Forest Seasons, this is actual amazing fresh substance.
I love it! Honestly what else could I ask for from Wintersun now. Total win!!!

Time II's avg rating went below from I. Wait for a while, before it dives further down.

Written by Until the End on 12.09.2024 at 13:03

I've listened to it enough times now to say that, apart for the mix issues, particularly with the drums, this is a very good album. I was a bit disappointed to begin with but, having tweaked the equaliser settings so that the profile resembles the lift hill on a rollercoaster, it's grown on me a lot. I do tend to skip the intro and outro but the filling in between is a joy to listen to.

Having listened to the album a considerable number of times more, I'd have to say I prefer II over I.

Mix issues have blighted both albums, there's no denying that. Jari is a genius musician, but a bang average sound engineer.

However, I feel the mix on the original release of Time I was worse than on Time II as the guitar tone sounded as flat as a pancake. Jari knew he'd cocked up, which is the reason the 1.5 version was released and it definitely improved the listening experience. I haven't heard the 2.0 version so can't comment on that.

At least the mix on the original release of Time II has depth to it. The problem is, he's over-compensated and gone too far. In the songs containing the most technical drum elements, namely 'The Way of the Fire' and 'Storm', a lot of the detail has been drowned out by the ridiculous amount of bass. I'd expect a 1.5 or 2.0 version to be released at some point.

Musicianship wise, if we're calling Time I the first half and Time II the second, then I'm going with the second. Not by much, but there's just that little bit of something extra on II which has it ahead. Put the ambient sound sections aside on both albums and, for me, the quality of songwriting and technicality is a step above.

I was one of many disapproving voices at the lack of guitar solo's when Time I was first released. Oh, how Jari has put that right on Time II. The guy is a maestro of the guitar solo. The more, the better. I'm not ashamed to say that at nearly 40 years old, the solo on 'Storm' makes me well up a bit.

Vocally, Jari sounds as fantastic as ever. I hear his voice more like an instrument, complimenting the lead guitar, adding another layer to the composition. In terms of the lyrics, for someone whos first language isn't English, you can't expect Shakespeare and the theme is generally the same as on all the other Wintersun albums. I don't know whether by coincidence, but when he finally breaks out in to his native tongue on 'Silver Leaves', it's actually one of the best moments on the album.

The debut album set the bar ridiculously high, and we still compare to it when judging new Wintersun content. The amount of weight Jari must carry on his shoulders to create new music to that standard must be immense, even to this day. It's frustrating that there's been so little output over the last 20 years knowing the amount of talent he has. But he's stubborn and wants to do everything himself, even creating the bloody lyric videos! He just needs to concentrate on what he does best which is write music, play guitar and sing, and leave the rest to others. But he won't.

This is the type of music that is fine to listen to in the background. Some melodies or ambience sound nice, whereas some of the clean vocals make me wince. But, overall, it doesn't really give me any major negative or positive emotions. It's just... OK.

I honestly have mixed feelings about this job, so many years to do this?
The power death parts are good and remind us of what this band used to be, but when they start with the oriental atmospheres they really throw everything away. It's as good as it is bad at the same time. It doesn't deserve more than two listens and you forget it.

The atmosphere of the album is very similar to East Asian music (Korean or Japanese).

Tbh i found myself coming back a good few times to listening to Enisferum new album tbut not to this ....it's done so well i know.. BUT somehow i can't hear something that i want to come back listening to...sad this ..I love their first two albums..

It took a lot of... time 2 make me really appreciate wintersun and now some of their songs are actually in heavy rotation for me. Who would've thought

Even listening once to this album was a challenge by itself. Wow, if any album is overrated this year, it's this one.

I have to admit though, that this genre is not what I usually listen to. The fact that this music is so damn "fast" literally makes me anxious when listening to it. It's just so over-the-top, I have no words. Another thing, making the last track the longest of the album in a forced way like they did, with 2 minutes of ocean wave sounds, is just too lame. That could work for 20 seconds, but not for 2 minutes.

I don't care what anyone else says, this album was perfection. When an album is so good it hits you right in the soul. When it goes right where you want it to, and also wows you at every turn. When you finish it and you just want to tell the world about it or you just have to sit and meditate on what you've just experienced, and then listen to it again. That is what listening to a 10/10 is like. Sometimes I'll give an album a 9.75 (and round up to 10 on here) but it's very rare that I give an album a genuine 10. Well this one is a 10 for me. Tremendous album. So glad Jari came through and actually made this album.

Time II has grown on me a little more over the last few months but my opinion of it hasn't changed much beyond I just like it a little bit more. I still find it disappointing and lacking in some ways. Listening to Time I and II together is kind of tedious since every other song has an intro and/or outro. I honestly don't see why it took another twelve years for Jari to finish the second half after the first one, besides the obvious money scamming angle.

The more important thing I have to say is I have a friend who download all the Time Package extras so I said fuck it, give them to me. The other mastered versions of this album and the other Wintersun albums aren't really different enough for me to care, but all of the old demo songs that Jari did for other projects are actually really interesting and there are quite a few of them that I like way more than the entirety of Time II. Makes me think Jari spent half his life finishing the wrong album. Maybe check out some of those demo songs on youtube or wherever if you haven't.

Written by datfish on 08.01.2025 at 06:38

I don't care what anyone else says, this album was perfection. When an album is so good it hits you right in the soul. When it goes right where you want it to, and also wows you at every turn. When you finish it and you just want to tell the world about it or you just have to sit and meditate on what you've just experienced, and then listen to it again. That is what listening to a 10/10 is like. Sometimes I'll give an album a 9.75 (and round up to 10 on here) but it's very rare that I give an album a genuine 10. Well this one is a 10 for me. Tremendous album. So glad Jari came through and actually made this album.

That's true, bro. Very well said.

Written by Omid87b on 12.10.2024 at 11:09

The atmosphere of the album is very similar to East Asian music (Korean or Japanese).

That's right. And it's not a coincidence. Jari said that he was largely inspired by the soundtracks of Asian cinema for this music and aesthetics. (Such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Memoirs of a Geisha".)
By the way, if you listen carefully to the Wintersun debut album, you can also hear Asian influences there several times.

It is a good album, and it has good songs but it feels like Jari has regressed in songwriting. Even though songs in Time II are relatively long, they feel less complex compared to his earlier work. Debut album was a perfect mixture of atmosphere, riffs, and melodies in a relatively complex package. Since then only Sons of Winter and Stars was able to carry that flag. Still, he comes up with really cool melodies but it all feels really saccharine. There is not much bite to it overall, too simplistic. Hopefully he to some of the fire back along the way, as this was clearly a very draining experience for the dude according to his interviews.

Maybe it is just me, but the production is really awful. It took me maybe five times just to listen whole album because bad sound. Sorry, but after 12 years of waiting, I would expect better...