The song "Beautiful Death" is about Jari's experience with tuberculosis following his hospitalization.

The songs on the self-titled album "Wintersun", were written over a span of several years by Jari Mäenpää, starting in 1995 and ending in 2003

According to Jari Mäenpää, the cover of Wintersun's self-titled album reflects the cold and spacey atmosphere of the music on the album. Also, the man lying in the snow represents death, while the light behind the trees represents birth, or healing.

Jari himself describes the band's genre as "Extreme Majestic Technical Epic Melodic Metal".

Wintersun was started by Jari Mäenpää as a side project, but in January 2004 he had to choose between Ensiferum and Wintersun. The Ensiferum Europe Tour had been scheduled for the same time as the recordings of Wintersun was planned. He chose Wintersun, leaving Ensiferum behind.