Time I

First of all, let me say, pardon the length of this review. I never write them this long, and I don't think I will again, but I was just struck by inspiration from this album. Time I blew me away. And although yes, the "metal" factor is significantly lessened from the debut, Time is a beautiful musical work of art. Case First of all, before I mention the songs, the casing itself looks great. The artwork is beautiful and it fits the mood of the album, and inside the front cover is the CD itself, sporting the same picture of the tree coming out of a head. Then, attached to the inner spine is the lyric book, and I must say that I love when artists don't just slap the lyrics on but actually make them look good and interesting, and Time I accomplishes this greatly. The fonts are all the same as the "Time I" logo on the cover and superimposed over backgrounds of frozen landscapes, cosmic storms and more, and it also contains a beautiful quality picture of each member of the band individually and one of them together in front of violet, star-dotted clouds. At the end, on the inner back cover is the DVD, bearing the same eyes of the cover, but darker and being flanked by with purple tendrils. On the back the motif is the same, the iconic tree surrounded by swirls of energy and purple flames, looking almost like a mystical forest on an alien planet. Superimposed over this scene is the setlist as well as the DVD information. Songs 1. When Time Fades Away The instrumental intro track, reminiscent of the Ensiferum albums. A light rain accompanied by soft violins and what sounds like a Japanese harp and woodwinds. This builds up, adding more layers for a minute until everything quiets for a brief moment and then with an unexpected drop, the whole orchestra jumps into a musical adventure complete with epic tribal drums, swaying and flying through a magical land until at around three minutes, after building up power, it is released in another heart-stopping drop punctuated by violins that erupts into a frenzy of melodic power that drops the jaw. After a bit of this, it suddenly stops. Not abruptly, but the orchestra is silenced and we are returned to the woodwinds, harp and violins of the beginning. The soft music then seamlessly transitions- 2. Sons Of Winter And Stars I. Rain Of Stars -into the next song, much like this sentence. The acoustic sound continues with a slight change of melody and is unexpectedly rocked by power chords and then the metal kicks in. Same melody, but with guitars and Kai blasting away. After a bit, the orchestra quiets, and a choir heralds the arrival of Jari's screams. This pattern continues, orchestrations and metal harmonizing wonderfully with an angelic soprano hovering over it all, Jari screaming through a storm of furious melody. II. Surrounded By Darkness The music lowers to introduce the second sequence. Ambient sounds and guitar feedback fall into a heavy, dark riff and Kai joins with his double bass and toms, and then the orchestra jumps aboard. This riff is continued as Jari sings and screams his way, accompanied by the death growls of bassist Jukka, voices overlapping in a chilling manner. The dark riff continues storming along until it gives way to more epic melodic power with Jari's clean vocals until it is suddenly stopped my intense violins. III. Journey Inside A Dream Personally, one of my favorite parts on the album. The power chords give way to slow violins and rhythmic, swaying acoustic strumming and Jari sings in a beautiful voice that takes the listener into the sky with such glorious, uplifting melody, hitting every note with such satisfying accuracy. Then the strumming dies down giving way to an ethereal sequence of overlapping voices, seemingly falling through a hole of darkness until... IV. Sons Of Winter And Stars Right before impact, there is a one second warning of Jari screaming the first two words of the chorus. Just as the listener's eyes open in realization of what is coming, a maelstrom explodes, filled with a righteous fury as Jari screams through the chorus, followed by a repetition of the same chorus with clean vocals. The raging music continues until there is what appears to be a dual solo, exchanging between violins and guitars, and then there is a flashback in time as the main melody of "Rain of Stars" returns for a brief moment, and then there is a breakdown of Jari singing a duet with a choir for a bit and then the blast beats enter, and Jari sings a few more lines until the chorus returns with a vengeance, this time with a full Nordic choir that flows into the final stretch with amazing guitar work which culminates into a final, grand climax. Hands down, the best song on the album. 3. Land Of Snow And Sorrow The third track opens with a slow guitar riff complemented by synths and strings, and is soon joined by slow drumming, power chords and full choir and orchestra, giving the feeling of a wanderer journeying through a treacherous frozen world. Jari begins to sing, cleanly, and is soon joined by other ambient voices, creating a whirlwind of voices. This slow, deliberate tempo is continued into and past the chorus, where Jari's clean voice is harmonized in a lovely way. After a few minutes, he begins to scream a few lines, until the chorus returns. The general sound and speed of the song is the same for the length of it, but it does not sound repetitive, as he changes it up with some bridges and minor melodic shifts, and it works because unlike Sons Of Winter And Stars, which is made to tell a story that changes over time like Starchild from the debut album, this song is meant to give a singular feeling, of melancholy and isolation, in the same style as Sleeping Stars. 4. Darkness And Frost Track four flows seamlessly between the previous and following songs, in the same fashion as the first two songs. Except instead of being the intro to one song, it is the bridge between two. It is the shortest song, and appropriately so since it is meant as a transitionary point. The song opens with a faint guitar riff in the background and is brought swiftly to the forefront a small drop. The sound is livelier than Land Of Snow And Sorrow, with a nice swaying rhythm, sounding like what I call a "Space Waltz". The melody is consistent, building up energy with more synth and orchestration layers until Time begins. 5. Time The final song begins with the same tune as the predecessor, but instantly kicks off with power chords and drums. The same swaying waltz melody plays for a while until it is slowed into a bridge of oriental violins and a twinkling melody until the rhythm returns with a scream from Jari. After a few measures, the orchestrations dim to let the guitars do most of the work as Jari begins screaming the first verse, which leads into the chorus, where the orchestrations return in force as Jari's clean voice delivers a lovely accompaniment to the cosmic dance of power that is Time. After a small bridge of fast riffs and violin arpeggios, the band kicks in with a faster tempo, with a variation on the waltz theme from the first part of the song. Jari screams the second chorus while accompanied by Jukka's death growls, and this is followed by more fast riffs punctuated by an angelic choir. The following section quiets the guitars in favor of a more melodic sound with where Jari sings another bridge with overlapping ethereal voices that lead into an epic solo, and then returning to the main chorus. Afterwards begins the final stretch with the faster melody giving one last, long burst of furious energy as Jari and Jukka scream as Time fades away. The instruments cease with the main melody being played furiously on piano alone, and soon this fades into the release of a sweet jumble of notes being played by some strings and woodwinds with an oriental flair, reminiscent of the intro track. And so Time comes to a close. DVD The DVD is admittedly less than I expected. Before Time I was released I also purchased Ensiferum's "Unsung Heroes", the special edition which also had a DVD, this one with almost two hours of behind-the-scenes documentaries and accompanying the band throughout recording the album. Whereas Wintersun's was interesting, it didn't really delve too much into the writing and recording process. The DVD includes: 1) The band performing each song (minus the intro, which is purely computer made) live in a rehearsal studio, which was interesting but nothing really new. 2) Licks and Tricks, where each band member individually has a video of them demonstrating a part of the album on their particular instrument. Curiously, the members whose vidoes were the most informative were Jukka and Kai, the bassist and the drummer, Kai's being the most in-depth. They actually demonstrated how they came up with their parts and explained some of the playing and writing process, where Teemu did little of this, and Jari actually only spoke to talk about his gear before just playing through two sections of song. 3) This is a long section of Jari with an interviewer in what appears to be his apartment demonstrating all the tracks of Sons Of Winter And Stars on his computer, explaining a bit of how he wrote the many, many orchestrations that accompany the band. 4) The last section is a montage of pictures of the band in several stages of making the album. There are pictures of them in the studio, at press releases and on tour. All in all, I expected to see more new material. Not new songs or anything, just more of the production history. I know there are a lot of fans who would like to see how Jari came up with the songs or watch the band record them. Final Verdict Needless to say, I love this album. It is a different approach than the debut, with more emphasis on the orchestral sound, with less attention to the blazing speeds of songs like "Beyond the Dark Sun", "Winter Madness", or "Starchild". Which, after taking a few listens of Time I, I am actually happy for. I hear too many people commenting on how a band's new material all sounds the same (Which, honestly applies to any artist. After all, it's their style. Also, if they're good, is never a bad thing. Why wouldn't you want more of a good thing?) But new material is also a good direction, and Wintersun did not disappoint. And while I can understand the desire to hear more of what made me fall in love with the band in the first place, "Sons of Winter and Stars" has plenty of speed and is quite long so it doesn't feel like it's too brief. And this new album is not meant to replace the original. If you want to hear a faster Wintersun, the debut is still there, and those songs are still amazing and will never get old. And, lastly and most important, this is only half the album. Part II is coming out in 2013, and if what I have heard is correct, Jari saved the best songs for the second act. He even said in an interview that "Silver Leaves" is his favorite song he's written ever, and I personally can't wait to hear it. Also, there is the live recordings of "Way of the Fire" on YouTube, and if you've seen it you know there's more speed to come. So, with a beautiful case, rather interesting DVD, and this new blood injected in the Wintersun sound and with the knowledge that the second half is on its way to complete Time, I would award it a 9.5 out of 10, just because the DVD didn't show much new material. But since the scale is out of 5, I happily award this masterpiece a 5/5, and I eagerly await the second coming of Jari to bless my ears with his heavenly music.

This album is simply amazing. If I were to try and sum up the general feel encompassed in this album it would be as follows: Melodic metal with a Finnish tint, Viking "at sea" song elements, japanese village flavouring, and orquestral seasoning. This album ended up taking about 6 years to make (part of that material is going to go to Time II because it was too much for one album) and there is not a single song that I don't absolutely love. All of this album has a feel of maturity to it that is amazing for a second album from any band. Even their first album (which I also highly recommend, it is self-titled incase you're interested) showed a high level of cohesion from the band members though it was a bit less masterful than this album. If I absolutely had to pick one song as my favorite it would be "Land of Snow and Sorrow." For whatever reason that song is perfect all the way through. For those of you who play instruments this album has a lot to offer as well. I play Guitar, Drums, Piano, and Bass and everyone of those instruments, where used, is used very well. The drummer does the tightest alternating blast beat I've ever heard and he does it in a way that it doesn't come across as a balls out death metal sound. It actually adds to the melody and the enjoyability of the songs. I'm extremely looking forward to Time II, which is supposed to come out in 2013. Also, this album is 5$. Which is ridiculous considering how much I've paid for music I like incomparably less.

This album might be short, but man does it deliver. The impact of these songs is extraordinary. Ranging from simply beautiful, to harsh and fast, then technical, and back to beautiful again. The amount of quality put into each of these tracks is astounding. It's a blending of black metal vocals, Japanese influences, technical guitars, and power metal verses. Truly a wonderful find as I stumbled upon them by complete accident. This is truly a unique band, and audio experience. I would recommend this highly to any fans of technical metal. Cannot wait until the second part of this album is released!

I've listened to this album about 10 times thus far, maybe more. This is necessary because there is A LOT to soak in on this album. I can say after my listens that this album is good, really good. The compositions are well done and I like the orchestration, but it just doesn't live up to the hype it's been getting. "Sons of the Winter and Stars" is one track that starts strong, but I find myself getting lost during the middle parts of this song. It doesn't hold me. Then towards the end it picks up again and it sounds fantastic especially with the clean vocals starting to take the center stage. I feel this song could have been a lot more concise in its approach. The next song "Land of Snow and Sorrow" is the best track on the album. It does what the second track could have done. It boasts great composition, orchestration, a great chorus and it's done in a much more concise manner. "Darkness and Frost" is nothing more than an interlude into the final track and a pretty average interlude at that. It's kind of cool, but it's borderline filler. The closing track "Time" is also a fantastic number. I find this track not holding me in a few parts, but not as bad as the second track. That said, it's a great closing track to the album and leaves you wanting to hear Time II. So, am I glad I bought this album? Yes, and I'd recommend it to anyone, I would just warn that it doesn't quite live up to the hype it's been getting, and there were plenty of albums released in 2012 that are more worth your time.

Para acomodarse y diafrutarlo. Muy buen disco.

Malgré un packaging un peu kitsch, cet album du groupe finlandais Wintersun est une petite pépite : les chansons sont magnifiques, très travaillées, entraînantes, émouvantes. La richesse mélodique est au rendez-vous : la virtuosité de Jari Mäenpää ne se transforme pas, comme ça peut être le cas avec d'autres groupes, en une démonstration ostentatoire gratuite. Elle rentre au service d'une qualité musicale exceptionnelle. L'alternance entre chant guttural et chant mélodique, qui introduit une puissance stupéfiante, le mariage entre les voix et l'instrumentation (qui s'étend bien au-delà du classique guitare-basse-batterie), font des membres de Wintersun les meilleurs représentants du death metal mélodique. On attend avec une très grande impatience la suite de l'album.

Album of the year? Definitely. Album of the decade? Could be. Without becoming tangled in comparisons and superlatives, I'll put it like this: 'Time I' is epic in vision, theme and musical execution. Not chained by the restraints of stereotypical metal, Jari Mäenpää and his Wintersun compadres explore musical styles from Chinese traditional (using instruments such as the sublime-sounding erhu) to precision-picked extreme metal with blast-beat drumming and choral backing vocals à la Nightwish. Indeed, 'Time I' has an epic soundtrack-like quality to it that is often reminiscent of Nightwish at their best. As has been pointed out by many others, the wait for this album was inordinately long. Every time I listened to Wintersun's flawless debut album, I wondered when - and sometimes if - they would get around to releasing a follow up. Jari is a perfectionist with every detail of the music he creates. That, combined with financial issues, delayed the album. The resulting masterpiece is well worth the wait. Intro 'When Time Fades Away' is oriental, epic and majestic. It would fit just as well onto the soundtrack of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' or 'Hero' as it does onto this album. Subtle strings and heart-wrenching erhu melodies hook the listener with their poignance, setting the scene for track two. Clocking in at 13:31, 'Sons of Winter and Stars' is the longest track on the album. Its four sections, (I) Rain of Stars, (II) Surrounded by Darkness, (III) Journey Inside a Dream, and (IV) Sons of Winter and Stars feature Wintersun's trademark sweep picking, executed with astonishing precision. Kai Hahto's drumming is notable, as are the Scandinavian influences that permeate the lyrics and music after the album's decidedly eastern intro. 'Land of Snow and Sorrow' features, in addition to one of the greatest titles ever, one of the greatest riffs ever. Starting out slow and down-tuned for maximum heaviness, it segues into a clean-toned refrain then pummels the listener with a monumental riff. Throughout the 8:21 of the track, it alternates between delicate melodies and epic heaviness. This is something Wintersun do extremely well. Like their compatriots Insomnium and Amorphis, they understand that the key to making a sonic impact isn't relentless bluster: it's exhibiting light and shade, darkness and light. 'Darkness and Frost' is another instrumental piece that could easily be from a film soundtrack, although this time it's not oriental: here we find ourselves very much rooted in the band's Scandinavian homeland. Subtle wintry keyboards and note-picked guitar melodies provide the tune, with occasional bass-drum booms creating a sense of majesty. 'Time' is the second-longest track on the album. The biggest difference between this track and the Wintersun debut is Jaari's vocals. Gone are the growled words discernible only with a lyric sheet, in their place clean vocals that soar above twin guitars and a thunderous rhythm section. The song twists and turns until 6:15, when a staggering guitar solo precedes another beautifully sung chorus. The song outros with piano melodies, delicate keyboards, wind chimes and an erhu bringing us back to the oriental theme of the intro. There isn't a weak moment on 'Time I'. Every detail of the album - song titles, lyrics, melodies, musical execution, vocal delivery, production, artwork and packaging - is breathtaking. This is the standard by which other metal will be measured. With this album, Jari and co. have set the bar so high that most bands won't be able to see it, never mind reach it. Monumental.

8 Jahre hat es gedauert bis der Nachfolger zum viel gelobten Wintersun Erstlingswerk erschienen ist. Der von Fans und Presse mit Spannung erwartete Nachfolger nennt sich "Time" und wurde in zwei Teile gesplittet. Bevor wir uns den Songs widmen, möchte ich etwas zu der Aufteilung des Albums in 2 Parts sagen. Man liest sowohl in der Presse als auch bei einigen Rezensionen das es sich dabei um eine gewisse Abzocke handeln müsse, weil Time I ja nur eine Spielzeit von 40 Minuten aufweist und man die Dinger auch in einer Box hätte veröffentlichen können. Erstens, Time II ist noch gar nicht fertig gemixt wie Jari in einigen Interviews verkündet hat. Zweitens kenne ich genug Alben anderer Künstler z.b. (Children Of Bodom) deren Alben teilweise sogar kürzer sind oder eine ähnliche Länge aufweisen. Noch dazu habe ich lieber 40 Min. hohe Qualität als ein 70 Min. Album wo 3 Lückenfüller vorhanden sind die ich eh skippe. Drittens finde ich kann man für eine Band, die sich 8 Jahre mit voller Leidenschaft in die Ausarbeitung eines einzigen komplexen Albums gestürzt hat ruhig zwei mal bezahlen, wenn man bedenkt das andere Bands teilweise im 2 Jahrestakt Alben veröffentlichen wo halt 1/3 Füllmaterial vorhanden ist, trotzdem aber jedes mal zwischen 15 und 20,- € kostet. Und das Argument, 2 von den 5 Songs sind nur "halbe" Songs weil es sich dabei nur um Intros bzw. Instrumentals handelt,kann nur von Leuten kommen die wohl noch nie ein Konzeptalbum gehört haben. Man kann hier keine einzelnen Songs rauspicken, dieses Album ist einfach 40 Min. Kopfkino in Perfektion. Es ist ein Gesamtwerk und kann nicht in Einzelteile zerstückelt werden. Es ist ein Werk was am Stück gehört werden will und den Hörer auf eine Reise mitnimmt, auf der es jeden in verschiedene Stimmungen versetzt. Nun zu der Musik: Im Vergleich zum Vorgänger, gibt es natürlich einige Unterschiede. Was sofort aufällt ist die liebevoll ausgearbeitete Orchestrierung. Unglaublich was Jari hier geschaffen hat. Die Orchesterelemente erinnern sofort an Stücke großer Hollywood-Blockbuster. Die Kritik das sich die Orchestrierung zu künstlich anhört gegenüber einem echten Orchester kann ich so nicht bestätigen. Wenn Jari nicht offen darüber gesprochen hätte das die Orchestrierung am Rechner entstanden ist, hätten auch 99 % der Hörer nicht gecheckt das es sich hier "nur" um ein virtuelles Orchester handelt. Ebenfalls ein großer Unterschied ist das Wintersun hier dezenter zu Werke geht. Das bedeutet nicht, das es keine Blast-Beats oder Doublebass Attacken gibt. Diese sind nur dosierter eingesetzt um in den einzelnen Stücken die Epik nicht zu zerstören. Die Riffs sind nach wie vor erstklassig und kommen auch fett rüber. Auch Jaris Gesang hat sich enorm verbessert. So kann er seine Stimme variabler einsetzen, was den Songs zusätzlich an Tiefe verleiht. "When Time Fades Away" gestaltet sich als schönes Instrumental was die CD eröffnet und eine enorme Spannung aufbaut. Hier beweist auch Jari ganz eindrucksvoll, das er wohl ganz gern asiatischen Klängen lauscht :) Es hört sich wirklich an, wie der Soundtrack zu einem Samurai-Film. "Sons Of Winter And Stars" ist definitiv der vertrackteste Song auf dem Album. Aber dafür zeigt er gleich wofür Wintersun im Jahr 2012 stehen. Progressive, epische, lange Bombastsongs. Diesem Song sollte man durchaus mehrere Hördurchgänge widmen. Es dauert eine gewisse Zeit bis sich der Song einem zu etwas ganzem erschliesst und man einen Überblick bekommt was in diesem Song eigentlich alles passiert. Von Hart bis Zart ist hier alles vertreten. Granate und ein Song der auch nach dem x-ten Durchlauf noch Details offenbart die man davor nicht ganz mitbekommen hat. "Land Of Snow And Sorrow" ist der Song der sich mir am ehesten nach den ersten 1-2 Durchläufen erschlossen hat. Cooles Intro, tolle Melodien mit Ohrwurmcharakter. Ein knackiger 8 Minüter, der zwar getragen verpackt daher kommt, allerdings so vor Power strotzt das man sofort seine Pommesgabel in die Luft streckt und mitsingt. Der Song wird live ein Kracher. Garantiert! Nun bleiben noch "Darkness and Frost" und "Time". Ersterer entpuppt sich als Intro mit erneuten asiatischen Klängen das nahtlos in den Song "Time" führt. Hier wird nochmal alles aufgefahren. Bombast vom feinsten, ein genialer Chorus und tolle Gitarrenarbeit veredeln diesen Song. Im letzten Drittel werden uns auch tolle Soli präsentiert. Ein super Abschluss der besser nicht sein könnte. Leider müssen wir uns noch ein Jahr gedulden bis Time II erscheint. Ach ja, es gibt noch einen "Hidden-Track" auf der CD. Dort wird nochmal der Refrain von "Sons Of Winter And Stars" im Chor vorgetragen. Ehe dieser ertönt muss man allerdings einige Minuten warten. Am Ende ist noch etwas Gebrülle drauf ehe der Song endet. Ist ganz witzig beim ersten mal, aber kein Mehrwert und wird zukünftig sowiese geskippt :) Bei der Special-Edition ist noch eine Bonus DVD dabei. Dort gewährt Jari einen interessanten Einblick in die Entstehung und den Aufbau von "Sons Of Winter And Stars". Dazu gibt es noch eine Studio-Performance zu "Land Of Snow And Sorrow" und "Time". Ebenfalls auf der DVD befindet sich auch noch zu jedem Bandmitglied ein Video in dem es paar Tricks und Tipps gibt, wie man einige Passagen der Songs von "Time I" nachspielen kann. Schöne Sache wie ich finde und durch den popeligen 1,- € Aufpreis gegenüber der Jewel-Case Version erhält man nicht nur die Bonus-DVD sondern auch eine schicke Verpackung im Digi-Book Format. Also, greift zur Special Edition solange sie noch nicht vergriffen ist. Abschließend kann man sagen, das sich Wintersun mit diesem Album selbst übertroffen haben und es die lange Wartezeit wert war, um an diesem Meisterwerk zu feilen. Gibt ja auch andere Beispiele (Chinese Democracy) wo das nicht der Fall war. Ich denke wenn man mit Bands wie Blind Guardian (neuere Sachen), Nightwish und Children Of Bodom etwas anfangen kann, sollte man durchaus mal hier reinhören. Fans dieser Band werden sowieso zuschlagen und wenn sie nicht zu engstirnig und einen kompletten Aufguss des Vorgängers erwarten, werden sie sehr viel Spaß an "Time I" haben. Wintersun bleiben sich auf der einen Seite treu, gehen aber konsequent einen riesenschritt nach vorne und bereichern ihre Musik durch die Orchestrierung und Proggy-Parts die nach dem 20 Durchlauf immer noch was neues zu entdecken bieten. Von mir eine klare Kaufempfehlung!

簡単に感じたことなどを。 Wintersunの2作目。 「TIME 1」となっているので「2」は来年には出るのでしょうか。 前作よりも何ていうか壮大な雰囲気が増していると感じました。 ある寒々しい凍てつく世界の物語をWintersunが語りべとなって展開していくような･･･ 曲目は少なくなる代わりに1曲の演奏時間が長くなっていますが満足できる内容になっていると思います。 アートワークも素晴らしく日本語で「時」も印字されているのが嬉しいポイントです。笑