Atavistia - The Winter Way (2020)^{Release ID: 23451}

A worthy homage to Wintersun, but does not captivate on its own

Have you ever thought to yourself "damn, it would be great if Eternal Darkness (Autumn) from The Forest Seasons, was 50 minutes long instead of 15?" If so, this is the album for you! "Dawn of the Frozen Age" even has the same neoclassical guitar shred break.

Matt Sippola does his best to impersonate Jari Mäenpää's recent stylings at every turn, right down to the intonation of his clean and harsh vocals, and actually does a solid job. Casual Wintersun listeners would probably believe you if you told them this was the Finns' next fundraiser album delivered from the future. Sonically, this has everything fans of the epic wintry symphonic melodeath sound, such as myself, would want.

Unfortunately, Atavistia's ability to craft memorable melodies, or weave them together in complex and surprising ways throughout a song, isn't on the same level of Wintersun, which leaves The Winter Way sounding like a slightly pale - albeit convincing - imitation. If they can diversify and tighten the songwriting (there isn't justification for any of these meandering 8-10 minute songs to be more than five or six), their execution of their chosen sound is good enough to create a really delightful album. This just isn't quite it yet.