Reviews list for Wintersun - Wintersun (2004)
Sigh!
For the first few seconds of the opening track of this album I was struggling to see how this had anything to do with Death Metal. Having heard only black metal style vocals over poppy guitar work, I am still no nearer if I am honest. The internet tells me that this is Symphonic Death Metal. I don't believe everything I read on the internet for a reason.
There's no power behind much of anything on display here and so I am left to hope that some catchy songwriting or sonic wizardry is awaiting me over the coming tracks. It isn't though! The tempo and structure suggests that this could be a folk metal album, except they forgot to write any actual folk parts to any of the tracks. As a result it just sounds like overtly jolly heavy metal with a black metal vocalist who has no friends who like black metal so he's had to join any band he can find.
If I am forcing myself to find any positives and not just look like a miserable bastard then I would say that the lead work is of actual note and clearly the work of an adept guitarist. The rest of I found a real struggle to get through with no spark or even palatable consistency to cling to I do confess to hitting the skip button more than once in search of something of interest.
The lyrics to track number three Sleeping Stars sum up the experience perfectly for me:
"Suddenly I feel a
warmth go through my body,
but I feel that a
part of me has died."
The "warmth" might have been wind though.
Here, Jari Maenpaa has perfected aspects of multiple metal subgenres (Folk, Black, Power, Melodic Death) and fused them into one totally unique opus. Frigid, majestic soundscapes with a warm, beating heart at the core. Every song is a spine-chilling masterpiece.