Wintersun – Wintersun
Posted on June 24, 2009 at 12:00 am by admin
What was initially a side-project, Wintersun has quickly grown into a band with a somewhat definitive ‘sound’ – something difficult to do in a sea of folk metal bands. Mainman Jari Mäenpää’s aggressive and melodic guitar riffs bring a certain edge to their sound not too distant from that of Ensiferum, the folk metal band he used to front.
The guitar tracks provide wide sweeps and head-banging gallops that will keep you hooked until the end. While maintaining his usual Archeon – like raspy screams, Jari brings lyrics that prove tragic and catchy to the plate. The clean vocals however, similar to his previous band, seem to slow the album down with unnecessarily bland stretches. The small spoken-word poetry sessions add a dark, colder touch, and the lyrics can even be compared to the neo-classical metal band Haggard, adding what some might consider a ‘corny’ and weak sense to the songs. This is enough to distract from the otherwise hectic tempos like “Beyond the Dark Sun“.
Taking from his early Ensiferum roots and adding a more sharp edge to the already broad range of folk metal, Wintersun somehow manages to pull together an aggressive take on tone, separating it from the type of band that has the misfortune of being labeled as a ‘metal clone’. While Wintersun’s debut album may not be ground breaking, it definitely provides the aggressive category with a mix of fierce sounding and slow-paced vocals (some of which seemed to take away from the main direction of the album) and upbeat gallops. This album is definitely worth a try.
Released September 13th, 2004
Wintersun at MySpace
Nuclear Blast Records at MySpace
Buy this album at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
Review by Isaac
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