Released: Oct 19, 2012
Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Symphonic Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Number Of Tracks: 5
After 8 years since their debut album Wintersun are back with the first of a two part album called "Time I".
Time IFeatured review by: UG Team, on november 02, 2012 2 of 5 people found this review helpful
Sound: Well, here we have it – the most aptly-named album in history is finally with us. Cast your mind back to how old you were when "Time" was supposed to be released, or even further back to when Jari Mäenpää first unveiled his Wintersun project. The former Ensiferum frontman has been holed up for over seven years preparing his bombastic metal symphony, obsessing over every detail and no doubt tearing his long locks out over it. Taking that kind of time may seem like a luxury at first but the personnel problems, technology failures and endless rewrites that caused the huge delays have no doubt made the process extremely laborious.
What this does ensure is that everything is polished to perfection. The melodic vocals, melodic strings, melodic leads and occasionally heavy rhythms are all fine-tuned and firing on all cylinders from a production perspective. The hugely ambitious orchestral arrangements are not just integrated; they take the lead in everything that the album does. The album’s greatest strength is its use of the orchestra as a real means of expression, where so many metal artists only wheel it out as a cheap shortcut to an ‘epic’ sound. Unfortunately this does mean that the guitars take a back seat, and Mäenpää’s folksy melodic style doesn’t always lend itself to such a spotless and sanitized sound. When the guitars do take centre stage, at times during "Sons Of Winter And Stars" and "Time", the impact is rather softened by the mix, like a YouTube guitar player doing a metal version of his favourite RPG soundtrack. The music isn’t a million miles away either. // 7
Lyrics and Singing: There is an innate cheesiness to fantastical lyric writing, and nobody demonstrates that better than Jari if past work is anything to go by. Ensiferum have always been full of symbolism and the Wintersun debut was a rather melancholy affair, wrapped in swathes of frost, stars and other glitter. "Sons Of Winter And Stars" is a real bore, trudging through endless clichés ("The energy flows in me like a river of stars/I'm surrounded by the circle of fire, but eternal ice has frozen my heart") but elsewhere the personal content is at least less dressed up. Considering the audience is looking to be excited rather than engaged emotionally, the lofty language does its job well enough, and the voice screaming "TIME!", "FIRE!" or occasionally "SPACE!" still gets the message across. // 7
Impression: At this late stage "Time I" can only look and sound how we all knew it would and convince fans that it was worth the wait - both are forgone conclusions. If you’re into grand, folky, melodic metal and somehow haven’t heard about Wintersun already then this comes highly recommended; if you’re not then this won’t do a lot for you; if you’re already a Wintersun fan then, let’s be honest, you’re already waiting for "Time II", which comes out next year. Let’s hope all goes according to plan this time. // 7
Time I
Reviewed by:
marianoarnaiz, on october 26, 2012 3 of 5 people found this review helpful
Sound: Perhaps you haven't heard about this small band from Finland, but in 2004 and for they recorded their first album ("Wintersun" as well) and it turn around a lot of tables in the European death/melodic/power METAL world. After 8 years Jari Mäenpää and the boys are back with the first of a two part album called "Time I".
"When Time Fades Away" is the opening track, and the intro to the twin albums. It's a 4 minutes intro based on Japanese melodies. The composition is fantastic and is the perfect way to get you prepared for what's coming next. "Sons Of Winter And Stars" is the main track of the album, and it's composed of 4 parts: I. "Rain Of Stars", II. "Surrounded By Darkness", III. "Journey Inside A Dream", IV. "Sons Of Winter And Stars". This 13 minutes master piece begins with a slow an melodic intro, and after that is pure heavy guitars and blasting drums without forgetting the Japanese melody. The third track "Land Of Snow And Sorrow", is a melodic slow timed heavy/ballad like song with cleans vocals and choirs that evokes at time some Blind Guardian passages. "Darkness And Frost" is another instrumental song that fills the gap between songs, it has a lot of acoustic guitar a synth, is not as good as the opening track, but its a nice touch. Finally "Time" closes this 40 minutes LP, and it is not a disappointing end. It's mad, it's fast, it's melodic and it's got clean vocals, grunts and choirs. You can not ask for more.
The production of the instruments is amazing, the scores, the guitars and the drums are great; also the choirs fits perfectly the music. The only down side is that the main vocals (both clean and vocals) are drown in the mix and the are not really clear to understand. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: Jari Mäenpää it's a great singer, he can manage to perform great grunts and clean vocals on the album that fit the dramatic and epic mood of the music, unfortunately his work as composer overwhelms his singing in a far too dense mix. The lyrics are dark but not too deep, but once again they fit nicely in the context of the album e.g. "Behold the rain of stars The awakening of darkened skies Falling from the dark The symphony of dying lights Behold the rain of stars The blazing fire came pouring down Falling from the dark And life and death became unbound" or "The energy flows in me like a river of stars I'm surrounded by the circle of fire, but eternal ice has frozen my heart I'm lost in the pathways of time But now the time has come for us!" // 7
Impression: The album features only 5 tracks which is a little bit disappointing but the melody of each and everyone of them scratches the quality of any epic movie score. I just can describe it as Rhapsody Of Fire meets Dark Tranquility (or something like that). All the tracks are amazing but I still think the vocals are drown in the instrumental mix. Anyway I love the music and the feel of the album and I would buy it again. // 8
the composion und mixing is awesome, u can hear so much orchestral details, its so rich in sound but for me its not catchy enough. Its predecessor was just too huge to beat and u cant really ,,feel'' it like it was in 2004.. anyways superb album would say 8/10
After eight years I was waiting for a deft change. Enough of the old and enough of the new. Jari neither strays and progresses for the sake of progress nor does he stay stagnant and bland. Brilliant, overall. Takes a few listens to sink in. 9/10, because I was expecting more flying sweeps and shred runs
PERFECT.
FLAWLSS
INCREDIBLE
GENRE-DEFINING
there's not enough words to describe this i don't care what anyone says this has changed metal forever, in years to come this will be remembered alongside master of puppets and paranoid, it's just that good and that game changing never has an album for the past 40 years changed metal the way this album has. INCREDIBLE
Woah bro relax, this is good stuff but it's certainly not genre defining...in fact Wintersun a re relatively obscure band, this will in no way have the effect Master of Puppets had
no seriously this WILL have the same impact as master of puppets it just needs time to sink in master of puppets didn't become a classic overnight, once upon time black sabbath and metallica were obscure bands. this is finally a young band coming through to create classic albums we finally have a BIG star in metal making modern music that will stand the test of time this album is so ahead of it's time that it's just not sunk in yet. it's a hell of a lot of music to handle but it's by far the most genre defining album since mop. no other album has even scratched the surface on what this album has, the depth in it is unbelivable the compositions most people wont get their head around in even years of listening it's that vast and that incredible. this album is mind blowing and WILL go down as the greatest metal album in history
It's cool if you love this album, but everything you're claiming is very far-fetched, and just wrong. First of all: Sure, Black Sabbath and Metallica were at one point obscure, but pretty much every band is "obscure" when they first started out. Both of the bands' debut albums were commercial successes, and were huge by the time they released what are considered their classics. Wintersun isn't very well-known outside of the underground metal community. I'm extremely surprised to see their new album on UG's front page, and especially surprised to see that somebody who types like a 12-year-old and likes Underoath recognizes them. Even though they're pretty accessible for extreme metal, and it may be too soon to tell, I don't see them getting a lor of fame or recognition. Second, how can you say this is genre-defining (and the first since Master of Puppets, seriously?) and has already changed metal forever? Again, it's too soon to tell, but the band is relatively unknown, and their style isn't anything new.
"Overnight classic" is what we call an oxymoron, or a phrase that contradicts itself. Which is to say, something can't be called a "classic" without having stood the test of time; otherwise, it wouldn't be a "classic" by definition, and therefore, an "overnight classic" doesn't exist. See, I can be condescending too.
You can also be an idiot, since the phrases "overnight classic", "instant classic" and "modern classic" are not oxymorons, and do not contradict themselves. The word "classic" does not necessarily have anything to do with time. You started the condescention in the first place. My original comment was accurate.
I could continue this for a while, and argue the semantics of what definition of "classic" applies here, among other things, but you're right in one aspect- this has nothing to do with Time .
Symphonic elements? Been done, see Septic Flesh, Nighwish, Dimmu Borgir. Power metal mixed with melodic death? Been done, see Children of Bodom, Skyfire, Mercenary. Over the top, multi-layered compositions? Been done, see Ne Obliviscaris, Kalisia, Emperor. This album doesn't actually bring anything new to the table so you're going too far by calling it "game changing".
It is a very good album, but in my opinion this sounds too much like turisas and such (not that I don't like turisas). I wanted it to be more like the old one, fast, heavy and melodic. This is more like fast, heavy and symphonic... I prefer the old album, Beyond The Dark Sun is one of the best songs ever imo.
Jari said that TIme I is going to be 40% fast and 60% slow, while Wintersun was 60% fast and 40% slow. He also said that Time II is going to be much more faster than Time I. I hope that we're not going to wait another 8 years for it's release.
Time I probably is one the best album i've heard since their debut album. But honestly, this review sucks. It is way too short and should contain much more information.
To everyone whining about Time II taking another 8 years to release: It's already done. It was recorded/mixed/mastered along with Time I. They're just waiting to release it, because you mortals can't handle the whole thing at once.
As someone who loves Folk Metal, I can say that this isn't really genre-defining. is it awesome? Yes. I think it was well worth the wait and I can't wait for pt 2 to be released. But will his have the same impact as Master of Puppets? Good god no, the closest thing folk metal has to that is probably Iron by Ensiferum.
That being said, if you do give this album a listen, be sure to listen to it as a whole. It's meant to be listened to in one sitting IMO. Put this on, sit outside, look at the stars, enjoy your evening.
This album amazing! Best orchestrations in any metal album. People tend to forget that this is only the first part. Time II is already recorded and will be released next year. If only Jari had more money, he would surely release more masterpieces.
I just got paid $6784 working off my laptop this month. And if you think that's cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made over $9k her first month. It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less. This is what I do, Fox92dotcom
i'm bored of the album after 20 or so listens. the "wintersun" mood is gone, this new material is pretty sterile to be honest. jari screwed up by going crazy with the unnecessary orchestrations. honestly. he should have went with the simplistic approach. the album might have ended up better than the debut. but no. jari had to drown out the guitars and drums with techno. i preached that this album was amazing when it came out and i was fan boyish, but it legitimately is a disappointment.
Hey guy stop downvoting people because they don't think the album is the best album in the universe, people are aloud to not like what you like. After all, isn't the point of a review to be critical, not just pandering?
That being said, the album is good but not great. Seems really short, especially since there are only 3 metal songs on it (other 2 being instrumental). First listen through is fantastic, afterwords the epicness wears off. Guitars are drowned out by the synths quite a bit, and only 2-3 solos for the entire album.
now, after listening to the album for half a year, I can definitely say its one of the best I've ever listened to. and it's only HALF of the album! my first impressions were meh at best and I still hate the song 'darkness and frost' as it is literally the main riff of 'time' done over and over for 3 minutes. but WOW 'sons of winter and stars' 'land of snow and sorrow' and 'time' are all three extremely brilliant songs. and the intro just screams amazing! It's, without a doubt, become a better album with every listen.
