Wintersun is the debut studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Wintersun, then the solo project of Jari Mäenpää. It was released in September 2004. The Japanese edition of the album was released with the original three demo tracks used to obtain a contract with Nuclear Blast.

Background

Wintersun was a project eight years in the making. Jari Mäenpää began writing the music for Wintersun in late 1995,

Mäenpää, used to multi-track recording his music for years, was comfortable performing vocals, guitars, bass, and keyboards on the record.

Nino Laurenne, guitarist for Thunderstone, mixed the album at Sonic Pump Studios. Mastering was done by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios. The album was released on 13 September 2004.

The lyrics are considered to be an integral part of the album's thematic structure, although they can be interpreted on varying levels, according to Jari Mäenpää.

Mäenpää compared the artwork to the song "Death and the Healing": "The man fallen into the snow could represent 'death' [and] 'despair,' and the light between the trees could represent 'home' [or] "birth/healing.'"

Music video

Concept

thumb|right|The music video for "Beyond the Dark Sun" shows Jari Mäenpää immersed in ice and frost

The video begins with two shots of steel doors opening, revealing Mäenpää thrashing with his guitar in sharp silhouette against a single source of light, fog simulating the cold swirling around him. During the introduction portion of the song, the video cuts quickly between the contemporary band line-up, each member performing solely against a black backdrop: Mäenpää on guitar, Hahto performing on drums, Jukka Koskinen on five-string bass, and Oliver Fokin on rhythm guitar. for LowLifeMedia. The official video can be viewed here.

The cameo lighting technique is used almost exclusively to separate the band members from the black background or frosted foregrounds, and, paired with overexposure, is effective at making Mäenpää appear deep within an ice encasing. Two spotlights are used at times to separate band members appearing together.

Reception

Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic described the band's musicianship as "superb". He called the guitar playing on "Death and the Healing" "jaw-dropping" and finds "Beautiful Death" "stunning (if quite morbid)". His overall impression was one of surprise, making note of the fact that he based his initial impression on the artwork, which "elicit[ed] thoughts of simplistic black metal infused with pagan or anti-Christian messages." Despite these "twists and turns", Rivadavia found the album formulaic at times and rated it 3.5/5.

|title1 = Beyond the Dark Sun

|length1 = 2:38

|extra1 = 1998

|title2 = Winter Madness

|length2 = 5:08

|extra2 = 2002

|title3 = Sleeping Stars

|length3 = 5:41

|extra3 = 1995–2003

|title4 = Battle Against Time

|length4 = 7:03

|extra4 = 2002–2003

|title5 = Death and the Healing

|length5 = 7:12

|extra5 = 1996

|title6 = Starchild"

  1. "Wanderer of Time"
  2. "Burning Star"
  3. "The Creation"
  4. "The Sea of Stars"
  5. "Finale

|length6 = 7:54

|extra6 = 2000–2003

|title7 = Beautiful Death

|length7 = 8:16

|extra7 = 2003

|title8 = Sadness and Hate

|length8 = 10:16

|extra8 = 1996

|total_length = 54:08

Notes

  • The five sections within "Starchild" are not listed on the back of the album, but the lyrics within the liner notes are segmented with the titles of each "part".
  • There is also an early version of "Sadness and Hate" recorded back in 1996 as part of a demo from Jari Mäenpää's former band, Immemorial.

Personnel

;Wintersun

  • Jari Mäenpää – vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, producer
  • Kai Hahto – drums
  • Teemu Mäntysaari − guitar (only on Live & Raw CD)
  • Jukka Koskinen − bass (only on Live & Raw CD)

;Production

  • Ahti Kortelainen – drum engineering
  • Tuomo Valtonen – engineer
  • Nino Laurenne – mixing
  • Mika Jussila – mastering
  • Kristian Wåhlin – cover art
  • Helgorth – booklet design
  • Mario Koivumäki – photography
  • Tuomas Tahvanainen – Wintersun logo

References