By Lauren Leuschner
Well kids, it’s finally here. After what feels like an eternity, Wintersun has finally released their highly anticipated, first of a two part album entitled Time I. Kind of ironic eh?
Clearly ‘Time’ was not on Wintersun’s side while recording this album. Time I was originally scheduled to be released in 2006. In the summer of 2008, drummer Kai Hahto stated that delays were the result of technical issues with computer hard drives lacking sufficient RAM to allow vocalist Jari Mäenpää to compose orchestrations in real time. The following year, Mäenpää was becoming stressed to the point of having writers block and feeling like he was cursed. The band stopped announcing release dates for the new album to not disappoint the fans. Eventually, Time I was finally released in late 2012.
It is slightly disappointing that Time I only has 5 tracks (plus a hidden bonus track), but it is still 40 minutes of pure epic metal, and it was without question, worth the long wait. I could listen to this album on repeat for days without getting bored of it. Jari Mäenpää’s vocals on this album are truly incredible, both growls and clean. The lyrics are so easy to sing along to and headbangs are a must. This album has probably one of the best intro’s I’ve ever heard. In the second part of “Sons of Winter and Stars” Wintersun plays in 10/4 which I thought to be unusual (and difficult) but worked out amazingly.
My personal favourites from this album are “Sons of Winter and Stars”, “Land of Snow and Sorrow”, and “Time”. I honestly can’t think of any flaws with this album other than how long it took to be released. If I had to pick a favourite album of 2012, this would definitely be it.
(Nuclear Blast)
