WINTERSUN

Wintersun is a pretty interesting album from a metal standpoint. While it combines the speed and melodicism of power metal with the harshness and intensity of black metal, it also manages to twist in a few folk-influenced melodies and a couple progressive flashes. However, for fans of purely progressive music, they might find their minds wandering a bit. No doubt that there are plenty of progressive elements in the album: The songs are clearly structured beyond standard songwriting and there are a couple of time signature changes that are used to spice things up in plenty of power metal, along with sharp and speedy guitar lines. Virtuosity aside though, this album could easily be seen as a standard metal release.

There are tons of good points to the album though. For one thing, the energy is pretty constant through the album. Even in the more ballad-esque tracks that are pretty standard in power metal releases the drums keep the track flowing and the melodies keep moving. Jari Mäenpää, the guitarist and central focus of the album keeps his guitar blisteringly fast and his vocals are either a woeful black shriek or a bellowing and haunting clean tone reminding the listener of the sorrow and melancholy feeling of winter. All in all, the elements combine to create an enjoyable work.

As an extreme power metal release, Wintersun stands as an excellent choice, and many fans of extreme and melodic metal will be sure to come across it. However, prog listeners may find a lot of the tracks too similar, even though the compositions are all good. Progressiveness is not the main focus of the album, it is biting yet melodic metal to portray the bitter atmosphere of a dark winter in the blistering cold, which Wintersun excels at.