Wintersun (album)

Wintersun was a project eight years in the making. Jari Mäenpää began writing the music for Wintersun in late 1995,[4] before joining folk metal band Ensiferum in 1996 as lead singer and guitarist. In 1997, Mäenpää served in the Finnish military as part of his national defense duty, during which he contracted tuberculosis. The diagnosis was late, and Mäenpää required surgery to remove part of his lung, hospitalizing him for months. The song "Beautiful Death" would later be inspired by this event.[5]

In 2003, Mäenpää hired Kai Hahto as a session drummer and, after sending newly recorded demos to Nuclear Blast, was offered a record deal.[6] After returning from Ensiferum's Iron recording sessions, Mäenpää began arranging the compositions of the future Wintersun tracks.[5] Despite intending to keep Wintersun as a side project, a scheduling conflict between booked studio time for Wintersun and a tour promoting Iron forced Mäenpää to request time off from the band,[4] which resulted in him being forced to leave Ensiferum.[5]

Several recording studios were used in the making of the album. Kai Hahto's drums were recorded at Tico Tico Studios in January 2004. Vocals and the majority of the guitars and synthesizers were recorded at Sundi Coop Studios in April. Additional synth and guitar solos were recorded at Mäenpää's home on his 16-track.[4]

Mäenpää, used to multi-track recording his music for years, was comfortable performing vocals, guitars, bass, and keyboards on the record.[5]

The lyrics are considered to be an integral part of the album's thematic structure, although they can be interpreted on varying levels.[6]

Lyrically it's quite a personal record, but there's a little bit of fantasy also. Actually, you can understand the songs by many ways and meanings, which is great. But underneath all the metaphors to stars, space, vast and cold winter landscapes, it's all about my personal life: my feelings, emotions, thoughts, dreams, visions and hallucinations. [...] Every song is a highlight and important to me in their own ways. "Beautiful Death" and "Battle Against Time" were therapeutic to write, because they deal with the negative sides of my life and it was good to get those feelings on paper and into music. "Death and the Healing", "Sleeping Stars" and "Sadness and Hate" are very old songs that still live on, so they have sentimental value.

— Jari Mäenpää, MetalEater.com[5]

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 September 13, 2004.[7]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[12]
Sputnikmusic	[2]
Metal Storm	[13]
The Metal Observer
The Metal Crypt	[14]

Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic calls Wintersun a blend of "the hyper-fast precision of Yngwie Malmsteen-like guitar playing (witness the speedy "Beyond the Dark Sun") with the melodic sensibilities of post-Helloween power metal (see the more diverse "Winter Madness") and a homegrown passion for folk-styled songwriting descended straight from trailblazing compatriots Amorphis", describing their musicianship as "superb". He calls 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.[12]

Mike Stagno, a staff member for Sputnikmusic, rated the album 4.5/5 and calls the band "stronger" than Ensiferum; he also describes their sound as "combining the likes of neoclassical metal, folk metal, power metal, black metal, and melodic death metal". Stagno emphasizes the connection between the music and the album's cover artwork, both of which are depicted as "bleak and cold" while retaining a "mystical attractiveness." Stagno's only problem lay with Mäenpää's clean vocals, which were "passive sounding" and weren't "quite as refined" as harsh vocals.[2]

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[16]

Wintersun: Special Tour Edition
Live album by Wintersun
Released	September 29, 2006
Label	Nuclear Blast

On September 29, 2006,[17] Wintersun released Wintersun: Special Tour Edition, a live album. The tour edition is a Digipack that includes the original version of the album Wintersun and a live DVD from Wintersun's performance at Summer Breeze Open Air in 2005.