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Wintersun - Time I review




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Reviewer:
7.5

1150 users:
8.38
Band: Wintersun
Album: Time I
Release date: October 2012


Disc I
01. When Time Fades Away
02. Sons Of Winter And Stars
    1 - Rain Of Stars
    2 - Surrounded By Darkness
    3 - Journey Inside A Dream
    4 - Sons Of Winter And Stars
03. Land Of Snow And Sorrow
04. Darkness And Frost
05. Time
06. [hidden track] [Mediabook & Mailorder edition bonus]

Disc II [DVD] [Mediabook bonus]
+ Time I Live Rehearsals At Sonic Pump Studios
+ Licks & Tricks
+ Sons Of Winter And Stars - Project Demonstration
+ Photo Gallery

Disc III [instrumental CD] [Mailorder edition bonus]
01. When Time Fades Away
02. Sons Of Winter And Stars
    1 - Rain Of Stars
    2 - Surrounded By Darkness
    3 - Journey Inside A Dream
    4 - Sons Of Winter And Stars
03. Land Of Snow And Sorrow
04. Darkness And Frost
05. Time

One of the most highly anticipated albums of the last decade; Time I finally ends the eight year silence, but was the wait worth it?

After the charming Eastern folk influenced introduction, it soon becomes apparent that things have changed with the band in the last eight years. From the album theme of comprehending human emotion and our time on earth to the musicianship and ambitious nature of the orchestrations, Wintersun have aimed for a much grander sound.

Much more symphonic, bombastic even, "Sons Of Winter And Stars" kicks the album off with high spirit and energy. Eight years all of a sudden becomes a little more understandable with the amount of attention to detail and intricate compositions that are so copiously and lavishly interlaced into the music. The musicianship is absolutely top-notch throughout and the closing two minutes of the song provide a wonderfully epic and memorable crescendo.

The album has so many layers, it is deeply ambitious. Time I is an album that has very clearly had so much dedication and effort put into it, but at times it also sounds like Jari has become so consumed with making this the masterpiece everyone wanted that it becomes a little over-indulgent with how complex and dense the compositions are. We are presented a masterclass of orchestration in metal, but it is a challenge to digest and connect with.

With a running time of forty minutes, which includes the introduction and interlude, Time I as a standalone album is very short. The previously mentioned "Sons Of Winter And Stars" and title track "Time" are both great songs and enough to make you crave the second album, but it is hard not to feel underwhelmed when the album seems to cut short. It isn't made any better with a questionable light and quiet production either. Time I then is exactly that; the first of two halves, not the complete article.

The album is mindblowingly impressive in portions, but is just a little too complex and indulgent for its own good. Perhaps along with Time II the picture will become complete, but even though this album has some golden moments - it just feels unfinished alone.

-

Symphonic Extreme Power metal
Nuclear Blast
Finland
Length: 40:07


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 9
Production: 7





Written on 22.10.2012 by Member of Staff since 2006

Guest review by
Bad English
Rating:
8.7
Wintersun - is it real? Well, no, it isn't. We hardly see the sun; for four whole weeks, it never shines.

Allow me to copy the style of DerRozzengarten (the greatest reviewer ever), who knows how to write proper metaphors. Such music is never meant to explain northern life for people who have never actually walked on a frozen river or cleared snow from their car before work (I'm not taking a jab at the French, Dutch, or Danish, who usually overreact when they see 1 cm of snow). Imagine the pre-internet days: it's blizzard beasts, mid-winter, the sun never shines, just 22 hours of darkness and twilight in between. There is nothing to do, only good music, books, or finding a way to channel your creativity. Outside activities, aside from collecting firewood and cleaning snow? I don't think so (but wait a minute, Jari lives in the city anyway?). Anyway, the streets are dead and frozen, the horizon is dark, and night light is ablaze on the snow. All you can do is wait for spring and then summer to arrive slowly. I've done it all my life, still do, and we all did. It's typical northern madness!

Read more ››
published 20.12.2016 | Comments (10)


Comments page 3 / 8

Comments: 216   [ 4 ignored ]   Visited by: 1216 users
22.10.2012 - 22:13
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Written by Italics on 22.10.2012 at 22:06
Just check out his top albums of 2012 if you want a good look at what I'm talking about.


I don't need that. Because I share his tastes quite a lot and know for a fact how many people like that sort of music specially since there are festivals I've been where the music is in that vein and I must say they are pretty crowded, not as much as the more melodic kind of metal but still very much alive. At least alive enough for you to throw away your comments of "nobody likes it" out of the window since you obviously don't have a clue of the scene you are talking about.
I don't write comments about a fanbase of a band or music I'm not particularly interested or knowledgeable. I suggest you to do the same.

Also... Please don't give me that whole "if everyone agrees with you, you are safe" shit. It really doesn't hold... Not in this case and not in real life.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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22.10.2012 - 22:14
Rating: 9
Italics

Written by Slayer666 on 22.10.2012 at 22:09

Written by Italics on 22.10.2012 at 22:03

So me agreeing with Baz and telling him that his review was very accurate = butthurt over his review.

You've got to be brighter than that...


I wasn't really saying you were butthurt over the review itself, but rather over other people's comments here. Which is what happens when a huge, wildly popular band gets a score that's not a perfect 10 in an official review. Some people bitch about the review/score, others bitch about the people bitching about the review/score and so on and so forth. But less-than-a-perfect review is what's at the heart of it all, which was my point.


Actually that wasn't your point, but giving you the benefit of the doubt, I'll at least agree with your new point.

Granted... I'm still right. There has been, so far, one "fanboy." The rest have been people agreeing with Baz and/or bashing on that fanboy. My point stands - you don't stir up controversy on MS by calling popular bands/albums overrated. It's never been that way... at least not any time within the last 3-5 years.

A few (just a few) examples would be responses to new album/news articles from ANY of these bands:
Sonata Arctica (new stuff sucks, they aren't metal anymore, etc.)
Nightwish (new stuff sucks, Annette sucks, they are pop now, etc.)
Children of Bodom (new stuff sucks, they will never be like old CoB, their riffs suck, etc.)
Arjen Anthony Lucassen (overrated, no good projects, fanboys praise everything he does, etc.)
Sirenia (new stuff sucks, first two albums were their only good music, they are pop now, etc.)

The list goes on and on. Since when has bashing new/popular metal music and/or calling it overrated caused controversy here? You always have 2-3 upset fanboys, and then the rest are people bashing them for being fanboys.
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But I Justify My Desire to No One
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22.10.2012 - 22:23
Rating: 9
Italics

Written by X-Ray Rod on 22.10.2012 at 22:13

Written by Italics on 22.10.2012 at 22:06
Just check out his top albums of 2012 if you want a good look at what I'm talking about.


I don't need that. Because I share his tastes quite a lot and know for a fact how many people like that sort of music specially since there are festivals I've been where the music is in that vein and I must say they are pretty crowded, not as much as the more melodic kind of metal but still very much alive. At least alive enough for you to throw away your comments of "nobody likes it" out of the window since you obviously don't have a clue of the scene you are talking about.
I don't write comments about a fanbase of a band or music I'm not particularly interested or knowledgeable. I suggest you to do the same.

Also... Please don't give me that whole "if everyone agrees with you, you are safe" shit. It really doesn't hold... Not in this case and not in real life.


No, those festivals don't draw huge crowds. That statement is non-factual.

And no, those scenes are not "very much" alive. They are alive enough to have a couple hundred facebook fans who probably never listen to their albums, and maybe even alive enough to draw out a small crowd in some small and dull town in scandinavia... that's it. None of them are coming even remotely close to making a living from music, and if I were to survey every single person alive that I know, probably literally zero of them would have ever heard of a single album/band from Marcel's top-of-2012 list. There's a reason for that.
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But I Justify My Desire to No One
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22.10.2012 - 22:24
Slayer666

^
This guy is why we can't have nice things...
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22.10.2012 - 22:25
Rating: 9
Italics

Written by Slayer666 on 22.10.2012 at 22:24

^
This guy is why we can't have nice things...


At least you know when to give up because you are beat. That's a precious gift.
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But I Justify My Desire to No One
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22.10.2012 - 22:29
Slayer666

Written by Italics on 22.10.2012 at 22:25

At least you know when to give up because you are beat. That's a precious gift.


You "beat" me? Dude, you sure you're 24? An "argument" like this I'd only expect from someone half your age.
I'm just done going back-and-forth with a guy who's convinced he's really knowledgeable about something he so clearly has no clue about. It's the "you can't play chess with a pigeon" thing: no matter how good you are at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock all the pieces of the table, crap on it and carry on like it won.
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22.10.2012 - 22:30
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Written by Italics on 22.10.2012 at 22:25
At least you know when to give up because you are beat. That's a precious gift.

Beat from what? I wasn't aware someone was winning here.

Written by Guest on 22.10.2012 at 22:30
"Many people" like Justin Bieber, not ultra-underground metal.

That's not a bad example when it comes to explain why crowds don't mean a thing in real life. Thank you.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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22.10.2012 - 22:33
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Top 2012 list? I didn't know I had one
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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22.10.2012 - 22:35
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Written by Guest on 22.10.2012 at 22:32
I agree... I am just trying to get you back into the context of reality. :-)


Well, I won't comment on any of the stuff you were discussing previously with other users since I know that would be a very silly thing to do based on how I don't agree with you and you won't agree with me.
But I'd bet both of us are mature enough to know when to not talk about music or an entire metal scene we know absolutely nothing about. Right?
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
Loading...
22.10.2012 - 22:42
Rating: 9
Italics

Written by Slayer666 on 22.10.2012 at 22:29

Written by Italics on 22.10.2012 at 22:25

At least you know when to give up because you are beat. That's a precious gift.


You "beat" me? Dude, you sure you're 24? An "argument" like this I'd only expect from someone half your age.
I'm just done going back-and-forth with a guy who's convinced he's really knowledgeable about something he so clearly has no clue about. It's the "you can't play chess with a pigeon" thing: no matter how good you are at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock all the pieces of the table, crap on it and carry on like it won.


It actually went more like this:
You make a false statement
I point out that it's false
You follow up with a completely inaccurate accusation
I correct that accusation
You deny you ever made the accusation and resort back to the false statement
I show you why your original statement is wrong... again
You give up because you have nothing that is backed up by evidence or factual to say

Take your ball and go home, I don't care. This debate is over, if you can call something with only one valid side a "debate" to begin with. And unlike you, I actually got EXACTLY what I'd expect from someone your age.
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But I Justify My Desire to No One
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22.10.2012 - 22:46
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Written by Guest on 22.10.2012 at 22:41
And for a reason.


The reason is simply that some music is easier to access than the other. Nothing more to it. Implying that quality is proportional to the audience is simply ridiculous and very naive.
I'm not saying that OMG THE UNDERGROUND RULZ. I'm quite a big fan of very mainstream bands both metal or not. I'm just saying that when someone thinks quality is seen in how many people listen to a band/artist... They are missing the point.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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22.10.2012 - 22:51
Rating: 10
Andreas

Written by Guest on 22.10.2012 at 22:06

Why should people trust my opinion?

I have no idea, but taking your activity in this thread into consideration, your opinion must be important to you at least.
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22.10.2012 - 22:54
Rating: 10
Andreas

Written by X-Ray Rod on 22.10.2012 at 22:46

Written by Guest on 22.10.2012 at 22:41
And for a reason.


The reason is simply that some music is easier to access than the other. Nothing more to it. Implying that quality is proportional to the audience is simply ridiculous and very naive.
I'm not saying that OMG THE UNDERGROUND RULZ. I'm quite a big fan of very mainstream bands both metal or not. I'm just saying that when someone thinks quality is seen in how many people listen to a band/artist... They are missing the point.

In his defence, he never actually said what the reason was in his opinion.
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22.10.2012 - 23:14
Rating: 8
opeth771

An average score is supposed to be an average score which in this case is 8.7 or 8.8 if you round it. 7.5 doesn't make any sense but I agree with the rest of the review
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22.10.2012 - 23:18
Rating: 9
Risto
Wandering Midget
Written by opeth771 on 22.10.2012 at 23:14

An average score is supposed to be an average score which in this case is 8.7 or 8.8 if you round it. 7.5 doesn't make any sense but I agree with the rest of the review

As said early on in this comment thread, overall rating isn't supposed to be the average of the ones in the bottom (and the reason is also argumented in the review itself). I myself am working on a review that averages 7.3 on those four marks, but this will not be the overall rating as it takes more things to consideration.
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22.10.2012 - 23:18
Rating: 8
?apleee
Mouthcrab
This thread is hilarious.
----
"Without judgement, perception would increase a million times."~Chuck Schuldiner

Less coherent than Anal Cunt.

Eric Brecht once liked my Facebook comment. Therefore, by the translative property, Chuck Schuldiner like my comment.
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22.10.2012 - 23:27
LordHypnos
Account deleted
This review disappointed me... 7.5? Really? Time 1 deserves more than that. But it doesn't deserve a 10, either.
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22.10.2012 - 23:57
moe5512

You guys wanna start discussing Wintersun and Time I anytime soon?
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23.10.2012 - 00:06
JakeTheSage

7.5? I call shenanigans. The album is an easy 10.
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23.10.2012 - 00:09
Rating: 7
Paradox0
Unasuming Madnes
*review posts*

Looks like MS has officially thrown gasoline at the fire.

This should be fun.
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23.10.2012 - 00:10
Rating: 9
The Norseman

Written by Guest on 22.10.2012 at 19:18

7.5 is way too low... I am sure if Ensiferum, Brymir, Equilibrium or any other band had released this, they would have been rated much higher.


Agree 100%. I think some people just want to punish them for the waiting. If the album got released 2 years after the first one the rating would be different. I think the release time shouldn't be part of the equation.

The album is certainly not a masterpiece but it's pretty good and it didn't disappoint in my opinion. 7.5 is really offensive in my eyes but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I wouldn't mind if other bands took 8 years to release great albums instead of average/decent stuff every 2 years (As an example, I wouldn't mind if Lost Horizon released an album as good as their first two after all this years).
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23.10.2012 - 00:11
Rating: 7
Uldreth

Lol.

I cannot decide what do I consider more ridiculous, that Baz gets this shitstorm for a GODDAMN FUCKING POSITIVE ALBUM RATING (this is seriously fucking hilarious), or that people still believe metalstorm has some crusade against melodic metal, when 90% of the userbase is heavily biased TOWARDS melodic accessible stuff as it is witnessed by the likes of Wintersun or Nightwish getting shitloads of attention compared to more extreme and far less accessible acts.

Good review anyways, it kind of assessed what I like or dislike about the album, except it overplayed the "complexity" thing a little, which I don't really agree with, and as such I'd rate it a tad lower.
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23.10.2012 - 00:29
Marcus
Doit Like Bernie
Written by JakeTheSage on 23.10.2012 at 00:06

The album is an easy 10.

Only a 10? I'd say it's at least a 12. At least.
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23.10.2012 - 00:30
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Thank God for this review of a mediocre album: it's great to see every moron on Metalstorm congregate in one place and have a big old cry that it didn't get 10.
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23.10.2012 - 00:30
Rating: 10
gurthang

I rate this album 10 because Time I has a lot of meaning to me but I don't expect that the reviews rate this 10 . I think this review shows that the writer was realize this album well , but it seems he is too parsimonious to rate . what kind of albums deserves for 7.5 ? do you really think that Time I is as the same as theme ?
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23.10.2012 - 00:31
Void Eater
Account deleted
Written by Italics on 22.10.2012 at 21:38

The only way that Marcel will like a band is if it's some no-name black/death metal band that no one has ever heard of... extra brownie points if every song by the band sounds the same (quite likely).

It's funny because Ride The Lightning is one of his favorite albums (if my stalking has led to accurate results?)

I'd give the album a low 9. It doesn't really take me any time to "digest" symphonic metal like it does for some people (not implying that I'm "smarter" because of that), and although it is only part 1, it feels like a solid short album/EP on its own. I can't think of any other album with songs this long that manage to hold my short attention span throughout their entire duration. Well written review though.

Also, for the people who call this generic, can you recommend music that sounds like it? Not trying to be condescending by "offering a challenge" or anything, its just that I really like this album, and if it is generic, there'll be a lot of stuff just like it.
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23.10.2012 - 00:39
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
To those cryers... since when is a 7.5 offensive or parsimonious?
A 7.5 denotes something between good and very good.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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23.10.2012 - 00:52
Ellrohir
Heaven Knight
Faith in metalstorm...lost

but Baz was always far too kind to bad and overhyped power metal albums
----
My rest seems now calm and deep
Finally I got my dead man sleep


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23.10.2012 - 01:14
Tristus Scriptor
Rancid Reviewer
Written by ?apleee on 22.10.2012 at 23:18

This thread is hilarious.

This is as close to touching this thread as I will come. This. I vow to stop there.
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23.10.2012 - 01:22
Void Eater
Account deleted
Written by Italics on 22.10.2012 at 22:06

I'm just calling him out on the fact that there's a reason nobody likes what he likes. It's not good music. If it was, it'd be more popular.


Like whaaat? I'll never get why people think that only popular music is good. Just makes no sense. Every band starts out unknown... So I guess every band has to suck when they first form because they're not popular? But then the only music you'll listen to already has an established fanbase... But before they got that fanbase, it wasn't popular at all... Ugh, this is confusing.
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