Wintersun
The Forest Seasons
Nuclear Blast Records
My
spirit and soul soared at the intensity of the listening experience of the
third studio album from Wintersun, a Finnish metal band that is fronted by Jari
Mäenpää (vocals, studio guitars, and programming) with Kai Hahto providing an
impressive energy on drums especially with his pummelling blast beats. The whole band was involved in the production
of this breath-taking release. It is the
elaborate delivery of the imaginative ideas on this project over four tracks
(54 minutes running time) that holds your complete attention. Like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, each track gives a musical
expression to a season but the difference here is this is a year seen through a
mythical forest and the album demands a listen in its entirety to fully
appreciate the genius of this
masterpiece. Black metal and clean
vocals - especially on the last track Loneliness (Winter), intricate mixes,
recurring themes, choral and orchestral arrangements are spliced with the ferocious guitars of Teemu
Mäntysaari and new addition Asim Searah. The peerless time-signature and tempo changes
that feel so much more natural than many other bands help to make this
recording one of my top ten albums of all time.
It’s hard to find fault with a release that Mr Mäenpää calls his first perfect album he’s ever
done. The Forest Seasons could become a present-day classic.
NE
