Where do you live that Wintersun plays on the radio?
Better question, where do you live that Wintersun is at all known to the mainstream?

I tried listening again to see if I'd get it this time 'round. Long story short, I couldn't get past Battle Against Time. I'll try them again after work today.

I guess I'm never gonna get was is so mind blowingly awesome about this record.

He wasn't literally stating that it was meant for the radio. He was just explaining that IF it were to be played on the radio, the first song would be the song they would play. Also Wintersun are well known among the metal community and I have run into several people here that aren't into metal that know a considerable amount of popular death and black metal bands.

Who cares?!

It's when those bands start catering for the unmetal that we have a problem..

Not your thing then, move on...but try Sadness and Hate if you do decide to keep listening.

It's some of the best wanking out there, but still wanking nonetheless.

Why? There are maybe two solos that are overly long on the album.

I wouldn't call Wintersun wanky. They're pretty spot-on and precise as far as songwriting goes.

Besides, personally, I like a little (or even a lot of) wankery...

I, personally, can't see anything that would give the Wintersun album a status of wankery.

This post has been shat on thrice since it appeared. I feel that is enough to deem it inaccurate. Let us now ignore its presence and move along.



Don't listen to something that is a struggle for you to get through. It just simply isn't your thing, by the sounds of it. Horned_Owl_Holocaust recommended "Sadness and Hate" if you do give it another shot, but I think "Starchild" is more appropriate for those trying to grasp the album beyond the first two tracks. "Sadness and Hate" takes a few solid listens, on its own, to really get.

I don't know what you're talking about; the album was completely accessible and didn't take more than 1 listen for me to understand.

Talking to me? If so then, that was your experience with the album. It took me many listens before I really got into it. But then again, it takes me about 5 decent spins before I really get into any album. It appears we just have different rates of "music absorption".

The reason I want to like Wintersun so much is because I'm such a fan of Ensiferum, and Wintersun is fundamentally similar. It's just that he takes his immense songwriting talent, and tries to stretch his songs longer to include more ideas, but it just starts to go overboard. Like I want to just grab him, shake him violently and yell "END THE SONG NOW! WHILE IT'S STILL GOOD!!".

Jari is creative, and a great guitar player. I think Wintersun is a good solid band, but revolutionary? I don't think so at all. What about him is so revolutionary? The fact that he combines folk with metal? Or uses classical influenced guitar work? Or the fact that he combines both together with extreme metal? Hm, all those things have really been done before by bands that predate Wintersun and Ensiferum, although the latter two bands do them exceptionally well in my opinion.

that changes everything... still one of the best musicians (only my point of view)

I don't think good ol' Jari will ever let me down, to be honest.

Honestly, people talk about Wintersun and Cor Scorpii as having "folk influences" and I cannot here it in their music at all. There is nothing folk influenced about either of these bands. Wintersun to me is, indeed, melodeth. Though I am one of those that mostly has a poor opinion of melodic death metal, Wintersun is not one of those bands. For me, bands like Wintersun, Godgory and Amon Amarth (though I don't honestly see them as text book melodeth) and a few others manage to make melodic death metal that is actually worth listening to, so I never particularly can see why they are compared to so many of the gothenburg style. To me they have very little in common. There also seem to be many who compare them to CoB. I'm not a great CoB fan but I can see somewhat where that comparison comes from and to me it seems to come mostly from the keyboard work, but if you look deeper into what Jari gives us on the first album, I think they are far less repetitive and far better song writers than Laiho will ever be, that is for sure.

Also, definitely support those who are suggesting Starchild. Definitely my favourite song off the album. Fucking awesome, and again coming from someone who is not at all a melodic dm fan.