ALBUM REVIEW: Time II – Wintersun

You would think, with the sheer relentless assault of machine gun percussion and wrist-breaking guitars, that WINTERSUN would belong to a much nastier branch of metal. This long-awaited follow-up to 2012’s Time is fast, loud, and, in a textbook sense, heavy. But band leader Jari Mäenpää’s ambition is too grand to be held down by something as nuts and bolts as conventional rock ’n’ roll. Even the artwork for Time II sees the band draped in ancient East Asian garb, elements swirling around them, bursting with colour and otherworldly energy. Everything about WINTERSUN prioritises the epic. 

Among the maelstrom of blast beats and furious riffs, then, are choruses, orchestral accompaniments, and folk-enthused motifs. They take a front seat over the raw foundations of each track, and here combine Finnish tunefulness with instrumentation from Japan and China. With so much going on, it’s an attention-grabbing listen. Even with three of its six tracks running over 10 minutes, Mäenpää’s compositions are elegantly pieced together in such a way that these songs feel half their length, never superfluously drawn out, all simply as long as they need to be.

What’s most surprising is how accessible it all is. The band’s devoted fanbase have actively kept their enthusiasm for Time II high despite the 12-year wait, with the excellent The Forest Seasons tiding them over. It has, miraculously, been worth it, and is as good a point as any record in WINTERSUN’s career to introduce listeners to something a bit heavier. Maybe it is because their songs are so cinematic, it is easy to imagine them accompanying climactic clashes in Hollywood blockbusters, or soundtracking final bosses in sprawling RPGs. Whatever it is, there is an alluring clash between Time II’s surface level intensity and just how easy it is to listen to. 

Of course, it makes a difference that WINTERSUN is made up of world-class artists. Guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari in particular, who’s now also a part of MEGADETH, is a majestic player, injecting neoclassical virtuosity in a way that adds real legitimacy to each track. They may as well be called symphonies. The way The Way Of Fire moves is worthy of the highest praise, rarely letting up, never running out of steam. It’s a storm of melodies fighting for pole position, each more infectious and elaborate than what came before. 

One With The Shadows is the band’s version of a power ballad, an ode to living without regret and casting off black clouds that linger over our lives. They make this peaceful acceptance sound like an embrace of death, using the language of metal to speak the difficult truths of moving on and leaving the past behind. It sounds like bravery and an uphill battle, but one worth having. Similarly, Silver Leaves ends the album on a mindful note, taking in the passage of time and accepting what matters in life while we have the chance, all while tangled up in the sounds of having to fight for it. 

Time II sounds like an internal war raging on, but also the quiet that follows once someone finds their way through to the other side. It is appropriately tumultuous and dizzying, kinetic and hurried. But in its beauty, of which there is loads, is the harmony that comes with perseverance and just how worth it it is to keep on going. Here’s hoping WINTERSUN don’t take so long to return, but if they do, we know it’ll be worth the wait.

Rating: 8/10 

Time II is out now via Nuclear Blast Records. 

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