NuclearSymphony wrote:
Thanks for the review, Chris. I appreciate the insight into how this site was created and built, obviously a labor of love for you, and I have nothing but respect for that.
As an ex-reviewer, I can relate to feeling the kind of emotion and passion that causes words to spill out onto the screen like a dam bursting. In this case, I'd never heard Wintersun before, and hunted it down. While I am a composer myself, mostly for film or TV, the pure depth of orchestration present on this album is impressive.
I will say that I have to listen to the instrumental version of the album as I really am not a fan of harsh vocals. That way, I can appreciate the instruments at work - and they do plenty of work in Time I. The pure wall of sound present is almost jarring, and ultimately is kind of the album's undoing at times.
Please don't get me wrong - this album gives me chills! The orchestral instruments and choirs used add to the epic feel, and the rhythm work is precise and insanely quick. However, there is simply so much going on at once that mostly all that can be heard is a wall of synthetic strings and often some brass on top.
Some would prefer the heavier or more organic metal sound of the first album, but personally, if you're going to go to the trouble of scoring out a full orchestra, it would be great to hear more individual instruments and sections rather than just a relatively flat wall of sound backing up the riffing.
On the song structure itself - and this is likely much more apparent on the instrumental album - it can sometimes get rather repetitive. Jari certainly has the ability to add and change layers of instruments to vary a few things as the bars and sections go by, but underneath the riffs seem to simply repeat over and over (most noticeably in that awesome Sons Of Winter And Stars track).
I fully agree, the pure impact of this album is easily up there with anything Nightwish or Rhapsody has ever done. My only issue, and it is a personal one, is that aside from the shorter tracks (which actually feature great use of softer instruments and beautiful ethnic cues), the orchestra seems to blur a bit. I would argue that certain Nightwish songs (Ghost Love Score and The Poet And The Pendulum come to mind) utilize their orchestration better than Wintersun.
As you can tell from the amount and variation of replies to this thread, the idea of implementing an orchestra with heavy metal can divide a few camps. Some favor heaviness over all, and would rather the orchestra stay at the concert hall. Some, however, like myself, believe that there can still be an effective blend of metal and classical or "film score" style music. Wintersun (and others) are very close to that perfect blend.
LOL look who pops in every 3 years
