#wintersun — Public Fediverse posts

Warum mich dieses Album tief in der Seele berührt

Wintersun - TIME II

https://maintz.org/warum-mich-dieses-album-tief-in-der-seele-beruehrt

Es gibt Alben, auf die man Wochen wartet. Es gibt Alben, auf die man Monate wartet. Und dann gibt es Meisterwerke, auf die man Gefühlt eine ewige Ewigkeit gewartet hat.

Ja ich bin was langsaaaaam es zu verbloggen, AAAAABER nun mach ich das ja!

#Wintersun #MeldodicDeathMetal #MetalStuff #Metalhead #Music

Wintersun - Fields Of Snow 🤘 😍

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kXHkFW4jd8&list=PLWBOm8TMUo70

#nowplaying #wintersun

This is quite an enjoyable record.
#Atavistia: Old Gods Awaken

Not re-inventing the wheel but fun up-paced #MelodicDeathMetal, the likes of #ChildrenOfBodom, #AetherRealm, #Ensiferum or #Wintersun

This was taken on Christmas Day 2025. Not another usual day but something special in those times.

Walking around the area at the lake, it was windy with clouds. Nearly no other humans, some ducks and other birds.

The sun was weak and only barely broke through clouds in the sky. It was silent and quiet.

#SilentSunday

Camera: Sony Alpha 6000
Edit: none, sooc

#lake #winter #photography #sony #kite #surferarea #kitesurfing #water #clouds
#wintersun #wind

Melodic death metal had a banner year in 2025, brandishing outstanding releases from Aephanemer, Vittra, Buried Realm, Aversed, and others. Given that many of melodeth’s top tier releases came out in the back half of last year, there’s no cause for alarm yet, but with the exception of At the Gates’ opus The Ghost of a Future Dead, I can’t help feeling 2026 is off to a slow start.1 Throwing down the gauntlet with Old Gods Awaken, Vancouver collective Atavistia stakes their claim on this year’s melodeath throne. In his review of Cosmic Warfare, Doom_et_al noted that Atavistia made meaningful strides in songwriting since The Winter Way, but that plenty of room exists to further define an identity outside of Wintersun’s shadow. With the spotlight shining on folk metal influences throughout Old Gods Awaken, can Atavistia maintain their velocity after Cosmic Warfare, or would it have been better to let sleeping gods lie?

For anyone who’s read about Atavistia at AMG before, you know there’s one band whose temple even these Old Gods pray at.2 If you expected that to change, shame on you. With their most flagrant foray into folk metal to date, Atavistia doubles down on Wintersun worship with Old Gods Awaken while succumbing to a feverish case of Ensiferumania. On the surface, this may sound like Atavistia regressing back towards The Winter Way, but instead the band continues to refine the overwrought compositions that Doomy dinged in that review and delivers a succinct forty-three minutes of symphonic melodeath. And though Wintersun and Ensiferum cast the longest shadows, shades of Children of Bodom and Kalmah broaden Old Gods Awaken’s footprint and enrich its well of influences.

Despite Atavistia’s new musical folk-us and turning over half the band since Cosmic Warfare, they submit well-conceived orchestrations and tight performances throughout Old Gods Awaken. Specifically, Atavistia bade farewell to guitarist Dalton Meaden and bassist D’wayne Murray in 2024, welcoming Elia Baghbaniyan and Spencer Budworth in their stead. The quality of instrumentation remains consistent with previous albums, where guitars and synths steal the show as they trade earwormy melodic lines (“Mystic Tavern,” “I Skogens Djup”) that lead into heartfelt solos (“Goddess of My Dreams,” “Ride the White Storm”) and stirring, rustic breaks (“To a New World”). The haunting choirs on Cosmic Warfare have also been replaced by viking gang chants, which makes sense stylistically, but loses some of the flair that helped the former stand out. Longtime drummer Max Sepulveda lays down a commendable performance as well, spicing songs up with well-crafted fills that never overpower Old Gods Awaken’s dense compositions. Besides contributing guitar and supplying his best vocal performance to date, Atavistia ringleader Matt Sippola weaves together a rousing album that stands beside its inspirations.

While Atavistia successfully plunges headlong into folk, the move erodes some of the identity they established previously. Tracks on Cosmic Warfare recalled Wintersun, but just as much reminded me of Brymir and the choral arrangements in The Phantom Menace. Old Gods Awaken forsakes these subtle nods, and though that isn’t bad on its own, the Ensiferum influence is a safer path that deteriorates some of Atavistia’s idiosyncrasies. Additionally, some of the melodies and song structures on Old Gods Awaken blur together. “Mystic Tavern,” “Seeker of Time,” and “Goddess of My Dreams”3 all have similar-sounding leads, and the first two also have somewhat predictable compositions that stand out since the songs are back-to-back, particularly in terms of pacing and the timing of more subdued moments. Ultimately, these are minor complaints on very well-executed material, but diversifying the song structures could unveil even greater heights.

Old Gods Awaken subverts my expectations of what I thought a new Atavistia record would sound like, and even though they lean into a well-defined arena, they do so capably. Monster hooks and intricate, engaging arrangements keep the replay value of Old Gods Awaken tantalizingly high, especially with tight songwriting across the album. I’m curious where Atavistia goes next, as there’s no clear indication of what direction they’ll take. Whatever it is, the persistent urge to evolve their songcraft proves Atavistia will make it interesting and fun, and that every once in a while, you can teach Old Gods new tricks.

Rating: Very Good
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Websites: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 15th, 2026

Self-Titled Saturday | Wintersun (2004, Finland)

As I’m struggling with words a bit these days – and because we still have a handful of self-titled albums left on The List – I’ve decided to resuscitate last year’s Self-Titled Summer series, albeit as more of a reincarnation for random Saturdays. As before, I’m going to try to keep it basic and just point out some brief(ish) facts, letting you fine readers dig further as desired. And so, for our first STS 2.0 spotlight, we’re going to take a look at number 1134 on The List, submitted by @Yuki. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Point of origin(s): Finnish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jari Mäenpää started this band as a side project while he was in the folk metal band Ensiferum (as the vocalist and second guitarist), and then made it his full-time gig when they fired him in 2004 due to scheduling conflicts between the two projects. The s/t album we look at here was the debut, and was essentially a one-man show plus Kai “The Grinder” Hahto on drums.
• Tasting notes: According to Mäenpää, this is “Extreme Majestic Technical Epic Melodic Metal”. And by ‘tasting notes’, please note we perhaps aren’t meant to actually taste this one – as the liner notes state (with a happy face behind): “Please buy this album, don’t suck it! Or else…you’re a sucker!”
• Standout track: “Death and the Healing” (but, also, they’re all excellent)
• Where are they now?: Soon after the release of s/t, the lineup would round out with Teemu Mäntysaari on guitars and Jukka Koskinen on bass. Both Hahto and Koskinen would later join symphonic metal band Nightwish and then both effectively leave Wintersun to solely play in Nightwish, and Mäntysaari joined Megadeth in 2023. In their 20+ years, Wintersun has released three additional studio albums, the most recent being 2024’s Time II, as well as a remastered/refined 2.0 version of the s/t put out in 2017 that seems to have been well-received by fans.
• Websites: Bandcamp, Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Metallum

Happy listening!

• Songlink: Wintersun – Wintersun
  • Bandcamp: Wintersun – Wintersun 2.0 (remastered, additional intro track plus slightly different track order)
• Discogs: Wintersun – Wintersun

Remember the Finnish melodic death and power metal fusion of the late ’90s and early ’00s? Bands like Children of Bodom,1 Kalmah, and Norther were all the rage for a short while. You even had stuff like Ensiferum for a folkier interpretation, or Catamenia2 for the blackened side of things. The truth is that it never really left.3 Suotana is one of the bands keeping this sound alive and well, and they have more history than one might think. They spawned in the mid-2000s but took until 2014 to start putting out material. Now, over a decade later, they’re on their fourth full-length, and Ounas II continues right where predecessor Ounas I left off two years ago. Judging them back-to-back, it seems the collective is only growing in strength.

Ounas II is chock full of great songwriting. Melodic death metal, power metal, and even bits of black metal collide in this crazy Finnish kitchen, with Children of Bodom remaining the clear number one influence. Founding members Ville Rautio and Pasi Portaankorva utilize the dual guitar attack in classic ’80s ways (“Winter Visions,” “Twilight Stream”), while Stratovarius sensibilities color their frantic touches of melodic power—both always positives in my book. The harsh vocals of Tuomo Marttinen are frosty and vicious, similar to their swamp brethren in Kalmah.4 Tommi Neitola’s keyboards are the cherry on top, adding a Bodomesque symphonic bombast layer that occasionally approaches Wintersun levels without going overboard (“The Crowned King of Ancient Forest,” “1473 Ounas”).

Ounas II by Suotana

Dealing with two-part concepts is always a challenging task, but Suotana came prepared. It feels like they’ve improved on all of Ounas I’s already strong qualities: the production has more breadth, the album’s layers delve deeper, and there’s more energy and variety in its songs (“Foreverland,” “Twilight Stream”). However, the most impressive thing about Ounas II is that it’s even denser than its sibling. The album clocks in at 39 minutes compared to the first part’s 41,5 which has the huge advantage of avoiding a bloated ‘B-sides’ feel so common with other double album concepts.6 And despite its tight runtime, the songwriting has plenty of room to flourish, as exemplified by “1473 Ounas.” Furthermore, to complement the Summoning cover that crowned the first part, Ounas II unleashes a cover of Children of Bodom’s “Hatebreeder” as its encore. Whether you imagine it as a proper track or a bonus, it’s a great way to end the record with a bang while honoring your influences.7

Suotana has had a long journey to get to this point, and it’s been more than worth it. Their songwriting is only getting faster and better, which further reinforces its catchy extremities. In many ways, Suotana feels like the melodeath-forward twin to Moonlight Sorcery’s excellent brand of power/black metal. Both bands dress to impress with big riffs, melodic violence, and keyboard bombast in all the right ways. Though the back-to-back experience is great, Ounas II is a package that works wonders on its lonesome too, and I think that’s another mark of success for the band. I’m excited to see what these self-aware wizards pictured above are going to summon from that lake next, Ounas or not.

Tracks to Check Out: “Winter Visions,” “Twilight Stream,” “The Crowned King of Ancient Forest,” and a special shout out to the excellent cover of “Hatebreeder.”