Finally our patience will be rewarded when Finnish Wintersun’s ‘Time II’ album is revealed to the world on August, 30th by Nuclear Blast. ‘It has been quite a journey’ admits mastermind Jari Mäenpää who has been working on his expansive ‘Time’ project since early 2004. ‘I was 15 when I started making a lot of different songs and it kind of went on and on, and of course I joined Ensiferum, but besides that, I always kept doing my own music. When I left Ensiferum, I made the first debut Wintersun album and that was mainly a kind of exploring. Stars, the universe and winter atmosphere happen to be the main themes. Music-wise there are no boundaries. After that album, I wanted to start exploring more different styles with the ‘Time’ album and that expanded with more melodies from different countries, with lyrics about life and human relationships, focusing on life and death. That has always been a big theme of Wintersun: what is this thing called ‘life’ and this experience that we are all having? That fascination has been growing ever since.’

Mäenpää created his own musical universe and brought this to the fans by gigging at major festivals such as Wacken Open Air, Metal Camp (Slovenia) and Summer Breeze in 2008. Two years later Wintersun did a European tour and made it to being headliner at Heidenfest in 2012. In that year ‘Time I’ was released, harvesting everlasting respect amongst fans, press and peers. It resulted in a first US tour supporting Eluveitie. Work on ‘Time II’ was restarted when their second US tour was completed, now as the headliner. In 2017 it was announced that a successor of ‘Time I’ was on its way and it was in the form of ‘The Forest Seasons’. Jari explains: ‘In 2014 I realized that I had to do something else, before getting ‘Time II’ done, with better computers, a better studio and better resources. So then we kind of took a side road and did ‘The Forest Seasons’ album. We ran a crowdfunder for that album to get better resources, to get the time to get things done. The campaign was a very big success. We got enough resources, not like a full studio, but like – I call it jokingly - a semi-studio. But it was enough to ensure that I could finally finish ‘Time II’.'

‘Time II’ includes six epic tracks with an individual stories. Yet the subjects are all linked and this red line gives it a conceptual feeling. Entering Wintersun’s universe, we are brought into the right mood with the eastern-influenced, atmospheric intro ‘Fields Of Snow’. The first real Wintersun track is the metallic brilliance of ‘The Way Of The Fire’, with fire representing the energy of stars as a source of life, which is also connected to time. In ‘One With The Shadows’ we experience the magic of an opulence of vocal harmonies, while orchestral arrangements loom up as ornamental move. Jari has a remarkable vision on the lyrics, ‘Now I think it is about regret. You are living in the shadows as long as you don’t turn regret into something positive to continue your life. In ‘Ominous Clouds’, clouds are gathering as the interlude journeys towards the next exploring adventure ‘Storm’. ‘This is the heaviest and darkest track on thealbum,’ explains Jari. ‘It even has influences from classical music, more precisely from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’, but furious guitars and heavy drums prevail, whilethe tone remains chaotic.’ The last track, ‘Silver Leaves’, with an array of harmonious sounds, partly performed with traditional Chinese instruments like the ‘erhu’ (similar to the violin or fiddle). Ending on a positive note the song tells the story of finding a calm place and state of mind after the storm, being satisfied with your life and enjoying nature around you, as reflected by the cherry tree garden on the cover. Artwork was created by Cameron Gray, while the booklet was designed by Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák (lyrics, credits & thanks pages) and Onni Wiljami Kinnunen (band photos pages).

Despite its long time in the making, ‘Time II’ has remained consistent to its predecessor and was created by the same musicians. Jari Mäenpää (vocals, guitars, keyboards and more) was assisted by guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari (Megadeth), bassist Jukka Koskinen (Nightwish, Crownshift) and drummer Kai Hahto (Nightwish). Work on this ever expanding ‘Time’ project has now come to an end. The Finnish four-piece looks forward to new horizons and bringing their newest creation to the masses for worldwide victory!