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Sometimes, things don’t work out like you’d expect. There are albums that should
appeal to me in every way, but they just don’t end up jiving with me for one
reason or another. Wintersun’s highly anticipated release “Time I” is just such
an album. On paper, this album has everything: soaring symphonic elements,
technical drums, virtuoso guitars, and a deeply contemplative concept. However,
I find myself coming away from “Time I” with a large amount of disappointment.
Wintersun has certainly crafted some fantastic components, don’t get me wrong.
The symphonic elements are truly amazing and fantastic (I can’t stress that
enough), and I am truly moved by the philosophical concept that they present: an
exploration of human emotion in the context of mortality and the immensity of
the universe. These two elements have really floored me, and I can certainly see
why many reviewers have praised this album.
Yet, there is so much that is wrong with this album. In fact, I can narrow it
down to three basic problems: the vox, the production, and the originality
factor. First of all, the vocals are average at best. Throughout the album, I
can’t shake the feeling that I’m being yelled at, even though the vox never come
off as being particularly powerful or forceful. I think the singer stayed at the
top of his range the entire album, and melody and emotion are completely absent
in his delivery. Also, the harsh vocals come off as pathetic. They aren’t well
done, and I really can’t stand the rasp. Secondly, the production is terrible.
This album took eight years to make, and it is claimed that new recording
techniques were necessary to capture the awe-inspiring audio. I don’t find this
to be the case. The rhythm guitars are barely heard and become nothing more than
distracting white noise. The fantastic symphonic elements come with a price as
well: It is difficult to hear the lyrics most of the time and the drums fade
into the background amid the chaos. I’m not sure what innovative techniques were
utilized here, but they didn’t work. Lastly, what good is all this technicality
and innovation if there is nothing but standard metal here? The same riffs and
ideas are played over and over for this short 40 minute album, and it even gets
to the point where I can’t call it progressive anymore for the shear lack of,
well, progression. A hundred beats per minute don’t get you anywhere if we’ve
heard it all before and we’ve heard it composed and executed better.
Overall, I like this album: I really do. Yet, the hype machine blew this album
out of proportion, and I can’t hop on the train for this one. Wintersun crafted
some mind-blowing symphonic elements and the concept of the album is truly
moving to the core. Yet, the
execution is severely flawed and the composition is lacking.
What should have been the definitive metal album of 2012, or even the
decade, has proven itself to be nothing more than a typical, solid metal release
without any new musical ideas of its own to show. That’s it. | ||||||||||||||||||
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