One of the main attractions for us at Metalfest this year was definitely the chance to see Wintersun out and about again. The new album is still waiting to see the light of (winter)day, so it’s nice to see that he (Jari Mäenpää) is still alive and well.

I can also say with some confidence that we were not alone in this sentiment, in fact I believe all (or pretty close to it) of the visitors of the festival was up at the main stage to greet the band welcome. Because of this, the female announcer who went on before every band had the easiest of times to get everyone shouting at the top of the lungs; but before the band came on, we were first treated to a nice piece of taped intro music (maybe new material?) which really helped set the mood further, as if it was needed…
Then of course came the band, the same old faces we know from before, and they went straight into the music, playing something which turned out to be a prolonged intro for Beyond The Dark Sun. People were already psyched about seeing and hearing the band, but as soon as there came some recognizable notes blasting out of the speakers, it all came together in a higher unity, and the crowd went totally crazy! Honestly, the amount of crowdsurfers passing by overhead was staggering; I had not seen the likes for any other band during our entire stay so far!

But what about the band, where they having fun?
Honestly, I don’t think any person can say what a fellow man truly feels deep down inside, but judging from their appearances, the entire crew had at least as good a time as the rest of us! Every single one of them was effortlessly doing their bit to create a perfect, positive party atmosphere; there was constant posing, and not only Mäenpää but the whole band did a perfect job at getting the crowd involved in the show. Other bands could learn a lot from this.
At one point bassist Jukka Koskinen led us into a loud clap-o-thon (you know, like a marathon but with clapping), and at another guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari helped drown out the track by getting us to sing along with one of the many OhOhOh parts of the Wintersun music.

And all of this was all fine and well, but I believe that what every true fan was really hoping for was to hear something new, and hopefully a bit more than the snippet which they played for us at Metalcamp 3 years ago…
So did we get this? Of course we did!
The song was called, and I can’t decide if this is completely epic or a bit cheesy, The Way Of The Fire, and it started out calmly and melodically, almost acoustic sound, to then quickly change pace into a true monster of both speed and above all else extreme heaviness! It also became apparent that this was a monster in length as well; I didn’t actually time it, but it went on for a long, long time! Without getting boring or losing momentum mind you. It did however change pace a bit, at one point the speed dropped down and as everyone stopped playing there came rolling from the speakers a very atmospheric piece of keyboards and chorus combo, but just as we were lulled into a calm piece of mind and relaxation, the band came back in with screeching, distorted guitars and pounding drums. Do I really need to mention that the crowd loved it?
Let’s just hope that this will be just as epic when the album finally hits the streets; this has pure Wintersun classic written all over it, and I can’t see anyone being disappointed.

The rest of the set was made up of choice cuts from the first album, and as people were well familiar with this material, the crowd was singing almost as loud and much as the band, and the other reactions I have already mentioned earlier on in this text.
The one thing we would have liked to ask for was that they were given more time to play, 50 minutes were not enough to satisfy our hunger after such a long time! The band seemed to share this sentiment, and they weren’t to be driven off the stage after they were done! The announcing girl came back on and wanted to take a photo to record this event, but she had the hardest time collecting all the band-members as they were all too busy running around throwing picks and things to the audience. Heck, even after the photo had been taken, Mäenpää took yet another turn even though it was evident that they were supposed to leave so that the stage-crew could get on with their work. All for the fans, we like that!
I’m already looking forward to seeing them again shortly, and the hopes for the new album have risen again…

Setlist:

Beyond The Dark Sun
Battle Against Time
Sleeping Stars
Winter Madness
Death And The Healing
The Way Of The Fire
Starchild