There has been a lot of hype about what mastermind Jari Mäenpää would create for his devoted fans, now that Wintersun’s new effort “The Forest Seasons” is available certainly the audience will be at least relieved or genuinely intrigued. The album is rightfully inspired by the timeless beauty of Finland’s nature and surroundings therefore there is a strong taste for Nordic melancholic poetry.

“Awaken From The Dark Slumber (Spring)” can be grandiose and solemn due to well structured atmospheric/symphonic orchestrations but also holds a blackened mood with vicious growls and relentless guitar riffing.

“The Forest That Weeps (Summer)” is characterized by the beloved Scandinavian icy cold melancholy that naturally surrounds and inspire the whole instrumentation. While guitar riffs and tormented growls channel primordial death metal elements the softer heartfelt guitar melodies adorned by tasteful symphonic arrangements and majestic choirs appear to be more interesting and compelling.

“Loneliness (Winter)” is a particularly graceful work of music that immediately conquers the listeners evoking desolate gloomy landscapes with mellow classical influenced orchestrations and dramatic clean vocals delivery. Wintersun doesn’t forget to render everything even colder and mournful with the addition of desperate growls and tight sorrowful guitar riffs.

Seasons might change but Wintersun doesn’t consistently offer the expected wide music variety on each track which sometimes might feel unnecessarily too lengthy, nevertheless “The Forest Seasons” keeps alluring epic vibes and showcases a cohesive songwriting style.