Wintersun New Album and Crowdfunding

[osum]

Maybe you know already about it. Wintersun finished a new Album ("The Forest Seasons") and know managed to get a deal with Nuclear Blast where they are allowed to do a crowdfunding (It's not a regular crowdfunding since the album is already finished, https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wintersun-crowdfunding--3/x/16169143#/)

I have no interest in discussing the yays or nays of the crowdfunding. I'm already tired of all the hate comments on facebook, but anyway I really dig the samples of the new songs:



(starts at 2:18 and at 9:05)

Since I'm an absolute Wintersun fanboy I'm really looking forward to this.

 

[Novocaine]

"The Forest Seasons"? what ever happened to Time II?

 

[osum]

"The Forest Seasons"? what ever happened to Time II?

Put on hold until they have the resources to finish it. Forest Seasons was an easier album to make so they finished this first. I guess also to satisfy Nuclear Blast regarding their contract.

 

[H-evolve]

Was a great fan of Wintersun, until they fucked me with Time I. Songs are great, but selling an album the full price when it actually has only like, 3 songs, it really is screwing your fan base.

Plus I also lost some kind of respect when I saw that Jari video for Evertune where he's just trying to sell us "Evertune bridge", while being in his underwear on his bed.

And finally, when Jari decided he'd stop playing guitar for the band... I really start to wonder if that guy is sane or not.

 

[osum]

And finally, when Jari decided he'd stop playing guitar for the band... I really start to wonder if that guy is sane or not.

Dunno, I thought the reasons for not playing guitar live anymore (still playing guitar in the studio) were understandable.

 

[H-evolve]

Dunno, I thought the reasons for not playing guitar live anymore (still playing guitar in the studio) were understandable.

I don't know... They are quite vague... He wants to concentrate on vocals, however I don't get what he wants to do more than what he was already doing?

But anyway, indeed that isn't the major issue. I definitely have more problem with Time I being ultra short and felt screwed after buying it.

And! To top that, Time I took like 10 years to do, and it was ultra short. Now, they say they don't have the "ressources" for Time II, but they have ressources for a different album? That makes very little sense.

Plus Time I has been out for something like 6 years already...

Sucks cause they make great music, I'm just tired of that Jari drama shit.

 

[osum]

I'm just gonna put my thoughts on this here, or how I understood all the things:

I don't know... They are quite vague... He wants to concentrate on vocals, however I don't get what he wants to do more than what he was already doing?

I understood it the way that he never felt really comfortable doing guitars and vocals both live. Also I think he had/have back problems and thinks maybe this gets better if he has the freedom to move on stage without a guitar etc.

Now, they say they don't have the "ressources" for Time II, but they have ressources for a different album? That makes very little sense

Well, Time I was already cluttered with literally thousands of orchestration tracks etc, I guess Time II is no different. "The Forest Seasons" seems to be simpler regarding that so he was able to pull that of with his resources.

But anyway, indeed that isn't the major issue. I definitely have more problem with Time I being ultra short and felt screwed after buying it.

I can understand that. It's a complete subjective thing of course. For me personally "Sons of Winter and Stars" was worth the whole album price alone (for me it's one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard), but I totally get you.

I am aware that I sound very pro-Jari. It's just because I am pretty much a Wintersun fanboy and I admit that. Nevertheless I totally get all the critics he and wintersun gets for all the things that happened. I'm not trying to defend everything they do I just try to see it from their perspective as well. I have no problem with constructive critics, it's just that all the pure hatred facebook comments and comments for example on metalsucks and metalinjection seem to be very unfair towards them in my opinion. But as I said, actually I shouldn't really care.

 

[H-evolve]

I'm just gonna put my thoughts on this here, or how I understood all the things:



I understood it the way that he never felt really comfortable doing guitars and vocals both live. Also I think he had/have back problems and thinks maybe this gets better if he has the freedom to move on stage without a guitar etc.



Well, Time I was already cluttered with literally thousands of orchestration tracks etc, I guess Time II is no different. "The Forest Seasons" seems to be simpler regarding that so he was able to pull that of with his resources.



I can understand that. It's a complete subjective thing of course. For me personally "Sons of Winter and Stars" was worth the whole album price alone (for me it's one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard), but I totally get you.

I am aware that I sound very pro-Jari. It's just because I am pretty much a Wintersun fanboy and I admit that. Nevertheless I totally get all the critics he and wintersun gets for all the things that happened. I'm not trying to defend everything they do I just try to see it from their perspective as well. I have no problem with constructive critics, it's just that all the pure hatred facebook comments and comments for example on metalsucks and metalinjection seem to be very unfair towards them in my opinion. But as I said, actually I shouldn't really care.

That's totally fair that you are still a big Wintersun fan. As I said, I know they are great musicians and composers, therefore, I really understand that there should still be lots of Wintersun fans out there.

As for the random hatred I get what you mean and agree with that. I, for once, don't hate them. They just lost my interest for the reasons mentioned above. Let's summarize all that I said as "There's always seem to be something" (lack of inspiration, wanting to focus on vocals, lack of ressource, what will be next, etc... ).

But, that doesn't mean I don't wish them success and hopefully that next album will be great. Who could bitch about a good album coming out right? Everybody wins when that happens (expect random 16 years old haters too dumb to understand that)

 

[Korwent]

What I don't like is the way they say "we want to make a great album, but can't in our current situation, so if you buy the album we are about to release for a lot more money, the next one will be great,promise!"...
Apart fromthat, Wintersun is cool, but to me it seems really overrated considering the amount of material they effectively released!
Which doesn't reduce its quality, it's just that Jari released something like 4 album in a 20+ years career...

 

[BearOnGuitar]

Was a great fan of Wintersun, until they fucked me with Time I. Songs are great, but selling an album the full price when it actually has only like, 3 songs, it really is screwing your fan base.

Plus I also lost some kind of respect when I saw that Jari video for Evertune where he's just trying to sell us "Evertune bridge", while being in his underwear on his bed.

And finally, when Jari decided he'd stop playing guitar for the band... I really start to wonder if that guy is sane or not.

What's wrong about the EverTune, and underpants? I'd rather have him wear pants than not wear any at all. By the way we didn't ask him to record this video, he's genuinely supporting us, which at least to us means a lot.

When I met Jari in 2015 he played some of the new material to me that was very roughly recorded, but man it sounded amazing! It totally blew me away, which I really didn't expect. Jari's songwriting has certainly evolved drastically since Time I. I have no idea if what I heard was meant to be released for Time II or the album before or after that, but I'm really glad they're moving forward now and that their music gets released.

 

[H-evolve]

What's wrong about the EverTune, and underpants? I'd rather have him wear pants than not wear any at all. By the way we didn't ask him to record this video, he's genuinely supporting us, which at least to us means a lot.

When I met Jari in 2015 he played some of the new material to me that was very roughly recorded, but man it sounded amazing! It totally blew me away, which I really didn't expect. Jari's songwriting has certainly evolved drastically since Time I. I have no idea if what I heard was meant to be released for Time II or the album before or after that, but I'm really glad they're moving forward now and that their music gets released.

Who is "us"? Do you work for Evertune? I'm sorry, but if for long timers this is quite obvious, for me it isn't. That www.evertune.com in your signature makes me think you do, but it could mean you're just a fan. Do they know you actually do that? Do they pay you to be their "voice" on forums? If they do, why not just replace your name from "BearOnGuitar" to "Evertune" or something? Don't you think?

But! Since you ask (and since you could have perhaps you taken it personal) I have nothing against Evertune. I actually think they make a great product. However! that video Jari made, in his underpants, looked dumb. I'm sorry, but even though, as you pointed out, he can make incredible music, that doesn't mean he can be forgiven for everything he's doing, and that includes a self-made commercial for Evertune in his underpants.

That looked stupid, unprofessional, and wasn't all that positive for Evertune. Since in the video it's not clear if Evertune was behind it or not, it more or less looked like Evertune was ok to accept any kind of endorsement, even from people in underwear.

All that being said, I'm still capable of making an opinion on my own, in the likes of "Ok, weird video, but that doesn't mean their product isn't good".

And also, I get it. As a company, you have Jari doing that kind of video on his own, what choices do you have. Leaving it there or asking him to remove it.... Which is why I wasn't critisizing Evertune.

There is still, somewhere in what I said, I think, constructive criticism.

 

[BearOnGuitar]

A quick view on my profile would have shown you that I'm the brand manager at EverTune. I get paid for doing my work at EverTune, whether I post on forums or not is my own decision. I started out as an audio engineer long before I had any position with EverTune and I do post on several forums, most of which I have been a daily lurker from about 2010 on, and I sometimes like to interact with the communities, almost exclusively about topics that are not EverTune related. I studied audio engineering at SAE, forums like this one, especially back when they were much more populated, were the single most important resource in helping to improve my recording and mixing techniques.

Personally I found the video to be hilarious and great, and our fans liked it as well, so no damage there, quite the opposite. We're not offended about a person's clothes or lack thereof, and there's no way I would have asked Jari to remove it, even if we asked him to create the video. We're musicians ourselves, some of us being metalheads, working together with other musicians, to us the person is what's important.

To get back to the topic, I'm a huge fan of Wintersun and I'm glad they're taking steps forward. To me, fundraisers hosted by any metal artist or band that work out, are really a success to metal music in general, even more so in the case of Wintersun. That's unless we like to get more of the fabricated mainstream stuff pushed onto us. Crap that literally requires millions of dollars worth of advertising campaigns so that people even consider buying that stuff, intensively pushing their outbreak of pure stupidity, fakeness and absence of talent to the point where it's considered greatness. In turn devaluing and killing art created and performed by real artists who worked their whole lives at mastering their craft, to point where people fail to recognize it as such and want it to fail altogether. To me it's even worse seeing that kind of criticism coming from artists and people working in music, like you couldn't make this stuff up. I'd rather want to see more bands using their resources to come up with ways to create better products and more qualitative and inspiring music, rather than continuing a steady decline of quality.

Best regards,
Herbert

 

[H-evolve]

Thanks for clarifying who you are. It's true, I should have checked your profile. I don't do that too often since you rarely find actual information on people in there. But I still owe an apology.

As for your position on crowdfunding, I am with you on it. I never said, and you probably understood, that I was against it. Actually, especially for metal music, bands need that kind of funding. With the exponential growth of streaming, it's a necessity, for smaller bands, so that they can survive.

And again, apologies if my message sounded rude. It really wasn't my intention. I do think Evertune is a great product, I just didn't like Jari's video. I guess I'm part of the exceptions.

Cheers.

 

[BearOnGuitar]

It's all good man. My earliest was actually meant jokingly, and my rant was not directed at you.

 

[osum]

Somebody was kind enough to put the samples from their documentary videos together:



It sounds really great in my opinion.