WHAT A RIDE! Brit Reacts to Wintersun - Sons Of Winter And Stars | REACTION

Grab yourself a drink, some snacks and make sure you've been to the bathroom, because this track is a long one! 😆 It's been on my radar to react to this song for a little while, following a number of viewer recommendations and due to their connection with Nightwish. This was my first time hearing it so why not join me for the ride and find out what I think? 🤔
You can check out the full video here: • Wintersun - Sons Of Wi...
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Thank you for watching
Melvin
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#melvinthinks #reaction #wintersun
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.

[@someperry7263]

Thanks for doing this one! Drummer and bassist are with Nightwish currently, guitarist is touring with Megadeth (his Megadeth solos are definitely must-see!) Greetings from the Nightwishland (and Wintersunland) a.k.a Finland 🇫🇮

[@melvinthinks]

Wow! Didn't know he was with Megadeth. That's a must see with Kiko 🤟

[@koch75ify]

Kiko is away from the tour for family reasons and Teemu plays in his place. Kiko recommended Teemu to Dave. I could imagine that Kiko and Teemu know each other, because Kiko also lives in Finland

[@melvinthinks]

Ahhh, shame. I thought they were a guitar trio which would be ace!

[@TimoArula]

I absolutely love seeing people discover Wintersun for the first time. A couple voice coaches, and a former cinema composer who picked apart all the fine orchestral nuances and said their music was cinema worthy. Such a jaw-dropping surprise to all the different parts, melodies, and compositional layers (upon layers), that went into making this gorgeous masterpiece. For me the transitions with Jari's range from growls to clean vocals is just phenomenally flawless. And wonderful Kai..like a human Machine Gun (Also known by the name "The Human Metronome", and current Nightwish official member)! The stories their songs tell is just as amazing.. A true 'gallop off on a quest' across snow-swept wintery landscapes, this song has always filled my heart to bursting with love and pure enjoyment. And that familiar Bassist: Jukka Koskinen, also now official member of Nightwish!!! I saw an interview where Kai Hahto was asked: - Now that in Nightwish, how come you don't do that incredible stuff you did on Wintersun? He laughed and answered: - You don't do things because you CAN, you do what serves the song. 🤘😎🤘.

[@melvinthinks]

I like your last statement, about Kai "serving the song". A similar thing was said by Dave Lombardo (Slayer drummer, amongst many others!) in an interview I watched recently with Sam Dunn of BangerTV. Just because you can play all the flashy fills/riffs etc. doesn't necessarily mean you should. And when countless other bands continually seek you out to join them for touring, side projects, collaborations etc. that's one of the biggest signs of being a great musicians imo.

[@pedjavukmirovic6770]

And teemu joined megadeth😮

[@Songfugel]

@@pedjavukmirovic6770Wait what, I've completely missed that! That's insane edit: oh it is a temp job, at least for now, but still pretty amazing

[@chriso6719]

Yes Drummer Kai Hahto and bassist Jukka Koskinen are now both current members of Nightwish. You haven't seen then there yet. You've done 2 NW songs from the 2013 Wacken concert, Kai joined them in 2014, Jukka in 2021. Apt observation, Kai is known as a human metronome. Wintersun was formed as a side project of lead singer Jari Maenpaa in 2003, he was then a member of Ensiferum. Jari still sounds good, despite losing part of a lung from tuberculosis contracted during his military service. Check out Time , also from this session at Sonic Pump studios.

[@melvinthinks]

Thanks Chris. My metronome observation about Kai was correct then 😬

[@ACorpseWithoutSoul]

And Teemu Mäntysaari is now new Megadeth tour guitarist. 🤘

[@alleninfinity6730]

Kai is the current drummer for Nightwish since 2014 and the bassist Jukka took Marko's spot in Nightwish in 2020.

[@markoruohonen2861]

And the other guitarist Teemu is currently touring with Megadeth 🤘

[@Songfugel]

4:29 Melvin: "He looks like someone I know..." Me: "Yeah, from Nightwi..." Melvin: "My old mate Steve..." ...

[@melvinthinks]

Hahahah! If what came out of my mouth was predictable, then this channel would be pretty boring. You may want to see the video I'm releasing tonight. There is some proper random verbal diarrhea in this video! 🤣 You have been warned. I'm a bit odd at times.

[@villekaikkonen5218]

Already in early nineties Kai Hahto (then a teen) was known as a good drummer and musically gifted. I think he started in a death metal band called Vomiturition back then. Over the time he has practised playing jazz as well and of corpse played for a long time in the Finnish grindcore giant Rotten Sound. Most people nowadays know him from just Nightwish, but he has been an awesome drummer and a musician long before Nightwish. My first encounter with him and Rotten Sound was right after their Murderworks record and I became a fanboy right away. The way Rotten Sound played the most aggressive kind of music, but while doing so, smiled with each other as old friends having fun, like they were, that was so cool in my eyes and ears.

[@melvinthinks]

Definitely a great drummer! Hence why he's so in demand. This tracks definitely showcases a variety of his skills and fills too. Thanks for the insight 👍

[@karljensen6768]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYfTZXeOhbONfa8si=x2dn2fNVq61HU_Zb Here is a solo that Teemu had to learn, after Jari told that he would concentrate more on his singing ❤

[@RÅNÇIÐ]

Gotta do "Darkness and Frost & Time" from the same rehearsal.

[@KaiHellmann]

The right side green guitarist plays in Megadeth now,Teemu Mäntysaari

[@northof4912]

I said what you said on my first listen to this song - it was interesting but not sure if I would listen to it again. But…… it got under my skin, would not go away. Kept seeping back into my consciousness, not letting go, eventually added to my play list. It is now a must play song when I do long haul drives for work. Absolutely epic performance!

[@melvinthinks]

I've heard it numerous times whilst editing the video, checking playback etc. Not sure I'll come back to it any time soon - it's just not my 'thing' tbh.

[@ricardoolivo5244]

@@melvinthinks this happened to me too, I thought it was just interesting at first, but eventually somehow wintersun became my favorite band

[@nuclear.musicaddict]

I have started to call Jari the George RR Martin of the metal scene. The music, when it comes, is amazing, but it takes ages to come and right now we don't know if we'll see another release. As you know, Nightwish pinched both Kai and Jukkis from Wintersun, and the other guitarist Teemu recently joined Megadeth as a touring musician, it won't surprise me much if they keep him. I know everyone will tell you to check out Darkness and Frost & Time from that same session, so I'll recommend something from their first album that I discovered at some point around 2008ish - Battle against time. It's my favourite Wintersun song.

[@melvinthinks]

Thanks! I can't guarantee I'll check these out any time soon or make a reaction video as it didn't really click for me with this band. But I'll certainly add these tracks to my list. 👍

[@nuclear.musicaddict]

​@@melvinthinksthey're worth it to check out on your own time, dude, I'm not demanding a reaction for everything, I just love to share music and have only one metalhead friend 😅

[@melvinthinks]

@musicaddictden all the recommendations are appreciated. Even other viewers stumble upon them too so it's all good 👍 Plus we are all friends in my community. I hope. So count yourself another metal buddy and many more from this channel 🤟🤟🤟

[@Lolquake]

He has a piezo pickup installed in his guitar for the accoustic part, you can see the switch for it near his volume pots.

[@finkeldrinker7842]

I've seen 2 sec of the vid and I already love ya! much love from Sweden!

[@melvinthinks]

See if you still love me after 25minutes of this video! 🤣😂🤣

[@pbmdh]

One of the super fun things you picked up on is the use of polyrhythms in this song. The drums are playing in 4/4 while the guitars are playing in 6/8, such a great tactic that most metal bands don't even consider using.

[@melvinthinks]

It's cool listening to music that challenges you a little bit. Makes the brain work. It mostly occurs in metal and progressive music because us fans are super intelligent, of course 😬

[@karljensen6768]

Some other bands, has said this has more ideas in one piece, than others may have for an entire album😅

[@BrendonChase_2015]

Final part (and some of the good stuff earlier on) Kai is playing 4/4 over double bass triplets, which may sound a bit like blast beats but thank g@wd they aren't. But the BB words have been spoken. For me, it's the opening section that kills this one for me. Starts with lovely intertwining guitar harmonies, almost classical in nature and then.. totally redundant & over the top effing blast beats! Time signature changes, exciting displacements, permutating paradiddly stuff.. yeah, on a technical level it's all a superb work-out for Kai, but when those bb's reappear at the end, I wonder once more: WHY? The vocal filmscore section is pure gold though. Might try "Time", for better coherence as a song and total vibe. Cheers from Amsterdam! 🤘

[@melvinthinks]

Cheers Brendon. Enjoyed your honest comment on this one 😬 It is a bit Marmite and there are sections I prefer more than others. My partner hated it! She couldn't wait for it to end 🤣 So it has got its moments but at other times it's a bit overkill, as you said.

[@noneofyerbeeswax8194]

What annoyed me even more than the blast beats are those layers upon layers upon layers UPON F-KIN LAYERS of keyboards. Synthesized strings, choirs and whatever Jari managed to find in those 666 MIDI packs he downloaded. I don't like it when bands try to compensate in volume for what they lack in substance. It all sounds majestic and beyond epic, of course, and there's enough cheese to constipate the entire sub-Saharan Africa, so I can totally see why people love it.😂

[@melvinthinks]

I used to really love cheese until you wrote this statement 😄

[@noneofyerbeeswax8194]

@@melvinthinks 🤣Lol. It can be good in moderation, but Jari does believe that more is always better, so it gets old real fast.

[@melvinthinks]

@noneofyerbeeswax8194 and I'm always of the school of thought "Less is sometimes more"

[@northof4912]

This song will be on my top 30 or 50 top epic songs of all time. This is a list defined by Zeppelin, Floyd and Supertramp, to start with.

[@melvinthinks]

Gotta have a bit of Zep and Floyd in there 😁

[@OPJ1974]

About the composition a bit: There's quite a lot proggressive elements in this song, Kai mostly playing drums 4/4 against others playing 6/8. That creates interesting tension throughout. And there are few fills and licks that go to other meter as well.

[@melvinthinks]

Defo conflicting time signatures which does make it super interesting and mathematical to listen to.

[@northof4912]

Kai on the drums was the only part that Jari didn’t play himself for the recording of the album.

[@melvinthinks]

Wow!

[@hannadegerlund3227]

And Teemu are in Megadeht

[@melvinthinks]

Love Megadeth 🤟🤟🤟

[@SaulTyre]

Thanks mate, I'll leave you alone now, although me recommending on "every" video is a wee bit of an exaggeration, it was 3 to be exact. Good reaction and straight up as I expected and yes they are a bit of an acquired taste I agree ...just like Guinness lol .. keep on rockin, I'll look in on your next reaction as usual🤘

[@melvinthinks]

Hahaha. I was only playing with you mate 😉 Bit of banter and humour 👍 Keep the recommendations coming as always and although Wintersun are definitely an acquired taste, I enjoyed the progression and playing 🤟

[@SaulTyre]

@@melvinthinks Aye I know that otherwise I'd send a few wailing banshees after you lol ..I guess you're more into progressive, heavy/power/thrash stuff like Lovebites, I saw them at Roadmenders, Northampton on tour with Dragonforce in 2019, I'd never heard of them before that but they blew me and my mates away, ace band and not here "just to be cute" like the say. Keep the reactions coming mate, you're one of the more "natural" reactors around, I detest those that have nothing to say except "cool" "nice" "great" etc etc, I'll come up with another recommendation at some point, I wont rush you lol🤘

[@melvinthinks]

Well, you're a Brit (if I recall?) so I knew you'd get my shit and sarcastic sense of humour 😉 But honestly dude, with regards to music I'm pretty open minded. I generally love guitar music which falls on the heavier side. But I grew up loving Oasis, Guns N Roses, Nirvana, Ash, White Stripes and stuff. It probably wasn't until my mid twenties when I started getting way more into metal. Aside from metal, if you've got any recommendations for punk, hardcore, stoner rock, garage rock then I'm all ears. I wanna expand the genres a little bit on this channel. Still want to keep it guitar based to a degree. I've actually got a video coming out next week for an Aussie punk band I love. Won't get many views, but I love promoting and sharing cool music with this community if I can too.

[@melvinthinks]

And am bit jealous you've managed to see Lovebites. They were at Download one year but I skipped them to watch another band! Had I not started doing reactions on this channel, I probably wouldn't have heard of them. But yeah - I think they are great. I'll have to do another of theirs at some point but there is SOOOOOOO much music out there! Not enough time in the day. And thanks for the kind words, man. Nice of you to say that and means alot 🤘

[@SaulTyre]

@@melvinthinks I'm Scottish mate, "Saul Tyre" is a play on the name of the St Andrews flag of Scotland which is called the Saltire. I've been to 250+ concerts & festivals over my 70+ years, my first open air was the Stones in Hyde park '67, indoors was Jimmy Hendrix at The Roundhouse '68, I've seen some greats in The Who x2 Lynryd Skynryd x2 Led Zep x2 AC/DC x2 Motorhead x2 Whitesnake x2 Purple x3 Rainbow x3 Sabbath x4(incl. Ozfest x2) Floyd x4 Queen x5 Nightwish x6(2 with Tarja & Jukka 4 with Floor & Kai) Iron Maiden x8 Genesis x8 RUSH x14 and a host of others at Donnington, Reading and Isle of Wight festivals including the likes of Rory Gallagher with Taste, Free, Motley Crue Slayer Guns & Roses Metallica et al ...just to make you more jealous my last gig was Nightwish at Wembley Arena November last year, my final gig will be Lovebites when they next come to the UK.🤘

[@Pave999]

Xx

[@koff41]

11:24 spot on, he told that was lil difficult and want to do less guitar. Nice reaction dude. Try a Koff next time. 😄

[@melvinthinks]

I'm always game for trying new beers 🍻🍻 🍻

[@WNYretiree]

I will be the first to admit that I am not a fan of harsh vocals. I'm growing, slowly, in my ability to appreciate them. That said, for some reason, Jari's vocals have never, from the first, hit me the wrong way. I don't listen to Winterson on my own, but I'm usually in for any reaction is see to them.

[@melvinthinks]

Personally I prefer the growl vs harsh vocals, hence why I enjoy death metal vs black metal. But you are right about Jari. It doesn't grate you and it's actually pleasant to listen to without become tiresome.

[@metalzonereactions]

Jari was also doing vocals on early Ensiferum stuff which you may enjoy then, awesome band!

[@OlettaLiano]

I can agree with you. I listen to this band and song when someone reacts to it, but Wintersun is not on my daily listen to list. Also, it's your house and your video, so burp and fart to your heart's content. 😂 Cheers! 🍻

[@melvinthinks]

🤣😂🤣 Thank you for the approval, Oletta 👍🤟👍

[@joonasvahasalo6635]

I think teemu has a piezo pickup for the acoustic guitar part

[@melvinthinks]

Cheers Joonas. It's sound pretty authentic so this makes much more sense now.

[@hextatik_sound]

The main guitarist Teemu, plays in Megadeth nowadays.

[@melvinthinks]

I still hope that Kiko comes back though.

[@naxisgamingyt9126]

Wintersun could never really grab me, I don't know what it is. they are very technically impressive, no doubts there. Yeah I'm not sure why they just don't land for me, but I don't dislike them by any means. It's strange because they sound like a mix of older Children of Bodom, Trivium, and Kamelot to me, bands which I love.

[@melvinthinks]

I agree with you. I appreciate it for what it is and they are all great players. But it just doesn't float my boat or encourage me to seek out more of their stuff. But that's the beauty of music. If we all liked the same stuff and agreed upon everything, art and music would be very dull!

[@northof4912]

Intro is integral to setting up the entire song….

[@Pave999]

Time II D-69 😉