WINTERSUN’s Time II Has A Release Date & Pre-Orders, Finally

After years of waiting and promises of a new album, Wintersun has finally slated Time II for August 30. If you missed out on the band-exclusive pre-orders, Nuclear Blast has posted theirs right here in a variety of configurations. Personally, I’m holding out for a Time box set with both albums.

“Time II is an epic journey from light to darkness and back to light, exploring the universe and energy, contrasting dark stormy landscapes to calm and beautiful cherry blossom tree gardens with misty, snowy mountains that will leave you breathless,” said Wintersun mastermind Jari Mäenpää.

“It has songs with furious speed of drums, guitars, and bass and beautiful melodic slower songs with a magical exotic influence. It has massive orchestrations and choirs spiced with ancient world instruments and glimmering synths. It has Jari’s soaring, clean singing contrasted with his aggressive style. It is a highly detailed and complex album where you will find new things with every listen.”

Wintersun began recording both Time I and Time II all the way back in 2006. Time I eventually saw the light of day in 2012, and Time II is finally getting released this year. So just how shocking is it that Time II is finally coming out? Well, Wintersun drummer Kai Hahto actually thought frontman Jari Mäenpää was joking when he told him.

In a recent interview with Chaoszine, Hahto commented on first finding out that Time II was complete, saying “A few weeks ago, maybe Jari sent us a message in our band chat and revealed that the album is now done. I didn’t believe it at first and had to check the calendar that it isn’t even April Fool’s day because it’s been like 16 years since I recorded my parts for it.”

Hahto later added that everything you hear on Time II (at least for the drums) is what he recorded all the way back in 2006, and that Time wasn’t originally supposed to be two records.

“[The] drum parts are the same as what we recorded in 2006. I recorded the drums for Time I and Time II in four days because originally it was just supposed to be titled Time and not split into two sections. Later, the record label wanted to split it into two albums because it was a bit too long. The first part came out in 2012, so it’s been already over 10 years since the release of that album already.”