Wintersun (Japanese Edition)

Wintersun is the 2004 debut studio album by finnish melodic death metal band Wintersun, then the solo project of Jari Mäenpää. The Japanese edition of the album was released with the original three demo tracks used to obtain a contract with Nuclear Blast.

The figure depicted on the cover is believed to be a representation of Valfar who died of hypothermia after being lost in a snowstorm.

Bonus tracks are taken from the "Winter Madness" demo.

Tracks 1, 2, and 5 are re-recordings of the tracks with the same names from the aforementioned 'Winter Madness' demo.

Jari Mäenpää had been working on the songs for this album for a long time. The songs were written in/between:

1. Beyond the Dark Sun (1998)

2. Winter Madness (2002)

3. Sleeping Stars (1995-2003)

4. Battle Against Time (2002-2003)

5. Death and the Healing (1996)

6. Starchild (2000-2003)

7. Beautiful Death (2003)

8. Sadness and Hate (1996)

The five sections within "Starchild" are not listed on the back of the album, but the lyrics within the liner notes are segmented with the titles of each "part".

There is also an early version of "Sadness and Hate" recorded back in 1996 as part of a demo from Jari Mäenpää's former band, Immemorial.

Artwork [Wintersun Logo] – Tuomas "Ritual" Tahvanainen*

Cover – Kristian Wåhlin

Design [Booklet] – Helgorth

Drums – Kai "The Grinder" Hahto*

Liner Notes – 和田誠*

Mastered By – Mika Jussila

Mixed By – Nino Laurenne

Photography By – Mario Koivumäki

Producer, Performer [Except Drums], Songwriter – Jari Mäenpää

Recorded By – Tuomo Valtonen

Recorded By [Drums] – Ahti Kortelainen