Recording began in May of that year, but the albums would be the recipient of years-long delays for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was the complexity of each song's mix.

In November 2023, Teemu Mäntysaari became a full member of American thrash metal band Megadeth, having filled-in on their most recent tour after Kiko Loureiro's departure.

Mäenpää chose the name "Wintersun" from a list a friend had produced,[2] later explaining, "Winter reflects the cold and stormy side of the album and also the Finnish melancholy and magic.

"[3] Although the songs that would appear on Wintersun had collectively been written between 1995 and 2004[4] (see each track's respective composition dates here), Mäenpää kept his songwriting efforts primarily focused on folk metal band Ensiferum, with whom he had been playing since 1996.

Mäenpää and Hahto recorded demo versions of "Winter Madness", "Beyond the Dark Sun", and "Death and the Healing",[2] which were sent directly to Nuclear Blast.

[3] Even after obtaining a record deal, Mäenpää intended on keeping Wintersun as a side project during his tenure as lead singer and guitarist for Ensiferum.

The vocals, guitars, bass, and keyboards on Wintersun were performed solely by Mäenpää, who was already adept at recording multi-instrumental songs, having grown up with 8- and 16-track equipment.

Oliver Fokin, former drummer for Ensiferum and whom Mäenpää credits as inspiring him to start playing guitar,[1] was hired as guitarist.

[7] On 4 October 2004, Wintersun announced the departure of Oliver Fokin as guitarist, and a suitable replacement would not be found until 27 December when Teemu Mäntysaari joined.

Wintersun entered Sonic Pump Studios with Thunderstone's Nino Laurenne as sound engineer.

[12] On 17 April 2007, Mäenpää released a statement updating the status on the album, detailing that difficulties with hardware failures caused further delays in the recording process.

The mix dates were cancelled, and because Laurenne's schedule at Sonic Pump Studios was full for the remainder of the year, the album's release was pushed back further.

Difficulties with computer hardware due to limited amount of RAM affected Mäenpää's ability to compose orchestrations in real time.

[10] While technical difficulties pursued Wintersun into 2009, problems impeding the album's progress would eventually include Mäenpää's actual apartment.

Support was provided by fellow Nuclear Blast artists Fleshgod Apocalypse, Arsis, and Starkill, with Wintersun headlining.

[18] On 29 January 2015, Wintersun announced via their official Facebook page that Kai Hahto would be unable to perform in upcoming live shows, due to his obligations to Nightwish.

[19] In November 2016, Wintersun announced that they were looking for a second guitarist for the band so Mäenpää could focus solely on vocals during live performances.

[20] On 4 January 2017, the band announced on their Facebook page that the recording for their third studio album was completed and that it would be released later that same year.

[24] On 15 July 2019, Hahto was announced as Nightwish's permanent drummer following Jukka Nevalainen's decision not to return to the band.