I stumbled across Before the Dawn live a few years ago after misreading a gig line up and rushing in expecting to see Portuguese doomsters Before the Rain. Despite my disappointment, the Finns won me over with their gothic brand of melodic death. New offering ‘Deathstar Rising’, their first for heavyweights Nuclear Blast, delivers more of the same, but with a polish that they never had before.
I usually find intro tracks a waste of time. That’s just me and my impatient nature, yet here with the acoustic intro ‘The First Snow’, it has a clear place and builds the atmosphere nicely as it gently builds in intensity before seamlessly leading full bore into ‘Winter Within’. One of the great things about Before the Dawn, is despite their clear Melodeath leanings, they do not lazily bow to the usual hackneyed formula. Musically, this is top notch, with a riff that hooks you from the outset. As usual with this style of band we also have the dual vocal styles. Tuomas Saukkonen provides the growls which are always perfectly balanced with the right pitch and level of aggression, and Lars Elkind supplies the clean vocals, and again knocks it completely out of the park with a clear, powerful and rangy delivery. Influences are wide and ranging, with strong elements of Dark Tranquillity, Amorphis, Grand Magus and Katatonia throughout. ‘Deathstar’ offers more of what you would expect in the form of standard Melodeath drumming, putting me in mind of Killswitch Engage and therefore instantly making me feel nauseous, but that soon passes with the arrival of the chorus which is catchy as hell despite having a strong whiff of power metal cheese about it. No denying that it works though.
Whilst the album could never be accused of having a pedestrian pace, it does tend to gallop along at a reasonably brisk, if constant rate; yet ‘Unbroken’ arrives with a burst of energy and speed, and the layered, almost choral effect of the chorus works a treat. ‘Judgement’ comes across like a Grand Magus track, with its simple yet classic metal riff and Lars Elkind delivering the goods with a voice that at times rivals the power and delivery of Grand Magus’s own JB Christoffersson, and that is praise I do not give lightly, considering this reviewers humble opinion that JB is one of the finest vocalists of a generation. ‘The Wake’ concentrates more on the harsher side of the vocal, and once again things storm along a solid pace with some excellent classic metal riffery to back things up. ‘Sanctuary’ features some interesting time changes and switches nicely between light and calm to fast and frenetic, and is one of the stand out tracks on an album chock full of them.
Before the Dawn have always had more going for them than the average melodic death band, but didn’t always capitalise upon it, with 2006’s ‘The Ghost’ being one of their lazier examples. With ‘Deathstar Rising’ however, they really do seem to have turned a corner. It’s musically brilliant yet simplistic and the same can be said for the songwriting. Production is very good, but not overly glossy or grandiose. What Before the Dawn have done is to simplify things. To take what works, and then stick to it. There’s nothing experimental here and the album is all the better for it. This is without doubt the best album that Before the Dawn have made, and I’d urge everyone to give this a try. Very highly recommended.
http://www.myspace.com/beforethedawnmusic
