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beforethedawn riseofthephoenix
Artist: Before The Dawn
Title: Rise of the Phoenix
Genre: Dark Metal / Melodic Death Metal
Release Date: 27th April 2012
Label: Nuclear Blast


Album Review

BEFORE THE DAWN is a melodic death metal band from Finland. Founded in 1999 by Tuomas Saukkonen, it has six full-fledged releases up to now, and the current album, ‘Rise of The Phoenix’, is seventh. Early history of the band was quite a row of line-up changes, but at some point Tuomas found a solid crew that made five albums. It's then the band made great success in Finland and in Europe: tireless work of the band and music perfectionism of Tuomas created a distinctive sound and then developed it further to a more grown-up, sophisticated one. The recent albums ‘Soundscape of Silence’ and ‘Deathstar Rising’ were more than just a set of songs - they were uniform pieces, well played, well recorded and one can listen to these disks from beginning to end non-stop. It was after the Soundscape of Silence release when the band signed a deal with biggest metal label in Europe, Nuclear Blast.

I recall first time when I saw BTD playing in Oulu, Finland, in good old 2007. There was a SONATA ARCTICA gig and BTD was warming up. Back then, I was still, sort of "in a quest" of my favourite genre in metal. Extremely energetic and rather heavy music with distinct melody and metallic overtones caught my attention immediately. Few years later, I would not miss a single gig and would fly across Europe to see the guys performing in my native Russia. For many years, the core of the band was quite stable and Juho Räihä (guitars) and Lars Eikind (clean vocals) were always there. Yet at some point, a sudden news came that Lars and the drummer Atte Palokangas abruptly left the band. I think everyone felt kind of lost. Voice of Lars was so integral in the sound, that it was difficult to tell what will happen next. It was a concern, that Tuomas might as well retire to his other projects, ROUTASIELU and BLACK SUN AEON, but he decided to fight further for the existence of BEFORE THE DAWN. There was some silence, then - a first gig without old members in Helsinki, a Tuska festival's after party. Not knowing about the future, in some really uncertain moment it was played and pleased the audience, relieving the hopes. Then time came for the another European tour and the new record. It was, I think, a very important moment for the band and for the fan base. The release was to prove, that the essence of BEFORE THE DAWN is here with us. ‘Rise of the Phoenix’, releasing now in Europe through Nuclear Blast, is not a random name, it is apparently a symbolism for reviving the band.

The moment I saw the recent music video for the first (real) song on the current release, ‘Pitch Black Universe’, I knew it was a success. The material of previous release sounded awesome and very, very mature, but I would still miss some early days compositions – with that harsh metallic overtones, let's say. This is all-time signature sound and in current release it was again there, alive and kicking! The album, a beautiful, technical melodic death metal with growling vocals of Tuomas, great sophisticated guitar parts and wonderful dark melodies, sound again as an entire piece. Despite rather violent genre, the record is crystal clean, you can hear and follow every note in the sound, you can travel along the guitar solos or headbang with fast drums as you please. I can not spot any weak song here. No clean vocals, but plenty of clean guitar parts took that part. There is as much attention to great melancholic melodies as to heaviness and "metallinness".

I am not going here to take apart all the songs and attempt to describe in words what do I hear on first, second minute and so on. There are things - that better to be taken as a whole. Just want mention ‘Pitch Black Universe’ and another standing out song, ‘Throne of Ice’. The latter I loved especially. It starts from nice slow guitar that later changes by a blast beat of drums. The chorus there sound very rhythmic and "heavily pumping". I do not know how an almost solemn impression is made from this fierce piece, but the song does just that. This is extremely good melodic death metal from Finland, and Nuclear Blast just did the right thing taking the band to new audience. Tuomas is known as quite a hard worker, and he just managed to prove that BEFORE THE DAWN will go strong. The Phoenix rose with his fire wings in all his glory. If you're up to great melodic death, by no means, do not miss neither the band nor the release!

Watch the official video for ‘Pitch-Black Universe’ here: YouTube


Tracklist

01. Exordium - 1:27
02. Pitch-Black Universe - 4:43
03. Phoenix Rising - 4:43
04. Cross To Bear - 3:29
05. Throne Of Ice - 6:31
06. Perfect Storm - 4:42
07. Fallen World - 4:22
08. Eclipse - 5:39
09. Closure - 3:43

Bonus tracks
Unbreakable (2012 version)
Starless Tranquility
Deliverance
Reflection (1999 demo)


Line-up

Tuomas Saukkonen - vocals, guitars
Pyry Hanski - bass
Juho Räihä - lead guitar
Joonas Kauppinen - drums


Website

www.beforethedawn.com / www.myspace.com/btdofficial / www.facebook.com/beforethedawn


Cover Picture

beforethedawn riseofthephoenix


Rating

Music: 10
Sound: 10
Total: 10 / 10


Buy the album here!


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