- Before the Dawn (band)
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For other uses, see Before the Dawn.
Before the Dawn 
Tuomas Saukkonen at the Tuska Open Air 2008Background information Origin Finland Genres Melodic death metal
Gothic metalYears active 1999–present Labels Nuclear Blast
Locomotive Music
Stay Heavy RecordsAssociated acts Age of Silence, Winds, Dawn of Solace Website www.beforethedawn.com Members Tuomas Saukkonen
Juho RäihäPast members Panu Willman
Mike Ojala
Kimmo Nurmi
Dani Miettinen
Lars Eikind
Atte PalokangasBefore the Dawn is a metal band from Finland, started in 1999 by Tuomas Saukkonen.
Contents
History
The band was founded in 1999 by Tuomas Saukkonen as his solo project: "I made the first demo "To Desire Part 1" all by myself and for the second one I had a friend of mine playing the drums. The first line-up was gathered so that BTD could perform live. With many changes in the line up BTD entered the studio to record the MCD called "Gehenna". I received couple of deal offers but nothing serious enough. BTD continued playing gigs and I kept on writing lots of new material, and the next MCD called "My Darkness" got very good feedback and a serious enough record deal was offered by Locomotive Music."[1]
Joined by Panu Willman, Mike Ojala, and Kimmo Nurmi, the newly formed lineup released their first full length album, "My Darkness", in 2003. It was followed up by a second album in 2004, "4:17 am". The band supported Katatonia on a Scandinavian and European tour in 2003 as well.[2]
In 2005, Saukkonen announced a new lineup for the band, removing all the members currently in and replacing them with his so-called "Live Assault Team": the Norwegian Lars Eikind (e. g. WINDS, AGE OF SILENCE, KHOLD), clean vocals & bass, GLORIA MORTI'S guitarist Juho Räihä, keyboarder Joel Mäkinen and drummer Aatu Mukka. The reason - Saukkonen felt that the previous band members were badly motivated and not professional enough.[3][4]
"The Ghost" CD released in 2006,[5] however, rather turned out to be another solo project for Tuomas (details below).
With Lars and Juho as new permanent band members, the band released the next full length album "Deadlight" in 2007[6] (details below). The single "Deadsong", released in February 2007, immediately reached # 2 of Finnish Top 20 charts;[7] for four months it remained among the Top 20 of Finnish Radio Rock. The single "Faithless" featuring Jone Nikula on the PANTERA cover version "Mouth For War", reached Number Two on the Finland top 20 charts for the week of July 15, 2007.[8][9]
During the recording sessions for the fifth studio album "Soundscape of Silence", drummer Dani Miettinen dropped out; the band decided to leave the position vacant and work with session drummers for live shows (e.g. Matti Auerkallio). Right after its release end of October 2008, "Soundscape of Silence" went to the top 20 of Finnish album charts (# 14)[10] (details about the CD below). The core band members were later joined by drummer Atte Palokangas (from the band Agonizer). Atte became official new band member in summer 2009, and Before The Dawn could support Amorphis on their Forging Europe Tour in autumn 2009 with a completed line-up.[11]
The anniversary EP EP "Decade of Darkness" went straight to nro 1 of Finnish Single charts after its release in spring 2010.[12] The music video for "End of Days" from this EP was released throughout Europe and in Japan, it shows footage from the band's 2010 shows in Asia. The European edition of this EP, released in February 2011, contains a bonus-DVD with footage of the band's concert at German Summerbreeze Festival 2009.
In February 2011, Tuomas Saukkonen won Finnish Metal Award in the category "best instrumentalist"; Before The Dawn reached #3 in the category "Best Band".[13]
The new album Deathstar Rising cracked the Finnish Album Top 10 and reached #8 in first week of March 2011 (details below).[14]
In June 2011 bassist and vocalist Lars and drummer Atte left the band, Lars for personal reasons and Atte for musical reasons.[15]
Discography
Studio albums
Title Release date Label My Darkness 2003 Locomotive Music 4:17 am 2004 Locomotive Music The Ghost 2006 Locomotive Music Deadlight 2007 Stay Heavy Records Soundscape of Silence 2008 Stay Heavy Records Deathstar Rising 2011 Nuclear Blast Records Demos
Title Release date Label To Desire 2000 Independent DVD
Title Release date Label The First Chapter 2006 Locomotive Music EPs
Title Release date Label Gehenna 2001 Independent Decade of Darkness 2010 Stay Heavy Records Decade of Darkness (EU edition, + Bonus DVD) 2011 Cyclone Empire Singles
Title Release date Label Deadsong 2007 Stay Heavy Records Faithless 2007 Stay Heavy Records My Darkness
My Darkness, the first full-length album by Before the Dawn, was released March 23, 2003 via Locomotive Music[16] and features the first continuous band line up: Tuomas - guitar & growls, Panu Willman - guitar & clean vocals, Mika Ojala - keyboards, drummer Dani Miettinen and bass player Toni Broman. "Unbreakable", "Take My Pain", "Undone" and "Alone" are the 4 songs from the previous unreleased EP, but the title song received most of the attention and was also included in the "Dynamite" compilation nro 35 CD of German "Rock Hard" magazine. This track remains the "evergreen" in the BEFORE THE DAWN live repertoire to this day.[17]
The response in the European Metal press was excellent .[18] For example, the Metal Storm website gave this CD an 8.6, their highest rating for the band's releases.[19]
Track listing
No. Title Length 1. "Intro" 1:07 2. "Unbreakable" 3:29 3. "Seraphim" 3:20 4. "My Darkness" 4:16 5. "Take My Pain" 4:06 6. "Father and Son" 4:19 7. "Alone" 3:53 8. "Angel" 2:45 9. "Undone" 4:05 10. "Human Hatred" 3:54 11. "4:16am" 4:18 4:17 am
4:17 am is the second full-length album released by Before the Dawn. It was released on May 24, 2004 through Locomotive Music, to generally favorable critical reviews. Aleksanteri Kuosa was the engineer and producer.[20]
The Metal Storm website gave the CD a 8.6, together with the previous album receiving the highest rating of the band's albums.[21] Gotherica rated the song "Hiding" as second best of the year 2004 (Therion's "Son of the Sun" made it to the top position), and the album the 6th of "Top 10 Gothic & Alternative Albums of 2004, beating out Morrissey's You Are the Quary (sic.) and Penumbra's Seclusion, amongst others.[22]
The song "My Room" was recently re-recorded as acoustic version with Lars Eikind (voc) and released as Bonus track on the European edition of the 2011 album "Deathstar Rising"[23]
Track listing
No. Title Length 1. "Heaven" 4:15 2. "Seed" 4:17 3. "Dreamer" 3:53 4. "Fade Away" 4:00 5. "Crush" 5:21 6. "Into You" 6:19 7. "My Room" 5:17 8. "The Black" 4:34 9. "Vengeance" 4:19 10. "Hiding" 4:33 The Ghost
The Ghost was the third and full-length album released via Locomotive Music (March 26, 2006).[24] Before The Dawn was again a solo project; Tuomas had disbanded the old line-up in late 2005 and recorded all instruments on this album himself. Some session musicians of his new "live assault team" make guest appearances: The Norwegian Lars Eikind (clean vocals) and the guitarist Juho Räihä (solo on "Disappear" and "Scar") - both would become permanent band members. Because of the huge amount of new song material, Saukkonen created another album, "The Darkness" for DAWN OF SOLACE, Lars and Juho also play on this album.[25]
Track listing
No. Title Length 1. "Disappear" 4:14 2. "Repentance" 3:23 3. "Away" 3:32 4. "Scar" 4:28 5. "Angel's Tombstone" 4:45 6. "Black Dawn" 3:59 7. "Enemy" 4:22 8. "Stormbringer" 3:27 9. "Ghost Town" 3:12 10. "...Nowhere" 5:21 Deadlight
Before The Dawn joined Stay Heavy Records for the release of their fourth album[26] This should be a turning point in the history of the band, although also this time Tuomas was forced to play all instruments himself: "We had to fire the drummer after one week ... And then also our second guitarist was too busy with his other band recording, so I played all the guitars. So on the album it is only me and Lars."[27]
Additional musicians on the "Deadlight" album are Juho Räihä (guitar solo on "Fear Me") and Katja Vauhkonen – female vocals on "Reign Of Fire" and "...". Juho, who produced the DAWN OF SOLACE album The Darkness, also produced this CD. "Deadlight" came out in April 4, 2007, featuring the band's major hit "Deadsong", the inevitable treat of every live show to the present day. "Deadsong" (released as a single February 14, 2007)[28] went straight to nro 2 of Finnish Top 20 charts; for four months it remained among the Top 20 of Finnish Radio Rock. The second single "Faithless" (released June 27, 2007) also entered Finland's Top 20 as nro 2.[29]
"Deadlight" received excellent reviews in Finland and abroad. "Deadsong" is named as nro 38 of Gotherica's "Top 50 Gothic & Alternative Songs of 2007[30]
Shortly after the album release, Dani Miettinen returned to the band.[31]
Track listing
No. Title Length 1. "Wrath" 4:08 2. "Faithless" 3:16 3. "Fear Me" 4:30 4. "Eternal" 4:02 5. "Morning Sun" 4:52 6. "Deadsong" 3:23 7. "Guardian" 4:41 8. "Star Of Fire" 3:18 9. "Reign Of Fire" 3:16 10. "..." 4:14 11. "Painless (Japan bonus track)" 2:51 12. "Warrior Of Ancient Times (Japan bonus track)" 3:10 13. "Unbreakable (Live) (Japan bonus track)" 3:23 Soundscape Of Silence
During the recording sessions of this album in early 2008, the band had to cope with yet another line-up change - once again, the drum-seat would become vacant. The core crew of BEFORE THE DAWN (Tuomas, Lars, Juho) remained focused and only took some time off from studio to play at summer festivals (e.g. famous Wacken Open Air in Germany), mainly with the aid of session drummer Matti Auerkallio, later replaced by Agonizer's Atte Palokangas. In summer 2009 Atte became official band member.[32]
The fifth studio album "Soundscape Of Silence", released October 31, 2008,[33] received once again praise and high ratings by European Metal press, e.g. German RockHard Magazine.[34] Nicely timed with the band's 10th anniversary, Before The Dawn accompanied Amorphis on their Forging Europe Tour in autumn 2009; in 2010 they played more club and festival shows all over Europe and also visited Asia (China and Japan in May, Russia in September).[35]
Track listing
No. Title Length 1. "Dying Sun" 3:11 2. "Exile" 3:59 3. "Silence" 3:01 4. "Dead Reflection" 3:41 5. "Morning Sun" 4:52 6. "Fabrication" 3:50 7. "Saviour" 3:14 8. "Monsters" 4:50 9. "Cold" 4:09 10. "Last Song" 2:52 11. "Ignite (European bonus track)" 3:05 Deathstar Rising
The band's sixth CD marks another milestone, as "Deathstar Rising" was released February 25, 2011, by Nuclear Blast[36] in Europe (May 3, 2011 is the release date for the USA).[37] Once again, reviews were excellent, many magazines gave top and even maximum ratings[38] The album made it straight to Finnish Top 10 (# 8);[39] the song "Judgement" is listed at Gotherica's Global Gothic Charts among the "Top 20 Gothic & Alternative Songs of February 2011" (#20)[40]
Track listing
No. Title Length 1. "The First Snow" 1:20 2. "Winter Within" 4:32 3. "Deathstar" 3:31 4. "Remembrance" 3:38 5. "Unbroken" 4:40 6. "Judgement" 4:20 7. "The Wake" 5:07 8. "Sanctuary" 4:52 9. "Butterfly Effect" 3:53 10. "Wraith" 5:16 11. "Infinity (From 1st BTD demo 1998) (European bonus track)" 3:02 12. "My Room (Acoustic) (European bonus track)" 4:27 13. "Unbreakable (Live) (European bonus track)" 3:18 14. "The Black (Live) (European bonus track)" 4:25 Band members
- Current members
- Tuomas Saukkonen - Rhythm guitar, Harsh vocals, Keyboards
- Lars Eikind - Bass guitar, Clean vocals
- Juho Räihä - Lead guitar
- Atte Palokangas - Drums
Dawn of Solace
While in the writing process for their third album, "The Ghost", Saukkonen ended up with over 30 written songs. The first plan was to make a double album for Before the Dawn, but some of the material was slower, more melodic and darker than the songs chosen for "The Ghost" and Saukkonen wanted to take things further without any limitations that Before the Dawn might create.[41]
The result was Saukkonen's solo project, Dawn of Solace. The first album, entitled "Darkness" features a melodic sound akin to that of Before the Dawn, albeit with a much stronger gothic metal and doom metal influence.
References
- ^ [1] Nuclear Blast website
- ^ http://www.musicmight.com/linkto/artist/{B1AAA2FD-B0B2-4FD4-8550-73DE22C MusicMight bio, accessed July 14, 2007
- ^ [2] Nuclear Blast website
- ^ Before The Dawn Fan Myspace site - Biography
- ^ http://www.bravewords.com/news/37490 Bravewords.com news report, accessed July 14, 2007
- ^ http://www.bravewords.com/news/68475 Bravewords.com news item, accessed July 14, 2007
- ^ [3] Suomen Virallinen Lista - singlet
- ^ [4] Suomen Virallinen Lista - singlet
- ^ [5] Nuclear Blast website
- ^ [6] Suomen Virallinen Lista - albumit
- ^ [7] Nuclear Blast website
- ^ [8] Suomen Virallinen Lista - singlet
- ^ Helsinki Metal Meeting 2011 report, STALKER.cd online magazine. Accessed March 7, 2011.
- ^ [9] Suomen Virallinen Lista - albumit
- ^ [10]
- ^ Before The Dawn discography. Accessed March 20, 2011
- ^ Band biography on Before The Dawn myspace fan website. Accessed March 20, 2011.
- ^ Before The Dawn official website, Media/Music Reviews. Accessed March 20, 2011.
- ^ Metal Storm website. Accessed March 20, 2011.
- ^ "Aleksanteri Kuosa" on Beardscratchers. Found at Beardscratchers website. Accessed September 28, 2010.
- ^ Metal Storm website. Accessed September 28, 2010.
- ^ Music of the Gothic era Cahrts of 2004. Found at Gotherica website. Accessed September 28, 2010, updated March 20, 2011.
- ^ Before The Dawn official website, Music. Accessed March 20, 2011.
- ^ Before The Dawn discography. Accessed March 20, 2011
- ^ Band biography on Before The Dawn myspace fan website. Accessed March 20, 2011.
- ^ Stay Heavy Records website Band bio page. Accessed September 28, 2010.
- ^ Interview with Tuomas Saukkonen at Stalker Magazine
- ^ Before The Dawn discography. Accessed March 20, 2011
- ^ Finland Top 20 @ Top40-Charts.com - 40 Top 20 & Top 40 Music Charts from 25 Countries
- ^ Music of the Gothic era Charts of 2007. Found at Gotherica website. Accessed March 20, 2011.
- ^ Band biography on Before The Dawn myspace fan website. Accessed March 20, 2011.
- ^ Band biography on Before The Dawn myspace fan website. Accessed March 21, 2011
- ^ Before The Dawn discography. Accessed March 21, 2011
- ^ [11] RockHard CD review
- ^ Before The Dawn official website
- ^ [12] Nuclear Blast official website
- ^ Before The Dawn official website
- ^ Before The Dawn official website, Music Reviews
- ^ Metal from Finland news item [13]. Accessed March 7, 2011
- ^ Music of the Gothic era Charts Gotherica website. Accessed March 21, 2011.
- ^ Dawn of Solace Bandbio at Metal From Finland access 2008-09-07, update 2011-03-21
External links
Categories:- Finnish heavy metal musical groups
- Finnish gothic metal musical groups
- Finnish melodic death metal musical groups
- Musical groups established in 1999
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