If Katatonia are considered as the "Kings of Swedish melancholy", then "Before The Dawn" are among the nominees for the respective Finnish throne or at least among the top bands of the kind. One might like their music or not, but many would agree that despite the various influences, the band has its own trace, its own uniqueness. Their "gloomy melodic atmospheric death metal" is influenced a great deal by Katatonia and to a lesser point by Opeth and Sentenced (mainly the guitarist parts of some songs).

The creative pessimistic dream music trip begins with the "scratch-scratch" of "Heaven" like the old-time vinyl releases. The song begins promising but its development is not so exciting. However the next song "Seed" is the best one of the CD. Very strong and clever composition with sharp guitars that stick directly to listener's mind and heart. The high quality standards continue with the dynamic almost atmospheric death metal song "Dreamer". "Fade Away" is the capping of one of "BtD" main characteristics, which is the combination of melancholy with aggressiveness by alternating coarse death metal vocals and riffs with sorrowful clean vocals and melodies enhanced by the sweet sense of keyboards.

Unfortunately the rhythm becomes hypotonic and the compositions week at the next two tracks "Crush" and "Into You" Especially the latter sounds like a childish song! After this curve luckily the quality rises again with the very strong "song with soul": "My Room", which according to my opinion is the second best song of the release with very nice guitarist themes and remarkable vocals. "The Black" is an aggressive quick tempo song with Swedish death metal guitars, while "Vengeance" is a small masterpiece. Although "Hiding" has the prospect to become a nice song, the repeating: "You can not find me" makes it boring.

Generally "BtD" is a talented band with their own pessimistic originality, simple ideas, compositions that transmit strong emotions and infuse an aggressive passion filled melancholy. One extra positive is also the very nice production. The only drawback is that sometime the compositions become weak and may be boring due to repetitions of well-known patterns. If all compositions were of the high standards of "Seed", "My Room" or "Vengeance", then the whole release would be a monument. But in any case I prefer them as they are than other promising bands of the kind, like "Katatonia", who have slowed down. This music can't be listened every moment. One must be in the suitable mood in order to be tuned with "4:17 am" picturesque magnificence.

written by Panayiotis Papandreopoulos

Playing time: 46.48