Before the Dawn (band)
Encyclopedia
4:17 am
4:17 am is the second full-length albumAlbum
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the 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.
The Metal Storm
Metal Storm
Metal Storm Limited is a Brisbane, Australia based research and development company that specializes in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owns the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technology invented by J. Mike O'Dwyer. Metal Storm represents both the...
website gave the CD a 8.6, together with the previous album receiving the highest rating of the band's albums. 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
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
's You Are the Quary
You Are the Quarry
-CD:-DVD:# "Irish Blood, English Heart" # "First of the Gang to Die" # "First of the Gang to Die" # "I Have Forgiven Jesus"...
(sic.) and Penumbra
Penumbra (band)
Penumbra is a French gothic metal band. They have released their last two albums through Season of Mist. - Formation of Penumbra :The original founders of Penumbra were Jarlaath and Dorian, who met at a concert in 1996...
's Seclusion
Seclusion (Penumbra album)
Seclusion is the third album by the French band Penumbra.- Track listing :# "Tragical Memories" # "Cursed Destiny" # "Seclusion" # "The Prophetess" # "Hope" # "Crimson Tail" # "Conception"...
, amongst others.
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"
Track listing
The Ghost
The Ghost was the third and full-length albumAlbum
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
released via Locomotive Music (March 26, 2006). 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.
Track listing
Deadlight
Before The Dawn joined Stay Heavy Records for the release of their fourth albumAlbum
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
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."
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) 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.
"Deadlight" received excellent reviews in Finland and abroad. "Deadsong" is named as nro 38 of Gotherica's "Top 50 Gothic & Alternative Songs of 2007
Shortly after the album release, Dani Miettinen returned to the band.
Track listing
Soundscape Of Silence
During the recording sessions of this albumAlbum
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the 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.
The fifth studio album "Soundscape Of Silence", released October 31, 2008, received once again praise and high ratings by European Metal press, e.g. German RockHard Magazine.
Nicely timed with the band's 10th anniversary, Before The Dawn accompanied Amorphis
Amorphis
Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band started by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other types of genres, which include heavy metal, progressive metal, and folk metal...
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).
Track listing
Deathstar Rising
The band's sixth CD marks another milestone, as "Deathstar Rising" was released February 25, 2011, by Nuclear Blast in Europe (May 3, 2011 is the release date for the USA). Once again, reviews were excellent, many magazines gave top and even maximum ratingsThe album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
made it straight to Finnish Top 10 (# 8); the song "Judgement" is listed at Gotherica's Global Gothic Charts among the "Top 20 Gothic & Alternative Songs of February 2011" (#20)
Track listing
Band members
Current members- Tuomas Saukkonen - Rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, Harsh vocalsDeath growlA death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
, KeyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Lars Eikind - Bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Clean vocals - Juho Räihä - Lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
- 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.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
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...
and doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
influence.