BEFORE THE DAWN

Incredible band with an incredible debut album, BEFORE THE DAWN is the new sensation of the Finnland based metal, they play a kind of music called "Power Gothic Metal", but the real sensation when we listen their music is that we are listening a perfect mix between "melodic death metal" & "Gothic Metal" with some doom touches, very intense, very creative and inovative, with a unique groove. The band released the fabulous debut album MY DARKNESS in 2003 and now they will release the second full lenght "4:17 am", we are very anxious to listen it! KREPUSKULUM interviewed

KREPUSKULUM: Talk to us about the band´s history and about the meaning of the band´s name for you?

Tuomas: It all started as a solo projekt and it took 3 years to find a solid line up. we have about 8 ex-members so far. almost every demo we did in the beginning had a different line up. to me the name means darkness.it is dark before the dawn you know :). I am a night person and most of my creative work is done in nighttime so it was very clear that I wanted to get the "early hours" into the name of the band somehow.

Since the beginning the proposal of BEFORE THE DAWN is to play metal with gothic touches. What is the reason to embrace this genre of metal?

When I am writing music I never think about any genres etc. the point is to make the music I love. I listen to all kind of music from pop to grind/death metal and there is a lot of different influences in my music. some of them are hidden very deep into the songs. there are some people that claims that BTD plays gothic metal but I dissagree. maybe the strong and sorrowfull melodies gives the gothic thouch to our music.


I can listen some influences of melodic death metal in your music, do you like bands such as IN FLAMES, AT THE GATES & CHILDREN OF BODOM? The other references for BEFORE OF THE DAWN sound are, in my opinion, the neo dark wave icons like  TIAMAT & SAMAEL, and of course, the gothic Icons like FIELDS OF NEPHILIM & THE MISSION. Am I right? Talk about the band´s influences.

In Flames and At The Gates are awesome bands. simple but strong melodies and great singers. COB has never been one of my favourite bands. I liked their debut album alot but after that I have not been very interested about their stuff.  Tiamat and Samael were one of the biggest reasons for me to start rehearsing growling vocals. I realy like the sound of both vocalists. I saw the video of Samael´s "babhomeths throne" when I was a kid and I was totally blown away. before that I had been listening bands like metallica. I
don´t listen gothic music at all. I have never heard Fields of Nephilim or the Mission. I am not familiar with gothic music at all and that´s why I am always a bit confused when people say that BTD is "gothic" metal.


The production of the debut MY DARKNESS is simple marvelous, it sounds like an masterpiece of the genre. Talk about the experience of record in the legendary Finnvox studios.

Actually we only mastered the album at Finnvox. It is very familiar studio to me and our producer and we didn´´t want to go to Finnvox to record the album. Finnvox is very popular studio in Finland and we wanted to sound more unique and we decided to record the album at Sundi Coop studios and it worked out really well as you can hear from the cd. we actually recorded 2nd album also there. very professional staff and friendly staff.


One of the most personal aspects of the BEFORE THE DAWN´s music is the incredible duets created by the voices of Tuomas Saukkonen (dark vocals) & Panu Willman (clear vocals), they are fabulous vocalists and great guitarrists too. Where come from the ideea to create this kind of duets like in the beautiful e powerful refrains of the title track MY DARKNESS?

I like both vocal styles very much and from the beginning I wanted to get 2 different vocalists in line up. there are lots of great bands like Killswitch Engage and Fear Factory who´s vocalist deliver clean and dark vocals but I wanted to have 2 different vocalist so that we could sing those duets with both of us singing at the same time. the result is very beatifull, strong and still brutal vocals.

Tracks like the deep & powerful FATHER AND SON have a death metal touch but they mix it with anbeautiful melodic atmosphere created by the guitars, talk to us about the creative process behind your music?

It all starts with guitar. I like to jam alot alone in our rehearsal place. play as loud as hell and just let music come out. it requires a certain sad mood. I don´t know notes at all so I build the songs in my head and present them to rest of the band when I have the complete vision of the result in my head.


Some climates of THE DARKNESS are sad and tortuous. Are you sad people? Do you believe in the future of the mankind? Are you nihilistic people?

Maybe I am a sad person. I would like to believe in the future of mankind but it is very hard. I feel that I am outsider in everywhere I go and that makes me a bit sad. it would be nice to find my place in this life.


In your opinion what are the best 10 albums of the metal´s history? And now, what are the 10 best bands?

best albums top 10
1.Slaughter of the Soul/At The Gates
2.Enthrone Darkness Triumphant/Dimmu Borgir
3.Black Album/Metallica
4.Draconian Times/Paradise Lost
5. Haven/Dark Tranqiulity
6.Nighttime Birds/The Gathering
7.Burn My Eyes/Machine Head
8.Alive or Just Breathing/Killswitch Engage
9.Cruelty and The Beast/CoF
10.Storm of the Lights Bane/Dissection

best bands top 10
1.Back Yard Babies (only on stage!!!)
2.Dimmu Borgir
3.Katatonia
4.Iconcrash
5.Total Devastation
6.Gloria Morti
7.HIM
8.Dark Tranquility
9.Metallica
10.CoF


The great last song of your debut album was called only "4:16 am" and your new album that will be released soon is named "4:17 am". What is the reason for it? What is the meaning of this specific hours for you?

With "4:17am" we will continue from where we left with "My darkness". 4:16 am is the time when angles and demons whisper silent words into your ear and eventough you can´t see them you know that they are there but still you are all alone. all the darkness was sealed with "4:16 am"on our debut album and now it was time to open the gates and continue the  path of darkness.


Talk us about the new album "4:17 am", the record and creative process. What can the fans wait of it?

"4:17 am" will be more varied than "my darkness" was. again the final songs will gather everything together with couple of lines of lyrics like "4:16 am" did on "my darkness". we had some though times in the band just before the recordings and it had some affect to the final creative process but the result was far more better than we hoped for. because of situation where we were before entering the studio I had to make some musical compromises and it took a while for me to get inside the new album because it didn´s sounded
familiar but now I am very proud of it and can honestly say that it is better in all areas when it is compared to  "my darkness". The  songs are a lot deeper and varied. more emotion!

 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the interview! Give your last words for the BEFORE THE DAWN fans from South America.

Support your underground and stay heavy!! hope to see you all soon on tour!!!!!!