Combining the heaviness of Melodic Death Metal, the gloom of Dark Metal and the frostbitten cold of Finnish winters with beautiful melodies and epic hymnody like no other band out there, BEFORE THE DAWN have paved their way to uniqueness. Founded in 1999 by Death and Gothic Doom Metal icon Tuomas Saukkonen, BEFORE THE DAWN became Finland’s ultimate flagship of Melodic Death Metal. Laid to rest in January 2013 by Tuomas Saukkonen, to fully focus on WOLFHEART, in 2021 BEFORE THE DAWN returned with the brand new single “Final Storm,” which was the band’s first sign of life after nine long years of silence. But not only their new single but also the re-release of their timeless masterpiece “Deadlight” raised the hopes of fans and critics for more.
Now and here, another year later, hope becomes reality and with “Downhearted” the band releases their brand new single, a song that once again offers everything that BEFORE THE DAWN is about: A track full of memorability, ambition, and top-notch musicianship!
But as if that wasn’t enough good news, “Downhearted” is not just an ordinary single release, as this track comes with much bigger news that will most likely make every fan’s heart beat faster: Ten years after the release of their latest album “Rise of the Phoenix,” BEFORE THE DAWN are back in the studio to record their new album, due for release in 2023!
BEFORE THE DAWN comments: “Since the burial of BEFORE THE DAWN in 2013, a lot has happened and in all these years the idea of bringing the band back from the dead grew into a firm decision. The pandemic, which caused an empty calendar for two years, was mainly the reason for the release of the vinyl version of the ‘Deadlight’ album (2006), and writing a brand new song was the best thing that happened musically to the core members of BEFORE THE DAWN in 2020! As a cherry on the cake, the album ended up at #1 on the Finnish album charts, needles to say a huge boost of motivation and creativity followed. Still, the biggest reason for the comeback is that the band and especially the music never died, even if it was buried in 2013. Over the past 9 years, BTD‘s Spotify has grown with tens of thousands of followers and hundreds of thousands of monthly plays, with no promotion, no label working for it, no social media marketing, or constant posting. Did the music find the people or did the people find the music…we don’t know but after being dead for almost a decade, BTD is stronger and bigger than ever.”
And they add: “Instead of riding the wave of nostalgia and looking back at the old releases, we wanted to look far into the future and continue where we left off in 2013 – with a reinforced line-up that can jump on festival stages and tour buses with a brand new album. Voice of Finland 2022 brought the biggest change in the line-up so far when finalist Paavo Laapotti took over all vocal duties in the band. His majestic version of ‘Deadsong’ impressed all members and especially songwriter Tuomas, who immediately started planning a project with Paavo. After the first song for Paavo was finished and mixed, the first idea that came to Tuomas‘ mind was: ‘This sounds like BTD, but in an upgraded version.’
And there was no coming back from that thought. ‘Downhearted’ is the first single from what we like to call BEFORE THE DAWN 4.0 and we are already in the studio recording our new album, which is scheduled for release in early summer 2023.
So enjoy this first glimpse of what’s about to come, and stay tuned for a new album to be released in the not too distant future! BEFORE THE DAWN are back!”
You can watch the official video for “Downhearted” below:
