First of all I got to mention that I am already a fan since Before The Dawn´s "Deadlight" release and seeing many of their great live shows. Band mastermind Tuomas Saukkonen simply has the feeling for the "right" mixture of catchy tunes, hefty Metal riffs, growls and clean vocals. Therefore I sort-of knew what to expect with "Soundscape Of Silence".
Still, the first chords of "Dying Sun" had my jaw drop: powerful drumming, blow-away riffs and then this sad glass-clear guitar theme - instant goose-flesh, even before those beautiful lyrics started, that lasted until the last chord of the album. Also "Exile" sounds like hit-material - uptempo with an extremely "ear-wiggy" chorus. It seems that Lars had been given more space for experiments, so that "Silence" initially raises the question "who´s singing?" - another ear candy track, despite its unwieldy chorus. In comparison, of all songs it is the single-track "Hide Me" (released on the EMI compilation “Finnish Metal Mania”) that seems a bit "half-baked"; it has a killer-riff, though.
The rough "Dead Reflection", the Prog-gy "Fabrication", that cool "Saviour" groove or the great, partly acoustic "Monsters", Before The Dawn managed to continue their musical line without copying or repeating themselves. A tight CD, with lyrics far from a sunshiny world-view, adding up to an extremely catchy Melancholic Melodic Metal album that can become highly addictive! Therefore "Last Song" (musically perhaps a reference to the now buried Dawn Of Solace side project) is hopefully not serious ...
Summary: If you haven´t heard this band yet - go and buy his album!
Here the album teaser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV0FT01IZk8
and the new myspace site
http://www.myspace.com/btdofficial
