Before The Dawn is the brainchild of Tuomas Saukkonen, a hyper active Finnish musician who is also busy with projects/bands like Dawn Of Solace, Black Sun Aeon, Bonegrinder and Teargod. Tuomas initially started Before The Dawn as a solo project, but always worked with various session musicians.

Soundscape Of Silence is Before The Dawn’s latest release in a series of five albums in six years, and was released in 2008. The band plays self-declared “dark metal”, a term I can’t place because I then don’t know what kind of metal it is except for the atmosphere. That is indeed dark, but more important is the fact that it’s melodic death metal. Sometimes a bit doomy, sometimes with more thrash or death metal elements but always very melodic.

The ten songs on the album are all well thought-through and structured. The production is, just like its predecessor Deadlight, clean and pleasant to listen to. Musically the band can be compared to for example Scar Symmetry. Tuomas does the grunts and growls, bassist Lars sings the clean parts and together they cover a great range of diverse vocals. Yet Before The Dawn is less brutal than Scar Symmetry, pointing more towards bands like Katatonia and Swallow The Sun.

If this form of ‘dark’ metal appeals to you, Soundscape Of Silence is a real recommendation. If you’re looking for something new, you’d better skip this release, for its sounds aren’t original in any way. Fans of the band or Tuomas’ other work won’t be disappointed though.