Album Review: Stormbringers by Before the Dawn (Napalm Records)

Back from a 10 year hiatus, Before the Dawn will release their brand new album, Stormbringers, on the 30th June via Napalm Records.

The Finnish melodic death metal band formed in 1999, and reigned as one of the most successful Finnish metal bands of the early 2000’s. Since their burial in 2013, hundreds of thousands of new fans have discovered their music on streaming platforms, entirely without promotion or labels involved. The band originated as Finnish Metal Award winning Tuomas Saukkonen’s (Wolfheart) solo project, but throughout the years, there have been several lineup changes.

With the exciting new lineup, the band introduces its biggest changes so far. Previous guitarist and vocalist Saukkonen has moved behind the drums, and talented Voice Of Finland 2022 finalist Paavo Laapotti has taken on all vocalist duties, while Juho Räihä is taking over the guitar. He has been part of Before the Dawn as solo guitarist since 2006 and is also known from being a member of Swallow The Sun. Now, the Finns have fully transformed into their new power and are ready to return and reconquer!

Before the Dawn is Paavo Laapotti on vocals, Juho Räihä on lead guitar, Pyry Hanski on bass, Tuomas Saukkonen on drums and Tuomas Saukkonen on rhythm guitar.

Before the Dawn give us 9 new tracks on Stormbringers, getting underway with The Dawn. An ominous and dark intro full of echoing drums and melancholic melody that suddently bursts into life with Destroyer. A huge track, full of power and energy, the drums unleash alongside a punchy riff. It fades down into a calmer section with faded vocals before picking back up again with a catchy beat, filling out more and more with added depth and layers until the superbly catchy chorus takes over. I love the vocals, clean but with an edge and a bit of harsh backing. It’s a cracking track that also comes with a wicked solo.

Reveries has an intro to die for, catchy drums, scratching riffs and layers of melody that instantly capture your imagination. We drop down into clean vocals for a bit, when isolated, the cleans don’t always work for me here but the harsh vocals are strong, and when everything combines, it works wonderfully. Reveries is a cool track though, overall, with lots of exciting melody, another cool solo and an overall beat and flow that is easy to listen to and enjoy.

Downhearted brings another insane intro with synth melody over ripping drums. It drops down into a pit destroying, neck breaking riffing section that is to die for. Again we slow down, something Before the Dawn like to do, it seems. Clean vocals sound really good as we build back up into an absolute anthem of a chorus. That second verse though, with the 3 layers of vocals all in different tones, damn, that is good. This is my favourite track on Stormbringers so far.

We move on with Chains, another wicked track with an intro that instantly captures your attention. I love that guitar melody, it has an almost folkish tint to it. An overall slower, more grooving rhythym carries the song forwards with a nice blend of clean and harsh vocals and another solid chorus. Chuck in another fantastic solo and Before the Dawn continue to impress. Divided starts with a gorgeous, intricate acoustic melody, lulling you in before exploding into life with full riffs and chunky drums. The harsh vocals carry real power in verses that are dark and intense. I really like how they switch vocal styles, this time with cleans backing the harsh in large parts. It keeps things fresh and exciting.

The Dark gives us a lot of the great stuff we have heard so far on Stormbringers. A wicked intro, a slow down into clean vocals and melancholic melody before it starts building back up with a stomping rhythm, murky riffs and intense growls. This really is a mix of everything Before the Dawn do as the keys join in, the lead guitar blazes out melody and the mix of vocals back each other, harmonise and layer. That’s a lot of stuff going on but it works a treat.

Chaos Star is the penultimate track and brings more quality music with some really neat groove and plenty of intense death metal to break up more melancholic and melodic sections. It comes armed with layers of quality melody and impressive drums and yet another top notch chorus that should have you singing along passionately. And so we reach the end of Stormbringers with The Weight.

The Weight has a long, slow and emotionally heavy intro with more of that melancholic melody and some glorious clean singing. It sets a tone. Sets a mood, then hits you with a smooth transition into thick riffing, soaring melody ansd harsh vocals. We drop back into bassy subtlety and cleans – the back and forth is really smooth between the two styles. The solo is stunning too but it does end 30 seconds before the track actually closes which is a little odd. It just disappears with no more sound but 30 to 40 seonds left on the clock.

Before the Dawn may have been away for 10 years but it feels like that may have energised and inspried them. Stormbringers is a quality album, not really breaking any new ground but adding quality and some really cool ideas in how to flow, how to structure, both songs and an album to keep it consistently exciting throughout. There is a ton of talent in the band and it shines. I occasionally didn’t always love the cleans, mostly if they were too isolated but that’s just a weird little personal taste thing. The guys, all of them, can clearly sing and the different vocalists work wonderfully together.

Before the Dawn are back, and back with a bang and Stormbringers is sure to leave a lasting mark with many old fans, and bring them an army of new ones too.

Grab your copy of Stormbringers from Napalm Records on Bandcamp, here.

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