Before the Dawn: Deathstar Rising

"One by one in pitch black sky
No stars to reflect the sun
After all light become undone
Darkness has come to blacken fires of the night
Deathstar rising"

Genre(s): Melodic Death Metal, Gothic Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Year: 2011


Track List:
1. The First Snow
2. Winter Within
3. Deathstar
4. Remembrance
5. Unbroken
6. Judgment
7. The Wake
8. Sanctuary
9. Butterfly Effect
10. Wreith



Before The Dawn comes to us from Finland, lead by the talented Tuomas Saukkonen. With six albums, one demo, one DVD and three EP's, Before The Dawn is making it's mark in the metal world. While still not very well known (at least from what I've gathered), Before The Dawn is a preference for me. I find myself throwing these guys into my regular rotation of music almost on a consistent basis.

Their newest record, Deathstar Rising, released through Nuclear Blast Records who holds big shots such as Accept, Belphegor and Dimmu Borgir, just to name a few, is the bands best work to date. Black Dawn off of their 2006 album The Ghost is what brought BTD to my attention and has since remained my favorite track by the group. And Deathstar Rising surpasses their 2008 album Soundscape of Silence in a big way, which is still my favorite record by these guys. But Deathstar Rising is close second.

9/10 is the score for this record. It's good, but its not perfect. Their really isn't anything wrong with it, just my disliking for slow metal songs with a band like this. All in all though, it's a good listen. Check it out if you haven't already.