Before the Dawn is a Finnish melodic death metal band formed in 1999 by Tuomas Saukkonen.

History The band was founded in 1999 by Tuomas Saukkonen as his solo project: "I played and recorded all instruments in the first demo To Desire Part 1 by on my own then for the second demo I had a friend of mine on the drums. The first line-up was gathered so that BTD could perform live. With many changes in the line up BTD entered the studio to record the MCD called Gehenna. I received couple of deal offers but nothing serious enough. BTD continued playing gigs and I kept on writing lots of new material, and the next MCD called My Darkness got very good feedback and a serious enough record deal was offered by Locomotive Music."

Joined by Panu Willman, Mike Ojala, and Kimmo Nurmi, the newly formed lineup released their first full-length album, My Darkness, in 2003. It was followed up by a second album in 2004, 4:17 am. The band supported Katatonia on a Scandinavian and European tour in 2003.

The Ghost followed, released in 2006. Because of the huge amount of song material written for that album, Saukkonen created another album, The Darkness, for a side-project, Dawn of Solace.Dawn of Solace Bandbio at Metal From Finland access 2008-09-07, update 2011-03-21

With Lars and Juho as new permanent band members, the band released the next full-length album Deadlight in 2007. The single "Deadsong", released in February 2007, immediately reached #2 on Finnish Top 20 charts; for four months it remained among the Top 20 of Finnish Radio Rock. The single "Faithless" featuring Jone Nikula on the Pantera cover "Mouth for War", reached #2 on the Finland Top 20 charts for the week of 15 July 2007.

During the recording sessions for the fifth studio album Soundscape of Silence, drummer Dani Miettinen dropped out; the band decided to leave the position vacant and work with session drummers for live shows (e.g. Matti Auerkallio). Right after its release at the end of October 2008, Soundscape of Silence went to the top 20 of Finnish album charts (#14). The core band members were later joined by drummer Atte Palokangas (from the band Agonizer). Atte became an official new band member in mid-2009, and Before the Dawn supported Amorphis on their Forging Europe Tour in late 2009 with a completed line-up.

The anniversary EP Decade of Darkness went straight to #1 on Finnish single charts after its release in spring 2010. The music video for "End of Days" from this EP was released throughout Europe and in Japan; it shows footage from the band's 2010 shows in Asia. The European edition of this EP, released in February 2011, contains a bonus DVD with footage of the band's concert at German Summerbreeze Festival 2009.

In February 2011, Tuomas Saukkonen won the Finnish Metal Award in the category "Best Instrumentalist"; Before the Dawn reached #3 in the category "Best Band". Tuomas defended this title successfully in the year 2012 as well.

The new album Deathstar Rising cracked the Finnish Album Top 10 and reached #8 in first week of March 2011.

In June 2011 bassist and vocalist Lars and drummer Atte left the band; Lars for personal reasons and Atte for musical reasons. On 25 January 2012 the band announced on their Facebook page that Rise of the Phoenix would be the title of their new album. It was released through Nuclear Blast Records on 27 April 2012.

On 10 January 2013 through a press statement, Tuomas Saukkonen announced that he was putting Before the Dawn to rest along with his other active bands (Black Sun Aeon and RoutaSielu), ending them in order to create new project called "Wolfheart", which he will entirely focus from now on.

In 2021, Before the Dawn was reformed. On 30 April, the band released the single "The Final Storm". The single was made for the Deadlight reissue which was released in 9 July 2021. On 7 September 2022 BTD announced that a new member Paavo Laapotti joins the band as a vocalist, while Tuomas takes up live drumming. Laapotti brought attention of the band during The Voice of Finland where he sang a Before the Dawn song called Deadsong. An album titled Stormbringers was released on 30 June 2023.

On 7 February 2024, they announced a new EP Archaic Flame, its title song is available online. The premiere of the new EP is scheduled to be released on 8 March. It is followed by their ninth studio album, Cold Flare Eternal, released on 5 September 2025.

Members

Current Tuomas Saukkonen – guitar (1999–2013, 2021–present); drums (2022–present); unclean vocals (1999–2013, 2021–2022); bass (1999–2013) Juho Räihä – guitar (2005–2013, 2022–present) Pyry Hanski – bass (2011–2013, 2022–present) Paavo Laapotti – lead vocals (2022–present)

Former Kimmo Nurmi – drums (2000–2001) Panu Willman – guitar, clean vocals (2003–2004) Dani Miettinen – drums (2003–2004) Mika Ojala – keyboards (2003–2004) Atte Palokangas – drums (2009–2011) Joonas Kauppinen – drums (2011–2013) Lars Eikind – bass, clean vocals (2005–2011, 2021–2022)

Timeline

Discography Studio albums Title Release date Label My Darkness 2003Locomotive Music 4:17 am 2004 The Ghost 2006 Deadlight 2007 Stay Heavy Records Soundscape of Silence 2008 Deathstar Rising 2011 Rise of the Phoenix 2012 Nuclear Blast Stormbringers 2023 Napalm Records Cold Flare Eternal 2025 Reaper Entertainment

Demos Title Release date Label To Desire 2000 Independent

Videography DVD Title Release date Label The First Chapter 2006 Locomotive Music

Music videos Year Title Director Album 2001 "Not Divine as Them" Gehenna EP 2006 "Black Dawn" Wille Hyvönen The Ghost "Disappear" Markus Kangas 2007 "Deadsong" Jani Saajanaho Deadlight "Faithless" Antti Jokinen 2008 "Dying Sun" Nadi Hammouda Soundscape of Silence 2010 "End of Days" Decade of Darkness EP 2011 "Deathstar" Tuomas Saukkonen Deathstar Rising 2012 "Phoenix Rising" OneManArmy Productions Rise of the Phoenix "Pitch-Black Universe" 2021 "Final Storm" Tuomas Saukkonen Deadlight – II Decades Of Darkness 2022 "Downhearted" Downhearted 2023 "Destroyer" Stormbringers "Chains" "The Dark" 2024 "Archaic Flame" Archaic Flame EP

EPs Title Release date Label Gehenna 2001 Independent My Darkness 2002 Decade of Darkness 2010 Stay Heavy Records Decade of Darkness (EU edition; + bonus DVD) 2011 Cyclone Empire Archaic Flame 2024 Napalm Records

Singles Title Release date Label "Deadsong" 2007 Stay Heavy Records "Faithless" "The Final Storm" 2021 "Downhearted" 2022 "Destroyer" 2023 Napalm Records "Chains" "The Dark" "Archaic Flame" 2024

References

External links

Bio at Napalm Records Metal Archives Bio at Locomotive Records Metalkingdom Before The Dawn discography Interview with Tuomas Saukkonen from STALKER Magazine