Before The Dawn – Decade of Darkness

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Before the Dawn have always been something of a cult band with their fusion of gothic metal and melodeath, and forthcoming album Deathstar Rising might just be the record to bring the band to a larger audience. In the meantime this EP finally gets released outside the Nordic countries to wet people’s appetites. Decade of Darkness and second song End of Days are standard but enjoyable tracks for the band, though perhaps far more melodic than expected. Insomnia is a very gentle affair, mostly driven by acoustic guitars and a gentle melody. Finally, Painless has an excellent tune and starts off very well, but then suddenly fades out barely three minutes into the song, feeling unfinished. In addition to the new songs, there’re two live tracks – Painless and Deadsong. Neither recording is bad but both tracks can be skipped and would only be worth hearing if you haven’t heard the songs before. Of course since the live version of Painless directly follows the studio version it’s rather redundant, and the studio version of Deadsong on the album Deadlight is far superior to the live one here. Ending the EP is a ‘symphonic’ version of Deadsong (directly following on from the live version). This version is rather bland and is more of a piano version than a symphonic version, consisting of only singing on top of a piano, with some faint strings here and there. Ultimately the whole release feels a little too rushed and cobbled together, with one of the four new songs sounding incomplete and the three extra tracks feeling rather pointless. This wouldn’t be too bad if the asking price on this release wasn’t so overly inflated for what it is. Something for fans only then, but the four new songs are good enough that those curious about the band might want to look at purchasing them individually from their preferred mp3 retailer.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, EPs, Gothic, Quick.Play Reviews, Before The Dawn