Before The Dawn – 4:17 am Review

Before The Dawn – 4:17 am
Locomotive Music, 2004
Website: Before The Dawn

1. Heaven
2. Seed
3. Dreamer
4. Fade away
5. Crush
6. Into you
7. My room
8. The black
9. Vengeance
10. Hiding

Band members have come and gone like a revolving door, but Finland’s Before The Dawn has remained steadily the lone project of Tuomas Saukkonen. Playing all instruments and performing vocals, Saukkonen has had several lineups for touring, but Before The Dawn remains his baby. If that’s the way things remain, there are no worries, as Saukkonen is more than adept at creating a powerful album all on his own.

Without any prior knowledge of who Before The Dawn is, where they are from, or what sort of metal they bring to the table, one would be surprised upon tossing in 4:17 am to find that it actually wasn’t created by some bigger unfound conglomerate of well-loved European musicians. Utilizing elements that are becoming more popular in even mainstream American metal — death growl vocals mixed with clean vocals — as well as creating a melodic soundscape, one easily recalls Katatonia, Sentenced, or Tiamat in vision and mood. It’s not entirely original by any stretch, but it carries on in progression where these bands began. Less gothic and simply more “dark” in nature, there’s a refreshing lack of schtick to be found anywhere throughout.

Immediately standing out are “Seed” and “Fade Away,” two songs that showcase well-rounded melodies with crushing guitars, backed by a strong rhythm section. In short, the sound is tight; everything flows, nothing sticks out like a sore thumb, the lyrics keep from getting overly weepy, and it stands up to multiple listens. “Into You” charges forward in an almost Amon Amarth-like manner before switching up completely when they lyrics hit; to be blunt, there’s not much out there that sounds anything like this tune. “My Room” shows what can be done with a slower tempo while never falling out of step from the rest of the disc. And another song with a dash of viking metal twinges, “Vengeance” might very well be the strongest and most original of the album with unexpected twists on guitar and very adept drumming.

Where the album suffers is where many metal bands as a whole can be weak: monotony. Granted, there’s not a track to be found that is inherently weak. But attempting to listen to all of 4:17 am in nothing but a state of focusing on the music will quickly lead your mind to wander. It’s 47 minutes of one mood and one type of music, rarely experimenting or meandering from the beaten path. Granted, the path it was on is a great one, but with nothing to set Before The Dawn apart from its contemporaries aside from “more good music,” it’s hard to establish a foothold that will lend them to be remembered. It also doesn’t help that the sound which they focus upon is being performed by a growing number of bands, leading them to be shut out if they don’t find some way to stand above and beyond the rest.

Still, what Tuomas Saukkonen has done with Before The Dawn is incredibly noteworthy, and as the disc ends with “Hiding,” it’s difficult to imagine not spinning the album another time. It’s impressive, although sadly even more impressive that there hasn’t been much underground word-of-mouth about Before The Dawn in America. If Saukkonen decides to continue this project (as he’s in a number of other bands as well) and takes some risks with his next effort, one can only imagine who would be considered his colleagues in the future.