Before the Dawn (band)

Before the Dawn
Tuomas Saukkonen at Tuska Open Air 2008
Background information
Origin	Finland
Genres	Melodic death metal, gothic metal, death/doom,melodic black metal,Dark Metal
Years active	1999–2013
Labels	Nuclear Blast Locomotive Music Stay Heavy Records
Associated acts	Age of Silence, Winds, Dawn of Solace, Black Sun Aeon, Routasielu, Wolfheart
Website	www.beforethedawn.com
Members	Tuomas Saukkonen Juho Räihä Pyry Hanski Joonas Kauppinen
Past members	Panu Willman Mike Ojala Kimmo Nurmi Dani Miettinen Lars Eikind Atte Palokangas

Before the Dawn was a metal band from Finland, started in 1999 by Tuomas Saukkonen.

The band was founded in 1999 by Tuomas Saukkonen as his solo project: "I made the first demo To Desire Part 1 all by myself and for the second one I had a friend of mine playing 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.

In 2005, Saukkonen announced a new lineup for the band, removing all the members currently in and replacing them with his so-called "Live Assault Team": Norwegian Lars Eikind (Winds, Age of Silence, Khold) on clean vocals and bass, Gloria Morti guitarist Juho Räihä, keyboarder Joel Mäkinen and drummer Aatu Mukka. The reason was that Saukkonen felt that the previous band members were badly motivated and not professional enough.

The Ghost CD released in 2006, however, rather turned out to be another solo project for Tuomas.

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) (details about the CD below). 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.