This CD would be my introduction to Before The Dawn and like most listeners these days I approach new things with equal levels of curiosity and hesitation. When I find a band that I have never heard of before I am sometimes afraid of what will be discovered when I play the CD for the first time. However when I placed the copy of My Darkness in the changer this was not to be the case. Beginning with a slight intro piece the groove laid out in "Unbrakeable" just hooked me instantly. When the dirty growls of Toumas Saukkonen came in I was sold. The CD has many different things going on in its favor. They use both styles of singing mixing the clean with the dirty to some effect. Most of the instrumentation is programmed and under the direction of Saukkonen making this project pretty much under his command almost like Trent Reznor would do with his group Nine Inch Nails. While this tended to lean towards the Gothic end for me, I felt a lot of Doom mixed with Black was an inspiration as well in its composition. The riffs are nice and heavy and the drumming solid throughout this mostly catchy CD (but the drums are programmed). I felt compelled to listen to the whole CD a few times before I could come up with words on it and key tracks for me were "My Darkness", "Unbrakeable" and "Take My Pain". I do admit a sense of lying to readers though since I pretty much enjoyed the whole piece more than just a few referenced tracks.
As this CD is an import, it might be wise to search some back bins or look for a copy on Amazon.com so you might be able to get it a little cheaper. It truly is worth looking into for those that lean towards the Gothic edge. I look forward to the groups follow-up and hope it is as good as this one was. The booklet inside the digipak CD case includes all the lyrics which I always enjoy. This is a recommended piece.
Track Listing
1. Intro
2. Unbrakeable
3. Seraphim
4. My Darkness
5. Take My Pain
6. Father And Son
7. Alone
8. Angel
9. Undone
10. Human Hatred
11. 04:16am
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