Gothic/Dark Metal. How many times have you listened to that phrase to characterize a band's music... Unfortunately, in the last few years many bands are trying to play that kind of music (if we can put labels in music) but the final result is crap! Well, DAWN OF SOLACE, with their debut album The Darkness, is not one of them.

Even though DAWN OF SOLACE is a new band, the man behind it is not a new in the scene.  Tuomas Saukkonen is the frontman of BEFORE THE DAWN (BTD), a band with already four releases. After started writing other 70 songs for the new BTD album, it was clear to  Tuomas Saukkonen that one album wouldn't be enough. So, the more dark/melodic/slower compositions appears in The Darkness. And that's because Tuomas didn't want to have the musical limitations that he would have with BTD.

The intro of the album doesn't prepossess for what is going to follow. But when the first song of the album, Wings Of Darkness... starts, with a touching melody and then it drags you into the dark with the growl voice of Tuomas. A great song, with alternations between brutal and clean (but with sadness lurking from them) vocals. Due to those changes in vocals and music, there is no way that someone who likes this kind of music will leave unpatented this album. Bands brought to mind are KATATONIA and 'old'THE GATHERING with a taste of PHANTOM VISION, as far as the music concerns.

The Darkness is an album that it may not have the element of surprise, and I'm sure this isn't what  Tuomas was thinking during the recordings. It's an album with a great atmosphere, a right Metal base and nice dark melodies. Looking forward for DAWN OF SOLACE's second album.