Band:	Beyond Dawn
Album:	Longing For Scarlet Days
Style:	Electronica
Release date:	1994

01. Cold
02. Moonwomb
03. Chaosphere
04. Clouds Swept Away The Colours

Beyond Dawn is a band coming from dark and cold Norway and they definitely are not one of those bands that remain loyal to a specific sound, yet they chose, throughout their history, to experiment with the whole meaning of this word! It all began back in 1990 when the first line-up of the band came together and formed Beyond Dawn, a portal through which they would express themselves. The first demo (Tales From An Extinguished World) of the band came out the same year, in which Beyond Dawn were playing primary doom/death metal with an intense underground feeling and production. The following year, 1991, the second demo of the band, Heaven's Dark Reflection, came out and it showed that the band was slowly and steadily developing its sound. 1993 arrived and the legendary 2-track Up Through the Linear Shadows was released through the French label Adipocere. Quite an avant-garde extreme metal album for its time, with the band showing a more technical face, but also their concerns while referring to some more experimental soundscapes.

One year passed and Longing for Scarlet Days saw the light of day taking the sound of the band a few steps forward. Beyond Dawn sound way more mature, their experimentations are being expressed in a better way and for the first time their production can be called just-good, helping the fabulous compositions sound even better. With Longing for Scarlet Days, Beyond Dawn move into grieving avant-garde doom/death metal soundscapes expressing deep sorrow, despair and emotions of solitude.

The guitars have a doomy sound but they don't remain there. The guitar sound is quite wailing at times as if they were mourning. What is really remarkable for the genre is that the guitarists do not fear to unleash their wonderful solos, making the sound even more complex. The rhythm section has an accompanying role but this won't stop it from creating walls of sound lending groove and power to the sound of Beyond Dawn. There are two vocalists on this mini-cd: Espen, who is cleanly chanting with his somehow Garm-influenced baritone and Tore, who is dealing with the growling and the grunting, as well as saddened melo-declamations that sound a bit like Darren White. Both vocalists sound wonderful and very expressive.

What you may notice while listening to "Longing from Scarlet Days" is a strange organ echoing from the background. Well, this instrument is a trombone, and it makes the music sound even more emotional, enriching the soundscapes with its fabulous, yet obscure, melodies. This innovative idea, along with the personal elements in their sound, made Beyond Dawn a unique avant-garde doom/death metal act back then that gave an alternative meaning to words like "grief", "despair" and "pain".

From the anger-evoking yet depressive "Cold", where Tore grunts from the core of his soul in such a heart-rending way "where are you now?", to the early-Anathema-oriented, but personal still, and wonderful-sounding "Moonwomb" and from the devout and painful "Chaosphere" to an ode to absolute sadness, the grieving and doleful opus "Clouds Swept Away the Colours", "Longing for Scarlet Days" has no weak moments, emotionally, atmospherically and musically!

Doom/death metal fans that would love to listen to something deeply emotional and innovative should definitely check Beyond Dawn's Longing For Scarlet Days!