Before The Dawn Cold Flare Eternal Review
Before The Dawn
Cold Flare Eternal
Reaper Entertainment
2025
With “Cold Flare Eternal”, Before the Dawn sound like a band fully locked into their second life. Where 2023’s “Stormbringers” felt like a triumphant re-introduction, polished, melancholic, and carrying the weight of their return, this new record hits with far more confidence and muscle.
“Fatal Design” comes crashing in with sharp riff work and a chorus that instantly feels built for a live setting. The track “As Above, So Below” really sets the tone, mixing soaring melody with a heavier undercurrent. “Stellar Effect” pushes into darker, moodier territory, its gothic leanings adding a shadowy edge that wasn’t as pronounced on the last album. And then there’s “Shock Wave”, by far one of the band’s most aggressive tracks to date, thick with groove and bite, a side of Before the Dawn that rarely came through on “Stormbringers”.
What stands out most is the balance: Tuomas Saukkonen and company haven’t abandoned the Melodic Death Metal melancholy that has always defined them, but this time the aggression feels dialed in and the clean/harsh vocal interplay sits more naturally in the mix. If “Stormbringers” was about proving the band could still deliver, “Cold Flare Eternal” is about planting the flag and pushing forward.
In short, this is leaner, heavier, and surer of itself, an album that doesn’t just reestablish Before the Dawn, but makes the case that they’re entering one of their strongest eras yet.