Just Before Dawn: Precis Innan Gryningen (2013)

Just Before Dawn is the war-oriented project of one Anders Biazzi.  Formerly known as Anders Hansson, Biazzi has had a long career as guitarist in a number of Swedish death metal bands, including most notably Amon Amarth.  Biazzi was with Amon Amarth through the release of debut Once Sent from the Golden Hall.  By the way, the album title is just the band's name in Swedish.

This release is the band's debut and it is a crushing, monstrous war machine of an album.  That is with a heavy emphasis on "war".  The album starts off with a sound clip of warfare and quickly follows that up with some massively intense riffs descending into chaos.  The album mostly continues in this style, giving the feel of being constantly under bombardment from heavy artillery. 

The most interesting aspect of the release is the use of guest musicians, primarily to perform vocal duties.  The list of guest vocalists reads like a who's who of underground death metal vocalists.  It includes Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, tons of other bands), Jonas Lindblood (Puteraeon), Ralf Hauber (Revel in Flesh) and several others.  With this collection of talent, it is no wonder that the vocals are constantly interesting.  The album also features a guest guitar appearance from early death metal legend Rick Rozz (Death, Massacre).

This album somewhat has a feel of a compilation album that happens to be built around similar ideas.  Nevertheless it is a very strong release and an impressive debut for the project of a veteran Swedish death metal guitarist.