hroes of Dawn is a dark metal band from Finland, formed in 1994 by Henri Koivula and Jani Heinola. The other members joined the band after their previous band ceased to exist. Throes of Dawn plays very emotional and dark metal, combining synths and guitars in a unique way. The music is not fast, nor aggressive, rather mid-paced and heavy, with screamy bm-vocals and occasional clean male vocals. The synths play an important role by bringing lots of atmosphere and depth to the music. The lyrics of Throes of Dawn deal with solitude, fantasies, and gloomy emotions. All of these blend into the lyrical world of Throes of Dawn, reflecting melancholic and eerie atmospheres into their music.
After 9 months of existence, Throes of Dawn recorded their first demo; "With The Northern Wind". In a short while, all of the demo tapes were sold. "With The Northern Wind" got some nice feedback -even from some labels.
A local label, Woodcut Records, wanted to sign Throes of Dawn. At the time, Woodcut had just been founded. Few negotiations were held, and the two album deal was signed in -95.However, Throes of Dawn was still quite unknown band, and found it best to record some newer material to be released as a promo tape through Woodcut records.
Throes of Dawn entered the same studio, where the debut demo was recorded, in July and December of 1995. Several new songs were recorded, four of them were picked to the "Pakkasherra" promo tape. The promo tape brought name to the band, especially in Finland. Lots of positive feedback came from the metal underground. Someone still claims this to be the best underground metal demo ever made in Finland.
Due to the problems of finding a proper studio, the recordings of the debut album;"Pakkasherra" were utterly delayed. Finally, in the summer of 1996, Throes of Dawn decided to enter Egotrip-studio. Within a week, the work was done. Throes of Dawn presented very technical, raw and original metal music in their "Pakkasherra" debut album. Through various problems with the covers, the album was finally released in March of 1997 with a good reception in the underground. Especially the talented musicianship was noticed.
Shortly after the release of the debut album, Throes of Dawn entered the legendary Tico-Tico studio, to record their second album "Dreams of the Black Earth". The album was recorded in two sessions, the first session in august 1997. In December 1997, Henri and Jani entered Tico-Tico studio to record the vocals and to help in the mixing of the CD. The result sounded unique. Throes of Dawn:s music had developed enormously from "Pakkasherra". Where "Pakkasherra" sounds raw and immature "Dreams of the Black Earth" shows much more mature and sensitive side of the band. Synths played a greater role in the music; almost all melodies are synth based, in the debut album the melodies were basically guitar based. The Studio engineer, Ahti Kortelainen really showed awesome skills in the mixing and producing of this album.
One song from the 2nd album of Throes of Dawn was released as a "The Blackened Rainbow" MCD in July 1998,including also songs from Enochian Crescent, Alghazanth and Ravendusk. Since the release of this MCD, fantastic feedback streamed both to Woodcut and to the band. The second masterpiece, "Dreams of the Black Earth" CD was released in Finland in December 1998. It was available worldwide in January-April 1999. Praising feedback was given from various Metal magazines worldwide: among others, the German Deftone mag ranked the album as 2nd best after Dimmu Borgir on their playlist. The leading finnish metalmusic magazine; Suomi Finland Perkele, awarded Throes of Dawn to be the most promising band of the future. "Dreams of the Black Earth" was the last release through Woodcut Records, the search for a new deal began...
From several offers from labels worldwide, Italian Wounded Love records proved to be the label that would fit Throes of Dawn best. The deal was signed in June -99, consisting of two full-length albums...
The first recording session of the third "Binding of the Spirit" album took place in August-99 at Tico-Tico studios. 46 minutes of material, 8 tracks, were recorded, sounding even more melodic and emotional than "Dreams...". The vocals were recorded at the same studio at the end of December 1999, as well as the mixing of the album. Hard work with composing and writing really shows on their third "Binding of the Spirit" CD. Throes of Dawn has taken their music on a more professional level, with brilliant sounds, and better production than on their previous albums. "Binding of the Spirit" was released through Wounded Love in Spring 2000. The response from the listeners and the press was great. The album received very good reviews worldwide.
During the summer of 2001, the band was falling apart. Henri and Jani decided that it would be probably best to bury the whole band. The problem was that the other members lived so far away, that there was no possibility to train with the band. But having been dead for a few months, Henri and Jani decided to bring it back to life. Four new members joined the band and the composing of the fourth album started instantly. The label is still the Italian Wounded Love, the recordings are going to take place during the summer 2002 and the release of the fourth album has been scheduled for the autumn 2002.
Source: http://myy.helia.fi/~a0100026/throes/index.php?action=biography.php
