Review by Felix on August 2, 2026.

Despite thousands of great albums in both genres, I am pretty sure that “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” and “Hell Awaits” are and will forever be my favorite works in black and thrash metal. Things are less clear when it comes to death metal, even though I know far fewer albums of this style. Some of its output is just boring from my point of view. Anyway, maybe “Left Hand Path” is the work I would choose for my year on a lonely island. Or Bolt Thrower’s “...For Victory”. Either way, the anti-war document from 1994 is fantastic, and due to the fact that the British combatants released only good or even outstanding albums, it is just logical that they became a huge inspiration for the death metal scene. Vomitory pay tribute to them with one or two songs per album. Their Swedish compatriots Just Before Dawn go one step further. Their entire full-lengths sound like a homage to the fallen legend. “A War Too Far” is no exception. But I don’t want to discuss whether this approach is cool or artistically poor. As long as the material hits the mark, I am fine with every new Just Before Dawn. Fortunately, this condition has been met in the case of the work reviewed here.

Together with the band, the listener marches into a new battle. Heroism, tragedies, and death are everywhere. The thick guitar sound symbolizes the smoke over the battlefield, which grows ever denser under the sustained fire of the guns. All songs convey the feelings of soldiers who face the next attack. The slower guitar parts wallow in melancholy and the wish to survive, while the faster sections intensify the drama of war. As said before, the guitar leads originate from the Bolt Thrower School of High-Quality Riffing, and perhaps this is the crucial detail. Just Before Dawn are no copycats who want to be as good as their idols but publish only lukewarm material. Their music does not stand in the shadow of their role models; they don’t deliver the B-sides for Bolt Thrower singles. Very expressive and powerful guitar leads dominate the album, naturally supported by double bass, snare, and so on. Not to mention the lead vocals. As always, Just Before Dawn’s leader Anders Biazzi cooperates with different singers. But all of them celebrate a very similar approach and underline the desperate mood of the guitars with their throaty, deep and powerful voices.

One nuance that separates Just Before Dawn from Birmingham’s death squadron is the fact that their music is less groovy. While Bolt Thrower integrated a death metal groove from time to time (“The Killchain”), the Swedish soldiers march straight ahead. To reinforce the differences, they do not have the often-used signature intro, either. Ironically, precisely the aforementioned “The Killchain” is one of the Bolt Thrower songs that starts with it. But let’s speak about Just Before Dawn again. 'La Drang' is a slowly moving, extremely heavy death metal monster with a wonderfully morbid guitar line. Later on, the dudes speed up to a mid-tempo pace, the double bass rolls out the carpet of bombs, and we are witnessing yet another battalion fighting a losing battle. The directly following title track sounds almost painfully intense and culminates in a sinister solo at the end. 'We Few' fits with the description a historian chose to characterize the way German soldiers fought in the winter of 1944–1945: with stoic bravery, but without enthusiasm. 'We Few' reflects this attitude excellently.

Anyway, each and every track leaves a trail of devastation, and therefore I am wondering why Just Before Dawn do not get more attention. This kind of extremely coherent death metal has an inner strength and is able to touch the listener emotionally. The lyrical war concept also never gets stale, as sad as it is. The war drags ever on – Algy Ward, if I am not mistaken... So enjoy the infernal lines of 'The Odyssey Of Echo Company' or the dramatic ending of 'Operation Arc Light', and say a prayer for the fallen when you go to bed.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10