Edge of Sanity

No other album in Edge of Sanity�s discography sounds like Crimson. The Crimson 2 album is also progressive but much more keyboard/ synth heavy. The rest of their output are much more old school Swedish death metal at their core. They made minor progressive experiments on most albums from Unorthodox and forward though.

I'd go for "Purgatory Afterglow" instead of "Crimson II", but then Jonas will probably disagree entirely

That's how it is, we're all joined in praise for "Crimson", but everything else is in another league and it's  very depending on taste whether you'd like it or not.

You're quite a Devin Townsend fan right, so maybe you'll prefer the Crimson II which is a bit too overblown for me.

Here's my time to shine...  I am admittedly an Edge of Sanity (and Dan Swan� in general) fanboy, so I can definitely help you out here.

Crimson is indeed their best album IMO, and their only 5-star masterpiece. Crimson II should appeal to you if you're alright with some neo-prog influences (especially the heavy synth use).

Purgatory Afterglow is one of the best Edge of Sanity albums, though not as "proggy" as Crimson. It has many progressive tendencies, and has some crushing death metal parts as well. This is one of the next Edge of Sanity albums you should get.

The Spectral Sorrows is a fantastic death metal album. It's very diverse, but not as proggy as Crimson. You can read my review (on PA or MMA) to see what I mean by that.

Unorthodox is a great album, but isn't as good as the previously mentioned albums. It's probably their heaviest as well.

The other 3 albums aren't very good (though the debut is worthwhile if you love old school Swedish death metal and are okay with poor production qualities).

HOWEVER, before you check out any more Edge of Sanity albums, I would recommend getting some Nightingale albums, especially since you're not a "huge" death metal fan. The Closing Chronicles is Nightingale's best, as well as one of my all-time favorite albums. Swan� has also been in like 500 other bands, and from what I've heard, most of them are worth checking out, pending on what you're looking for.

Hope that helps,
-Jeff

^ Hey, could you give some examples of bands that fall under that banner for you?
If you mean Opeth then I'm definitely not with you

bonnek wrote: ^ Hey, could you give some examples of bands that fall under that banner for you? If you mean Opeth then I'm definitely not with you

Well, I mean mostly the G�thenburg bands, but there are other examples here and there (like EoS). Maybe I should have been more precise on that statement, sorry.


Edited by CCVP - 04 May 2010 at 2:21pm

CCVP wrote: J-Man wrote: CCVP wrote: I don't like any of their albums besides Crimson I & II, because they sound waaaaaaaaay too much like melodic death metal. That's because they are melodic death metal. True, but there are melodic death metal bands with good overall records, like Opeth. EoS (or Dan Sw�no actually) apparently focused all their efforts in Crmson. Many of Dan Sw�no's solo efforts are also great melodic DM albums, like his solo album Moontower (which has some minor prog influences, IMO at least).

It's fine that you don't care much for the other EoS albums, but saying that "they focused all of their efforts in Crimson" is a statement far from the truth. Keep in mind that Dan Swan�'s favorite Edge of Sanity album is Unorthodox, EoS was hardly even a functioning band while recording Crimson, and right after Crimson the band didn't even work together (Swan� made Crimson II by himself, the rest of the band made Cryptic by themselves, and Infernal was a split between the two camps).

Crimson is my favorite Edge of Sanity album as well, but the band disagrees.

CCVP wrote: bonnek wrote: ^ Hey, could you give some examples of bands that fall under that banner for you? If you mean Opeth then I'm definitely not with you Well, I mean mostly the G�thenburg bands, but there are other examples here and there (like EoS). Maybe I should have been more precise on that statement, sorry.

Like In Flames, At The Gates,... right?
Not my cup of tea neither. From Sweden I'd rather go with Entombed.

bonnek wrote: CCVP wrote: bonnek wrote: ^ Hey, could you give some examples of bands that fall under that banner for you? If you mean Opeth then I'm definitely not with you Well, I mean mostly the G�thenburg bands, but there are other examples here and there (like EoS). Maybe I should have been more precise on that statement, sorry. Like In Flames, At The Gates,... right? Not my cup of tea neither. From Sweden I'd rather go with Entombed.

Bullseye! That one with the female growler also get my nerves. I think the name is Arch Enemy or Arch Angel, or something like it.

EoS' "Crimson" looks tempting,
would like to know is there any similarity with Opeth's style ?

Stephen wrote: EoS' "Crimson" looks tempting, would like to know is there any similarity with Opeth's style ?

Well, it's in my top 5 albums ever, so of course I would recommend it to you!

It sounds a bit like Opeth. It's firmly rooted in Swedish melodic death metal from the early 90's (like Opeth), though it doesn't contain as many acoustic sections, and is generally heavier.

You should know that Mikael �kerfeldt helped out on guitar & vocals on Crimson, so that may spark your interest a bit.

-Jeff