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Class 6(66)

Edge Of Sanity: Crimson

15/01/10  ||  GardensTale

Introduction

Edge of Sanity was once a little something whipped up by Dan Swanö. If you do not know the Dan, you should be gobbling the cocks of other chavs right now, you scum of the earth, unworthy of metal’s treasures scumbag! Anyway, Edge’s style of proggy death metal was received pretty positively, and then at one point, Mr. Swanö was all “Fuck it, why should albums have more than one song? All ideas I have can be fit in one, I’m sure. Now where’s that acid and note block…”. Danny got writing. Danny kept writing. And Danny managed to combine all of his ideas into one massive epic piece of progressive death metal, spanning 40 minutes to the second. Before, this kind of stuff was reserved for Jethro Tull or Mike Oldfield. Now we have massive growls, thundering guitars, epic solos, subtle synths, and lyrics about an evil queen spawning hell upon her land, doing the one song thing even better than the aforementioned tall trees.

Songwriting

What the fuck do you expect when you can make a single 40 minute song stay interesting and varied while still keeping everything tied together enough to entirely justify the one-song format? Of course it’s a fucking 10, you dickwads. Danny’s made this shit work by balancing everything out perfectly. There’s surprise twists in the music that make you go “Whoa, what was that?”, making perfect transitions between quieter and louder sections and back. Some parts are entirely un-metal; synthed melancholy ascribing to the death of the king, or psychedelic reverbing vocals when the king’s spirit tell his men to go beat the crap out of his daughter. There are still enough pieces that tie everything together, however. Recurring riffs make the whole thing feel as a whole as much as any random song. Here they just tie together 40 minutes instead of 4. It’s really quite an astonishing feat, and the only proof we have that it wasn’t just a huge lucky shot is “Crimson II”.

Production

Sadly, the production is a bit flawed, although it’s a minor flaw. Epic grandness is always best conveyed using a thick but clear production. Swedish death metal is best conveyed using an ugly and heavy production. Here, it doesn’t really reach either, and much of the album sounds a bit thin and slightly fuzzy, and not all instruments get the punch they deserve. But on the other hand, they are all audible, and the mix is pretty fine. The vocals are a bit high in there all in all, but hey, fuck it, they are awesome enough to warrant that. A 7 seems appropriate.

Guitars

Nothing to complain about here. There’s great variety in riffing and soloing, and some of the more melodic lines are memorable and could even be called iconic. Put ‘em on and despite the length of the song you can immediately say “hey, that’s “Crimson“”, no matter where in the song you are, and the guitar work is largely to thank for this. Of course, this is a matter of both songwriting and execution, but one can’t live without the other. But when the execution is done this well, with such great diversity, a 9 is the least it will have to do with.

Vocals

Speaking of diversity! Danny boy prefers his thick and meaty growl more than anything else, but his heavy and somber clean work is spine-chilling and a highlight every time it comes to pass. 27:11 into the song, there’s a gorgeous lament on the Queen’s trickery causing mass suicide, ending with a massive, absolutely unholy growl that can shatter brick walls. A perfect example of Dan’s ability to sing different styles and pull each one of flawlessly and connect them seamlessly. There’s just no way to give this less than a perfect 10.

Bass

As often, bass takes the backseat. It does what it needs to do, driving most of the heavy parts with a heavy foundation, but it never takes the spotlight and never stands out. You can’t say anything for it or anything against it, so I will simply finish this section by tossing in a 7,5 for effort and moving on.

Drums

Appropriately heavy and thankfully, not much overuse of snares which is often my biggest pet peeve in death or black metal. Pound my fucking skull in, please, I enjoy the sound of toms and heavy-as-fuck bass drums. The drums only really show their glamour when you pay attention to it specifically, not drawing away attention from the vocals and guitars, the highlights of the album. But when you do focus on them, you notice the fucking fills that fill every nook and cranny of potential dead space. A true accomplishment and warranting another 9.

Lyrics

All the above are good reasons why this album is so awesome. This here is the other half of it. Normally I wouldn’t score an album high on the lyrics alone, but nothing gives me a raging boner like post-apocalyptic, or rather re-apocalyptic epics featuring the human race withering away, a demonic queen rising to finish the job with a legion of demons, chambers filled with crimson water that acts like a Sarlacc stomach, devouring their souls rather than their bodies. The best way to experience the story is just listen to the whole thing with the lyrics present, so I advise you to do so. Right now. 10.

Cover art

A 3 when you look at it from afar, a 7 when you pull it up close. The combination of psychedelic colors is quite awful and the vats of crimson waters the lyrics refer to seem like strange red blobs in the colorful buzz until you get to see the whole thing up close. Then you can suddenly discern the details much better and appreciate the dark, bleak imagery of the people trapped in these crimson chambers.

Logo

The old one was much better; here, it’s just the band name in a fancy font. Nothing special here, moving on.

Booklet

It has the lyrics and that’s nice. It’s a good read, and despite Dan’s growl being fairly easy to understand it’s always better to avoid misinterpretation of what’s being said, as well as being able to read the parts you can’t discern, because as said, the fantastic evil epic tale is half the enjoyment of this disc. 7.

Overall and ending rant

Its sheer scope is enough to make this a classic, but Dan put his heart and soul in it, and together with his bandmates created an epic tale that is executed in a near-flawless fashion, with the brilliant songwriting a definite highlight of the whole album. The best albums take you on a journey and don’t let you go until the very last second. “Crimson” accomplishes this and then some, and has since been a pillar in progressive death metal. A phenomenal accomplishment and a brilliant album to listen to, time and time again, because a good story is always something to return to, and so is a great album. “Crimson” is both and needs to be heard by anyone enjoying either. Must-have!

9,5

  • Information
  • Released: 1996
  • Label: Black Mark Production
  • Website: Edge Of Sanity MySpace
  • Band
  • Dan Swanö: vocals, guitars, keys
  • Andreas Axelsson: guitars
  • Sami Nerberg: guitars
  • Anders Lindberg: bass
  • Benny Larsson: drums, percussion
  • Tracklist
  • 01. Crimson

Class 6(66) -reviews

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