Nightingale - The Closing Chronicles (1996)

Nightingale much like Mr. Swanö's other band, Edge of Sanity, are a group I've known about for quite honestly many years, but never bothered to check out for reasons I'm not sure of. Also much like EoS it wasn't until I came across a used disc that I was provoked to check out yet another one of Dan's projects, fortunately this one is flippin' great too.

Nightingale original began in 1995 as Dan's solo Gothic rock band, designed to explore his brief fascination with the genre, and during that same year he released, 'The Breathing Shadow.' By this second release, 'The Closing Chronicles' he had joined forces with Tom Nouga (AKA Dag Swanö, his brother) and taken the music in a completely different direction.

The Closing Chronicles is a complete throwback to classic 70's progressive rock and although no immediate band comparisons come to mind it seems Dan took several parts of all those great bands from back then and mixed them with his own unique style. The songs are rich with classic sounding prog synths, superb guitar work from both brothers, vibrant bass riffs, the usage of a real drum kit instead of the drum machine the first album had and of course Dan's always impressive lead vocal work.

Honestly speaking every last song on this album offers up something special although various parts of the songs seem to hold a melancholic or dark vibe of sorts. Although songs like, 'Steal the Moon' is short (3 min), upbeat, fast and catchy with a great synth solo while, 'Intermezzo' is just Dan's voice and a haunting synth melody. The other five songs don't seem to deviate to much from each other and are just a great collection of amazing prog songs, especially, 'Thoughts from a Stolen Soul' and 'Alive Again,' which are beyond exceptional. Of course, if you've heard Dan's voice you know it's among one of the finest out there and that's surely one of the aspects that propels this record to such great heights.

After this album the band was considered finished, but still some concerts were played around Dan's hometown of Örebro, Sweden and by 2000 Dan and Dag were recording a new album simply titled, 'I.' In 2002, two new members joined them and Nightingale has continued onwards as a four piece band.

Having enjoyed this album considerably I'm quite eager to hunt down and explore the rest of Nightingale's discography and see what it has to offer.