Edge of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow (1994)

For whatever reason I’ve generally overlooked most everything legendary Swedish musician Dan Swanö has been a part of and if you know anything about Dan, then you know this guy has been in quite a few different bands. Oh sure, I have a few albums from some of the bands he’s done guess work in like Diabolical Masquerade, Katatonia and Bloodbath, but it’s his longer running main bands from the 90’s, Pan.Thy.Monium, Nightingale and of course Edge of Sanity that I have been complete ignorant of despite the fact that I’ve known these bands names for at least a decade now. Well, that all changed a few weeks ago when I found this album at a second hand store for $5 and believe me after hearing this beast I’m going to make sure I hear more Edge of Sanity too.

Anyway, Edge of Sanity was formed in 1989 when Dan was just sixteen years old and for many years it was his most dear project, but by the late 90’s he split from the band, EoS hired Robert Karlsson to do vocals and they created, ‘Cryptic’ together in ’97 and laid the band to rest, while Dan recorded his solo album, ‘Moontower’ in ‘99, which is considered an Edge of Sanity record by some and eventually in ’03, Dan resurrected EoS and recorded, ‘Crimson II’ by himself and let the band again rest in peace.

For those not familiar with EoS, they were truly the first band to fuse Swedish styled death metal with a genuine progressive rock sound. Yes, its true folks, Opeth isn’t as original as we all thought they were. What separates EoS (at least on this release) from Opeth is simply the fact that their music is more Swedish death metal with progressive characteristics while the music that Opeth would eventually create is more progressive music with death metal elements.

The album kicks off with a song called, ‘Twilight,’ which best exemplifies the EoS sound with light ethereal synth passages, both growled, spoken and cleanly sung vocals, melodic guitars with killer riffs/solos and of course the fusion of progressive, ambient and death metal music within this eight minute song. It’s interesting how on various moments of this song (and the album in general) you can feel sentiments of absolute peace while at other times you’ll feel a mad rush of energy with the need to violently bang your head to the music.

However some of the other songs on this record are not as courageous as they lean more towards the classic Swedish death metal sound with plenty of melody and only minor progressive traits. Of course some songs are almost entirely death metal too. There are also two complete oddballs on the album too. ‘Black Tears’ is an insanely catchy melodic metal/hard rock song with a great folky main guitar riff as well as an entirely cleanly sung vocal delivery from Dan on this one. The other weirdo of the album is, ‘Song of the Sirens,’ which isn’t death, progressive or ambient, but rather it’s a short hardcore song, and, well, this is the albums only blunder. I’ll leave it at that.

Throughout this record guitarists Andreas and Sami treat my ears to some of the most memorable riffs and solos I think I’ve ever heard and needless to say it’s these guitars that have kept me coming back for more and more. Anders bass work is a bit buried in the mix, but he’s there if you pay attention and I just love the way drummer Benny switches between blast beats and slower hard rock beats throughout the record. Of course anyone that has heard Dan’s voice knows it’s among the best out there, whether he’s singing cleanly or using his hard growled style.

All in all, in the month that I’ve had this album I’ve played it a lot and intend to continue doing so since it’s absolutely excellent. I also am very much looking forward to purchasing more EoS releases and hearing the bands progression from album to album.

Finally all I can say is if you enjoy bands that fuse death metal with progressive music then look no further than Edge of Sanity as they were the first and surely the best there ever will be.