Personally, Dan Swanö is the probably the greatest multi-instrumentalist in the history of progressive metal. Edge of Sanity was a Swedish progressive death metal band that, alongside Opeth, is commonly regarded as being the first to fuse extreme metal styles like death and black metal with progressive rock. The group was founded by Dan Swanö in 1989 and ended in 2003.
Edge of Sanity began as a death metal band with their debut release Nothing But Death Remains. The band’s second release, Unorthodox, with tracks like “Enigma” and “When All Is Said”, showed Edge of Sanity branching out from some of the genre’s conventions. The Spectral Sorrows, Until Eternity Ends, and Purgatory Afterglow continued the trend, so that by the release of Crimson in 1996, Edge of Sanity was a progressive metal band. Crimson was a 40-minute concept album consisting entirely of one track, concerning a post-apocalyptic future in which mankind had lost the ability to breed.
After one more album, Infernal in 1997, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Dan Swanö left Edge of Sanity, and his departure is generally associated with a decline in quality in the band’s material. Swanö was replaced by Robert Karlsson, the vocalist of Pan.Thy.Monium (a side project in which Swanö was also involved), but after one more album, Cryptic, the band split up.
In 2003, Swanö revived the outfit as a one-man band (with several session musicians), and recorded a sequel to Crimson, Crimson II. Immediately after, he re-dissolved the project. Below is the full stream of Crimson II for you all to enjoy!
