Edge of Sanity - Unorthodox (1992)^{Release ID: 614}

I always assumed that Edge of Sanity's earlier albums would contain none of the amazing song writing and melody that runs through their better albums. Crimson I and II are two of the finest records you'll ever hear but seeing an Edge of Sanity album labelled simply as death metal set off alarm bells for me. Surely without all the captivating progressiveness and catchy melodies, Unorthodox wouldn't be as enjoyable. While that's turned out to be true, I'm glad I checked this album out regardless.

Unorthodox is rooted in the Stockholm death metal tradition as every second album of this time seemed to be, yet Dan Swano and co. added doses of creativity and variety to an otherwise stock standard model. That Swedish death metal guitar sound is present, but it's mixed in with both changes in tempo and a whole bunch of melody. Check out the 7-minute epic Enigma for a cracking track. Filled with atmosphere, some clean vocals, multiple instruments, awesome death metal riffs and growls, I think this is one of my very favourite tracks ever! Unfortunately, while the rest of the album is solid, it rarely approaches this brilliance again. Closing track When All is Said, with its slow crushing presence and beautiful leads, is probably the only other track that comes within reach of this early set benchmark, but that's not to say that there's nothing else of note here. Every track is solid enough death metal with some interesting drumming and great vocals and riffs.

If anything, Unorthodox suffers from being a bit too long. At near an hour running time and 14 tracks, it could have done with a little fine tuning. But I have found it to be thoroughly entertaining and feel the above rating of around 3.5 is slightly underrating it. I guess if you compare it to some of Edge of Sanity's other albums, it's hard not to downgrade it. But taken in its own context, Unorthodox is a fine album and certainly worthy of your time.