Edge of Sanity - Crimson (1996)^{Release ID: 617}

OPUS

A legendary achievement in progressive and melodic death metal. This album consists of just a single 40-minute song. But oh what a song it is!

Crimson is a true roller-coaster of emotions and sonic textures, with about 100 different awesome riffs stuffed in. Certainly on the meaty and riff-oriented end of the "melodeath spectrum" for much of the musical duration, with loads of atmosphere and neat details added in between. Alongside the music, a post-apocalyptic fantasy saga on the scale of epochs unfolds. In fact, it almost plays like a death metal audiobook at times, with the riff change-ups marking plot twists in the story. It helps, of course, that Dan Swäno's harsh vocals are easily understood, with some superb heartfelt cleans mixed in too.  

Altogether, it's a masterpiece - a musical journey greater than the sum of its parts. The really special moments sprinkled throughout this album are among my favorites in all of metal. I won't say it's a perfect album as some of the transitions are a bit rough and a couple of the riffs are re-used a few too many times, but overall, this is an album that simply must be heard by anyone who wants to experience all that metal is capable of. I can still remember the first time I stumbled upon this gem on YouTube. I knew it was going to be an all-time favorite as soon as that very first violent riff thundered in. I pulled up the lyrics and followed along to the whole song/album in one sitting, transfixed at my desk for the duration. Still one of the most memorable musical experiences I've had to this day.

An immensely ambitious and classy epic that deserves every bit of praise it receives.

Early Edge of Sanity albums were hit and miss to me. While each album has some great material, they all contain some misadventures, and try to fit in too many ideas that lessen the impact of what is otherwise great death metal. After Purgatory Afterglow, I’d pretty much decided that Dan Swano and co. needed to cut down on creativity and focus on doing what comes naturally. As it turns out, they did the opposite and took on the most ambitious project of their career, and I couldn’t be more grateful. There are not many instances of metal bands creating one album length track and pulling it off. There are a few funeral doom efforts (Monolithe comes to mind) but that style of music is so drawn out, with minimal instrumentation, so it isn’t that much of a stretch. Meshuggah have done it too, but their efforts don’t really return to common themes and instead branch off onto numerous tangents. The only band I can think of that has managed anything like what Edge of Sanity produced here is Green Carnation and it has to be said that 2001’s Light of Day, Day of Darkness owes an awful lot to Crimson despite bearing no resemblance to death metal.

The Story: Humanity is dying. Not due to the environmental impact of our ways, but for the simple fact that we can no longer procreate. I’m not certain that the reasons for this are ever explained, but the result is that human civilization is close to extinction. Miraculously, the King and Queen of Earth manage to have a female child just when all seems lost, but the Queen dies during childbirth. As would certainly be the case, this miracle daughter is seen as a sign that God wishes for the continuation of our race, yet the girl passes into teenage years while the population diminishes to desperate levels. After the King passes away, fighting commences as many vie to become his successor. The remaining people of Earth are not happy with the man who takes the crown, so they convince the child to lead a coup. While preparing to lead her forces, in a Faustian moment, she accepts the temptations of evil to gain magical powers. These powers allow her to slay the illegitimate King and take over as ruler of Earth. Yet despite being the one that would bring humanity back to its former glory, she betrays them and kills the elders, causing the people to rise up against her. They neutralize her power by blinding her and place her in crimson fluid.

OK, so the above won’t win any literature awards. But it does mean the listener is going to experience a rollercoaster of emotions including loss, hope, betrayal and revenge. Even if I don’t listen carefully to the lyrics, which are generally perfectly intelligible, I can often tell where I’m up to in the storyline through the tone of the music. In the end though, the following of the story is not remotely important when it comes to enjoying Crimson. The music will have you completely immersed for the entire 40 minutes and the more you dedicate to it, the more it will bear fruit in return. There are so many stunning riffs that cross the whole spectrum of metal and the album even reaches outside the boundaries of the genre without breaching the tone or quality. After several listens, I started to recognize which sections were approaching and to look forward to the return of my favourite themes, such as the pure death metal movement that is unleashed around the 5 minute mark or the wonderful melody that is introduced around the 12 minute mark. No matter which sections you get the most enjoyment out of, chances are the band return to them at some point, which makes for a personally satisfying yet stunningly varied experience.

The production is flawless which isn’t surprising given Dan’s involvement in the recording process himself. While he certainly can play all the instruments on Crimson himself (he pretty much does for the sequel), I think the album benefits from the playing styles of all involved. It’s the same line-up that performed on all previous Edge of Sanity albums accept that Dan now adds guitar to his normal vocal and keyboard duties. This means there are three guitarists performing throughout the album with Sami Nerberg on the left, Andreas Axelsson on the right, and Dan in the centre. The result is a lush, full sound that is given further diversity through acoustic sections and guest leads by Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth. Dan’s death growls are filled with passion and remain entirely comprehensible at all times. They’re certainly powerful, but then they’re not too extreme, meaning progressive metal fans that are not necessarily into death metal have been able to find a lot to enjoy on Crimson. In many cases, Edge of Sanity (along with Opeth) have convinced these fans to broaden their accepted musical criteria, which can only be a good thing. Once again, Mikael adds his recognisable clean voice and growls at regular intervals, which are brilliant as usual.

I’m not sure what caused Edge of Sanity to attempt this project. Maybe Axelsson and Swano came up with the storyline and figured the only way to do it justice would be a full-length concept album, which just ended up being one track. Or perhaps they simply wanted to challenge themselves, to see whether they could possibly keep a listener enthralled for 40 continuous minutes, while structuring the whole experience around several recurring themes. Either way, not only did they succeed in this task, but they managed to produce one of the very finest pieces of work in the world of metal. Crimson is the type of album that not only gives me immense enjoyment on a personal level, but it also fills me with a certain sense of pride. While my affection, not to mention obsession, towards metal music is never in doubt, monolithic albums like Crimson make me extremely proud of this passion, rising far above the reach of any of the constant flow of criticism that is so often directed its way. The album is currently in the top 5 death metal albums of all time on Rate Your Music and I for one won’t be arguing with that position. It’s ambitious, classy and downright astonishing from start to finish.

More than a little reminiscent of early Opeth, fellow Swedes Edge of Sanity where a late 80's/early 90's progressive death metal band.  They released eight albums before finally calling it a day in 2003 (after previously doing so in 1999).  As I have already alluded to, the likeness to the sound of their countrymen is hard to ignore.  It is not that one band copied the other I suspect.  Sweden just clearly had a plethora of talented progressive metal heads throughout the 90's and they couldn't possibly all fit into one band.

Crimson actually is one song album split into parts depending on what version you look at.  A one song album in 1996 was a bold and brave move but the fact that Dan Swanö's name is on the liner notes should tell you all you need to know. As with most things he touches Crimson is ambitious to say the least but is backed up by deft playing and clever songwriting.  The progression on here is well measured, tempered almost to maximise the enjoyment.  Considering it is just one song the record never gets boring as it changes pace and tempo well during its expansion over forty minutes.

It requires a close ear to be given to it in order to truly appreciate the vast and intricate nature of the entire offering.  But anytime spent with this record is time well spent.  It will take you through death, progressive and at times gothic elements of metal and blend all of the styles together with a real deftness.  To date it is the only release from the band that I have sought out to listen to and such is my satisfaction with it I have not yet felt the need to venture further into their back catalogue. I really can't recommend this enough.

A single 40-minute track, that manages to weave through almost every style Edge of Sanity has toyed with thus far. Primarily there is Melodeath and Prog Metal, but also OSDM, Gothic Metal, some Doomy parts, of course acoustics and cleans… It’s the full package. It contains a sprawling concept story about the end of mankind revolving around the inability to breed and a god-born crimson queen who provides the last hope for mankind’s preservation. This is one of those tracks that is wildly entertaining to follow along to, as the lyrics provide a visual spectacle of dark suspense, befitting the music.

But of course, on to the music itself. Crimson strikes the perfect balance between including recurring motifs and jam-packing the thing with as many apocalyptic riffs as possible. The song just never gets boring. It paces itself wonderfully, the infrequent but always pleasant soft sections giving reprieve after many minutes of unrelenting Metal, and the pummeling sections of aggressive speed checked by slower dirges. Every member is in top form.

As far as concept albums go, it’s up there with the best. As far as single track albums go, it’s also up there with the best. Plainly speaking, a legendary moment of Progressive Melodeath that most Extreme Metal epics are now compared to.