CRIMSON

For the king had shown them it could be done when his woman gave birth to the sacred one.

Hail the King of death metal, Dan Swanö. I've waited a long time to review this album, since it was so complex, with its neat structures, changes in genre, and overall greatness. Crimson is one of, if not my first death metal album, that I had ever listened to, and am I ever glad I did. There is so much going on in this song that it's hard to put in words what exactly I like about the album.

One thing that I like so much is the changing of the tempo and genre. Even within the first couple of minutes Edge of Sanity goes from medium pace progressive death metal to slower acoustics with regular vocals. All throughout the album they keep doing this, which makes it very complex and insanely good. The musicianship on this album is also some of the best I have ever heard in death metal. Mikael Akerfeldt, the man behind the greatness of Opeth, does a superb job on guitars, leading to a very enjoyable sound that carries throughout the whole album. He's also exceptionally good on the acoustic sections. A cool feature that EoS employs is right after the acoustic sections of the song, they transfer right into straight out death metal, creating a very unique sound.

This being my first death metal album, even if it is progressive, this was my introduction to growling. At first I was like, "Yeah, yeah speak normally please", but then after some listens I began to see the brilliance of Dan Swanö. His vocals are very deep, and blend in great with the melodies of Mikael Akerfeldt and the superb drumming of Benny Larsson. His regular vocals are also very good, to go along with his growling.

Sometimes I can't come up with words to describe how awesome this album is. The licks, melodies, and riffs are top notch, and blend well with the excellent vocals of Dan Swanö. For one of the best progressive death metal albums that were ever released Edge of Sanity gets an obvious 5 stars.