NIGHTINGALE

Begun as a Dan Swano solo project, he performed all instruments through to the recording of this, Nightingale's debut (1995).

Tonally, I had no real expectations except that The Breathing Shadow would have less overt Metal than other projects Swano has been intimately involved (like Edge Of Sanity). The opener, "Nightfall Overture" reveals its more Gothic origins [not as common on the album as Wikipedia would lead you to believe], including the piano-arpeggio section in the middle. Swano is a pretty talented vocalist, but his full baritone isn't really working for me on this'n. It's certainly progressive, broadly, exploring loud-soft dynamic and a few movements. It's just nothing great. The most tasteful moment is around minute 6, but it just felt spoiled by the vocal return. The use of drum machine and keys on "Sleep" is certainly an interesting choice that I don't mind one bit. This song feels very '80s to me. The guitar is the only thing that puts it barely closer to when the album came out. Melodically stronger as well. Proggy, though? Not really. This general tone continues on "The Dreamreader", and honestly the melodies have gotten better and the instrumentation has become a bit more captivating. There's an instrumental section nearing minute 2 that definitely got me more into this one. The track transforms into a brief ballad, before full metallic instrumentation comes forth again. Wikipedia says 'hard rock'; I say Post-Grunge. Still, a pretty good song!

Bright, videogame-OST-type keyboards open up "Higher Than the Sky", a continuation of this unavoidably '80s aesthetic. There's certainly some very good things here. And again, we have even better vocals and vocal melodies from Dan! The arpeggiated keys between verses and some of the other sonic choices reminded me of a much-later '80s devotion: Haken's Affinity (2016). Really enjoying the group vocals in the middle especially, not uncharacteristic of the occasional group style of Opeth, with whom Swano would work as producer. Overall, another Prog-Lite venture. Next is "Recovery Opus", a classically melancholic number by a Swede. Again, this reads to me as Post-Grunge; take that as you will. Thankfully completely unrelated, "The Return to Dreamland" has some instant magic that nothing on the album before even remotely possessed. It's not all back-glancing w*nkery, is it? And then we have "Gypsy Eyes", another track that immediately also feels confident in what it's really here for: my pleasure hahaha. But when the vocals come in, I'm not sure this sentiment persists [It doesn't]... I'm probably going to cleanse by listening to Janet Jackson or something after this. This is just a whole lot of corny, though it could be worse...

"Alone?" No. Never alone. Clean, echoing guitar starts this one off, matched with Dan's softest, lowest register. The first half, nothing happened haha. The second half has more Metal to offer, though frankly this is the most Post-Grunge of them all (since this is before Creed's debut, we can probably point the finger at Staind). Up next, I'm thanking the Lord above for more former-decade pastiches on "A Lesson in Evil". Now, is this immediately great? No. There is a pretty solid, though simple, main riff here. He does another piano thing at the top of the second half and the music changes slightly (for the better, mind you). Glad another is over, though, we finally have "Eye for an Eye". Actually really into some of the things he's doing here. Some slight sonic complexity goes a long way, with some spacy keyboards specifically. Back to strong melody and better-than-decent composition, thank God. The so-called 'spacy keyboards' solo away right about the middle to great effect! I just wish that lasted a bit longer.

Hopefully not a trudge-through, but I'm going to have to decide one way or another to keep Nightingale on The List... Time will tell. As for this debut, I just don't really think it knows what it wants to be. It's a few pegs away from somewhat cohesive.

True Rate: 2.75/5.0

Nightingale's 'The Closing Chronicles' is an album where you get two Swano's for the price of one! That's right, in this album the now legendary Dan Swano teamed up with his brother, Dag Swano, to explore their love for gothic-tinged progressive rock in this rather obscure record from the mid-90s. This was the first Nightingale album I had the privilege of hearing, and to this day has remained my favourite release from the band. Fans of the 1996 epic Edge Of Sanity album 'Crimson' will notice that this album was released in the same year. Dan Swano isn't just a highly talented musician or composer - he is also extremely prolific!

The music here is a blend of melancholic gothic rock, progressive rock and some small metallic influences. But I wouldn't really describe 'The Closing Chronicles' as a metal album. Later Nightingale albums definitely fit more comfortably into the progressive-metal camp easier than this one. The style in 'The Closing Chronicles' is based in the prog-rock genre, but there are a few heavier moments that are present on this disc.

The vocals from Dan Swano are all entirely clean, unlike Edge Of Sanity, and are what make this particular album such a fine one. Dan Swano has a really beautiful and powerful baritone voice which fits the music on this record really well. His voice adds texture and emotion to the already emotive and somewhat depressing music!

There's a lot to enjoy on this album, and I think its definitely one of those obscure and overlooked gems that I think a lot of people would get a kick out of. Highlight tracks for me are the opener, 'Deep Inside of Nowhere, the third track 'Thoughts From a Stolen Soul' and the album closer, 'Alive Again'. Incidentally these three stand-out songs are all the longest on the album...its a pure coincidence I swear! Anyway I love this album and most projects Dan Swano turns his hand to are pure gold so I'll give this once a very solid 4-stars.

"Retribution" is the 7th full-length studio album by Swedish progressive rock/metal act Nightingale. The album was released through InsideOut Music in November 2014 and is the successor to "White Darkness" from 2007. 7 years is a pretty long recording break, but the lineup who recorded the last album is still intact. Nightingale has now had a stable lineup since 2000. Dan Swanö (vocals, guitars, keyboards) has as usual been busy with other projects in the years between "White Darkness" and "Retribution". Among other things Witherscape, Demiurg, and his job as a producer.

The long break hasn´t affected the fact that "Retribution" sounds unmistakably like Nightingale. It´s not as such a continuation of the sound on "White Darkness (2007)" though, but more an album which includes a wide varity of the good elements from most of their past releases. The music is still semi-progressive rock/metal with elements from both 70s hard/progressive rock, 80s rock/heavy metal, and a strong dose of keyboards in the neo- progressive vein (Marillion, Pallas, IQ...etc.). The neo-progressive keyboards were actually toned down quite a bit on "White Darkness (2007)" in favor of a more hard rocking organ heavy sound, but they make a return on "Retribution", which is generally more neo-progressive oriented than 70s hard rock influenced. The latter influence is still occasionally strong on "Retribution" too though. Dan Swanö has also changed his vocal approach a bit on "Retribution" and generally sounds less raw and delivers more clean singing than he did on the predecessor.

As always the musicianship is on a high level. Swanö has a distinct sounding voice and a strong and convincing delivery and the rest of the guys in the band (which includes Dan´s older brother Dag Swanö on bass, guitars, and keyboards) also perform their parts with great skill. I especially noticed drummer Tom Björn´s contributions this time around and found his performance quite enjoyable.

The material on the 10 track, 44:36 minutes long album is generally well written and both instantly catchy and memorable in the long run, with strong melodies, and great harmonies. For the most part it´s pretty straight forward vers/chorus structured, but the band often take excursions outside that safe formula to maintain the listener´s attention. And with great success I might add.

Upon conclusion "Retribution" is just the comeback album I had hoped it would be (after 7 years I think comeback is a valid word to use about the album). To my ears Nightingale was always strongest when playing neo-progressive oriented music rather than their more hard rock oriented ditto, and it´s great to hear them embrace that sound again. The album is packed in a clean, professional, and well sounding production too, which further helps the music shine. So all in all "Retribution" is another high quality release by Nightingale and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Nightingale's The Breathing Shadow is a gothic rock narrative concept album underpinned by technical metal and progressive rock songwriting and production aesthetics. I personally prefer this one to the sequel, on which Dan Swanö slips back into his more accustomed tech/prog metal style and consequently the unique flavour of the project ended up somewhat diluted; here, he lets his multi-insturmentalist flag fly high and masquerades as the sort of progressive gothic rock band I kind of wish we had more of on the scene. Of interest both to prog fans who like a little goth and goth fans with fond memories of that genre's more progressive moments (like Elizium by Fields of the Nephilim), though Dan's Andrew Eldritch impression wavers a bit and largely the music tends to follow past precedents set by superior goth bands rather than breaking genuine new ground.

Nightingale seems to have been conceived as a side-project for Dan Swano to get out all the musical ideas he wants to play with which don't fit his main projects; the first Nightigale album, The Breathing Shadow, is reportedly a mildly proggy goth rock album, whereas this time around the goth influence is restricted more or less solely to Swano's vocal delivery. Musically speaking, the rest of The Closing Chronicles is a sort of light prog metal which goes easy on the progginess - there's just enough mainstream prog metal motifs to convince me that the album hasn't been misfiled, but not enough to really satisfy fans who like their prog metal to be really, really proggy - there isn't any technical pyrotechnics to the extent that you'd get even on a Dream Theater album from around this period. For my part, though I'm not into progginess for its own sake, the album seems to be rather half-baked to me - as though it's a collection of ideas which weren't just not stylistically appropriate for Edge of Sanity, but also just plain weren't good enough.

White Darkness is the 6th full-length studio album by Swedish melodic/ progressive rock/ metal act Nightingale. The album was released in June 2007 by Black Mark Productions.

The sound on White Darkness continues the more hard rock tinged sound of the predecessor Invisible (2004). The basis in the music is still melodic rock/ metal with a semi-progressive edge but add to that neo-progressive elements ( I´m thinking Marillion here), hard rock riffing and organ playing. Dan Swanö´s vocal delivery and warm voice is as usual one of the main attractions in Nightingale´s music. I´ve followed Dan´s career since the early nineties and the development in his clean vocal skills from the first clean vocal attempts on the early Edge of Sanity albums to his more and more mature and diverse vocal delivery on subsequent Nightingale ( and other projects) albums, and it´s safe to say that he has grown with the task. Today he stands as a great clean vocalist with a personal voice and a skillful delivery. I like the added hard rock vocal dimension he has built into his vocal arsenal during the last couple of Nightingale albums.

The songs on the album are all quality compositions and while the production and some of the choruses are a bit too polished and nice for my personal taste, it´s hard not to acknowledge the songwriting skill involved here. The music is damn catchy and instantly recognisable as the sound of Nightingale. The band have created their own little niche and their music is actually quite unique sounding. A 3.5 star rating is warranted.

At first I thought that there's something bad with my hearing. And even more with my genre distinction, because I simply hear Neo Prog in this music. OK, they stopped being goth and combinet Neo with Prog Metal and I say: Why not, if it's possible (album is out for many years, it works), then it's alright. And this fact again shows how thin can be line between certain genres.

Tracks are melodic, after all, this album I know because of recommendation I was given in proper thread on forums (and I'm so keen on suggestions that I go first check my collection if I already has this album or not - I'm still not so good to remember them all). Two man band (I suppose they don't go touring.

Except borderline cases of PM / Neo (more on Neo side), there is something like Rock song (however with keyboards flavour) Steal the Moon which is short, but serves its purpose. However Intermezzo is disappointment. Purely narrative tracks without anything musical to offer. If it's intro, it's 1)quite long one 2)not so good one. And Alive Again is better again.

4(-), let's just overlook it's classified as Prog Metal, OK ? For Prog's sake.

EDIT July 2010 - not that bad, added + 0.5.

The decline of Nightingale goes on. If Alive Again proves one thing it is the apparent lack of Dan Swanö to come up with anything original and challenging. It is a collection of uninspired, formulaic and commercial songs. The previous album at least succeeded to be better then Asia's debut, but this one is possibly worse.

The thing that bothers me with Alive Again is that it fools the fans by implicitly promising a return to old glory, thematically the album hints at the first two Nightingale albums and even reprises some themes of it, but musically this is as far from those albums as possible. The great atmospheric rock has been abandoned and replaced by neo-prog and AOR clichés, and in comparison to the similar albums around it, this one pales in songwriting as well in execution. Mostly, the material consists of bland pop songs, performed with electric guitars in order to sound heavy, but they can't be fooling anyone really. Even tons of heaviness wouldn't be able to cover the liquid cheese at the core of this album.

Apart from the intro and the outro which rehash some of the music from the older albums, there's only average and unexciting music here. I think I've heard about 80% of all albums featuring Dan Swanö and this is sure the weakest of all. For neo-prog listeners only.

Nightingale have taken quite a journey since their charming goth rock flavoured debut. I can't say the journey went into stellar directions. The songs on I are mostly overcooked hard rock clichés with lots of AOR cheese and neo-prog topping. Not my favourite salad.

The first two songs are exemplary. Formulaic hard rockers with a steady pace and catchy melodies. Not failing at what they try to be but just so old and predictable. The pop modulations in the verses don't help either. No, not my taste at all. The Game is one of the few track that brings back some of the magic of the preceding albums. Basically, it's a simple verse chorus rock ballad but the melodies are compelling enough to make it work.

What follows is a procession of half-pleasant but unremarkable hard rock and AOR songs. Only Alonely manages to convince me, even if it is the most sentimental moment of the entire album. Still, I very much doubt if I would like this if Swanö wasn't handling the vocals. His dark and breathy voice is always a feast really. One other song sticks out, Dead Or Alive has some nicely processed clean chorus guitar effects in the verses and a heavy riff for the chorus. The song ends a bit abruptly though and could have been developed more thoroughly.

After the tribute to Sisters of Mercy on the debut and the dark neo-prog of the second album, Swanö clearly chose to honour his love for Asia and Dio on his third Nightingale album. Luckily it never gets as bad as Asia's debut, the production is less overstated and the songs are not equally commercial, but it's a narrow escape. This is competent but unchallenging glossy rock. 2.5 stars.

Nightingale's second album shows a considerable growth since the debut. Dan Swanö got assisted by his brother Tom Nouga and all songs now feature live drums from Swanö. These changes led to an album that is less gothic in style and has a greater attention to arrangement, musicality and composition.

The opening track for instance has a decidedly proggy start, with a dramatic piano theme, flutes and strong vocal melodies. On the epic highlights Thoughts From A Stolen Soul and Alive Again, Nightingale really succeed in adding a darker shade to neo-prog. It gives them an original profile in this industrious scene. My favourite of the album would be the gloomy beauty of Intermezzo, featuring nothing but a few solemn keyboard chords and Swanö's vocals that are simultaneously warm, calm, melodious and touching. A rare combination. Neo-prog usually lacks vocalists with pose and punch for me. But with an excellent vocalist as Dan Swanö it can indeed turn out tasty and soulful.

All these elements make this into a decidedly more professional and progressive album then the debut. But is it also better?

Opinions are divided. The current verdict of the legions of Nightingale fans on PA balance each other out: one vote in favour of the debut and one in favour of The Closing Chronicles. For me it's always been the debut. Clumsy as it sometimes sounds, its dark energy has an irresistible charm, one that I only find back here on the two 9 minute songs and on Intermezzo.

In just a year Nightingale evolved from a goth project with proggy undertones into a melodious neo-prog band with only Swanö's warm gloomy baritone as a remaining goth feature. The result is different but still unique and solid. A recommended listen. 3.5 stars