EDGE OF SANITY

'Crimson' is a great prog metal epic/album full of heavy guitar riffs and the occasional groovy, spacey interlude. Musically, this album is close to, if not perfect, but the vocals not so much. I am used to the tones of metal singers like Ozzy Osbourne, but I always took deep, grumbling death metal vocals as over-the-top and ridiculous. For an album within the prog sub-genre of 'Tech/Extreme Prog Metal', I would assume this would be more prominent. And it wasn't, so I'm satisfied. Dan Swano does a great job with both his 'normal' and growling vocals and he had perfected a blend of when to use either one. But back to the music. That drummer (Benny Larsson) sounds great too. He knows to lose his [&*!#] when the time is right and to melodically hit the high hats in the slower sections. The guitar is just amazing. Both Axelsson and Nerberg have achieved the perfect blend of technical and groovy (cause sometimes it's hard to have both). This is a great album, and I think I would probably recommend it to any fan of death metal (cause I don't like death metal but I loved this). Prog on.

While there may not be multiple surfaces in the music like in a typical prog-metal or rock music, there are so many shifts in the dynamics and motives that it will take you many time to absorb and appreciate all. We can hear recurring hooks and the ending is epic with somewhat grandiose chord progressions and synths in the background.

No doubt it is one of the finest progressive death-metal releases of the 20th century (not so many candidates anyways ;))

Edge Of Sanity started as your typical death metal band. Blast beats, growls, and occasional clean vocals, but they were very few. Crimson was where they defined their sound (and most of melodic death metal's), where clean vocals and acoustic passages were used just as much as the death metal aspects. After Crimson they, as you would expect, started to recycle the formula that worked so well in this album.

This album is one song, however it flows very well so it shouldn't be tedious to listen it from beginning to end. I'm giving this record five stars due to its historical importance and influence on the genre, in other words, it's essential.

Widely touted as a masterpiece, Crimson is Edge Of Sanity's cornerstone in their discography. It is also one of the most influential metal records of all time. It consists of one single forty minute track, divided across eight movements. This album can definitely be inaccessible, mostly because it's very continuous, unexpected and really heavy, which can turn some progressive rock fans off.

With that said, I still think it should be checked out by any progressive rock & metal fan, due to historical reasons and because it's simply an amazing and consistent album. Definitely a five star record.

I respect this record for what it has done to its genre, and it's essential to death metal.

The whole album is one song, divided into eight movements. The song is a constantly changing and dynamic work that keeps you entertained from beginning to end, it's a marvel for melodic death metal fans.

It's for sure one of my favorite death metal records, and an essential work for death metal. Gotta be five stars.

A very essential record for Death Metal And a very strong and solid record in general, Edge Of Sanity's Crimson is a five star effort.

That was what I always thought about this album until I listened it. Edge Of Sanity is a pretty obscure band, and I wouldn't really say that their discography is as strong as the one from other Tech Metal acts like Opeth or Death, but this album is a true marvel for its genre.

The song alternates between heavy and crushing riffs to mellow acoustic passages, much like Opeth (no wonder why the mastermind behind Opeth, Mikael, was brought as a featured artist). A perfect balance between these contrasting properties is present and it's undeniable that it adds great dynamic to this masterwork.

Obviously, if you start to listen to this album, you must finish it. It flows amazingly (mostly due to the fact that it's a single song) and isn't a boring listen in any way. I think my five star rating shouldn't be too controversial. Most metalheads will agree this is a masterpiece.