SBRODJ

This EP was a one-off project for Edge Of Sanity member Dan Swano. As far as I know, this is the only thing he has been involved with that I have heard yet. What got me interested in hearing this was the song "Den Svarta On"(which can be streamed here on PA). That song blew me away. Just incredible. All three tracks are great avant-metal. The whole thing is based on the Belgian comic Tintin, of which I know nothing. In fact, the fact that I don't understand anything being said only makes me enjoy the music more. Love the use of synths here. Since I haven't heard anything else Mr. Swano has done, I can't compare this to anything else.

"Plan 714 Till Sydney" is probably the most 'normal' song here. Nice mix of riffs and synths. This track gets more interesting as it goes along. Only gets weird at the end with the saxophone and spoken voice. "Den Svarta On" is the highlight. Excellent song. There's so much going on, it changes a lot and never gets boring. Love the riffs and the synth parts. More vocal samples here than on the other two songs. Great melodic synth playing at times. Nice use of percussion in this song. After a brief noisy and cacophonous section, you hear steel drums playing a melody. Then the guitars and drums play over top of it with an awesome guitar solo. Later some funky clavinet gets joined by drums and distorted guitars. Trippy synth sounds as well. An earlier synth melody gets reprised at the end.

"Den Mystika Stjarnan" starts with someone talking in Swedish (I'm assuming). Some organ here. Compared to the last song this is pretty straight-forward. Synths in the middle are great. Basically the last half of this song is noisy cacophony, including some skronking and someone making weird vocal noises (think Mike Patton). I would enjoy a whole album like this stuff. The production and playing is great. This is a short EP but at least there is no filler and the most annoying and pointless part of the whole thing is at the very end. Listening to this makes me curious about Swano's other projects and bands. I'll give this a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.