PURGATORY AFTERGLOW

Although I do not understand why many Swanoheads consider this to be the best album by Edge Of Sanity, I have to admit this is a great experience. Compared to its successor, Crimson, released two years after, this is a weaker effort lyrically, technically and conceptually.

I really enjoy this album, but its progressiveness, honestly speaking, is rather questionable. Besides the synth in the first track, which, in my point of view, is the only progressive song here, the album is just a great melodic Death Metal record in the style of Dark Tranquility. The riffs and melodies are written incredibly well, the choruses are very catchy, and Dan's extreme vocals are much better than on any of the previous releases. I know this isn't an aspect to attract Progressive Rock fans towards this album, but they are quite possibly the greatest done in the genre. Dan also sings "cleanly" on three tracks - Twilight, Blood-Coloured and Black Tears. For the people unfamiliar with the Swedish mastermind: Dan Swano's clean singing sounds a lot like David Coverdale, who seems to be a common influence even among the manliest metal musicians of Sweden.

Joking aside, the tracks here vary from 'excellent' to 'average'. The highest point of the album is the very first track, Twlight, with its beautiful and hauntingly mysterious synth parts and clean vocals, amazing melodic riffs and the mighty chorus. Of Darksome Origin is a riff-based song, with a dark atmosphere and Black Metal vocals. Blood-Coloured is also an enjoyable little song, with dual vocal styles (both clean and extreme), great melodic riffs and a short, but a fabulous guitar solo. The other tracks here are solid and share a similar distinctive sound, which is highly enjoyable, but I need to speak about two more specific songs. One is Black Tears, a song that fans often beg for on Nightingale concerts, which sounds like something a group I used to listen to in my youth would have done. Seriously, as strange as it may sound, it seems that the musicians of the Finnish pseudo-goth metal band HIM heard this song and decided to make a whole career of writing similiar material. The lowest point of the album is the last song, which I always skip, as both the music and the vocals, done by another musician in the group rather than Swano, always make me cringe. It seems that whenever the musicians attempt something without the permission of Dan Swano or in his absence, they fail miserably.

In conclusion, this is a very good melodeath album, but not really an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Often categorised as Extreme Progressive Metal, Edge Of Sanity are more of a Progressive Death Metal group than anything, with emphasis on the death metal part. I suggest the average Progressive Metal fan to avoid this, but if you are a fan of Death Metal in general (let me remind you again that this is isn't a generic DM album), this should be the second EoS album you get. Not a Death Metal enthusiast? In that case, Crimson is the EoS album for you.