Dan Swano

[Ravenheart]

I didn't see a thread dedicated to him, so I decided to start one. This is dedicated to my favorite music artist of all time. He's done so many great things, and his discography just continues to grow.

His best known project is Edge of Sanity. I'm sure some of how have, at the very least, heard of the 40-minute epic known as Crimson. It's definitely a masterpiece; check it out. Some other great bands that he is a part of: Nightingale (I highly recommend this group), Unicorn, Subway Mirror, Odyssey, Second Sky (future project), and his solo album of 1998, entitled Moontower. He's worked on a coutnless number of albums, but these are the main projects he fronted by himself. Almost everything he touches is gold.


I'm a huge Swano nerd; my collection of his work is:

Edge of Sanity:
Nothing But Death Remains
Unorthodox
The Spectral Sorrows
Purgatory Afterglow
Until Eternity ends
Crimson
Infernal
Cryptic
Crimson II

Nightingale:
The Breathing Shadow
Closing Chronicles
I
Alive Again
Invisible
Nightfall Overture
White Darkness

Solo work:
Moontower

Unicorn:
Ever Since
Emotional Wasteland

Subway Mirror:
Demo
Wisepope

Odyssey:
Odyssey

That's not including the albums I own that he's mixed/produced/had a helping hand in. I'm sure you all wanted to know this.

Anyway, discuss. I'm sure there are bound to be some fans of the legendary Dan Swano on here

[ClairvoyantCat]

A few people I know love this guy... what should I listen to first from him?


I'm not a metal fan, if that helps. 

[Ravenheart]

I recommend Nightingale; they're prog/hard rock, and Swano has made a ton of ridiculously catchy tunes with them. A ton of their songs would fit right in on a radio station, but without any talent being compromised.

[Nick]

You don't have the stuff he has done with Arjen?

[Ravenheart]

You don't have the stuff he has done with Arjen?

Nut, but I've been meaning to check it out. I'm always on the lookout for anything Swano-related. Star One sounds like a good project. He's singing on the new Star One album, too.

[Sigz]

Sörskogen - Mordet i Grottan

Song recorded with Mikael Akerfeldt. You'll recognize the chorus.

[wolfking]

I love this guy, so underrated!

I only have;

Edge of Sanity: Crimson, Crimson 2, Spectral Sorrows, 2cd best of coming in the mail
Nightingale: I, Alive Again, White Darkness

Crimson 1 and 2 are two of the greatest metal compositions ever, and White Darkness is fantastic, I love that record.

[Ravenheart]

I love this guy, so underrated!

I only have;

Edge of Sanity: Crimson, Crimson 2, Spectral Sorrows, 2cd best of coming in the mail
Nightingale: I, Alive Again, White Darkness

Crimson 1 and 2 are two of the greatest metal compositions ever, and White Darkness is fantastic, I love that record.

Check out Purgatory Afterglow by Edge of Sanity. Good stuff there, and it has the hit song Black Tears.

[carl320]

He's also in Bloodbath (at least Nightmares Made Flesh).

A band I know had their album mixed by Swano, and it sounded pretty cool.

[wolfking]

I love this guy, so underrated!

I only have;

Edge of Sanity: Crimson, Crimson 2, Spectral Sorrows, 2cd best of coming in the mail
Nightingale: I, Alive Again, White Darkness

Crimson 1 and 2 are two of the greatest metal compositions ever, and White Darkness is fantastic, I love that record.

Check out Purgatory Afterglow by Edge of Sanity. Good stuff there, and it has the hit song Black Tears.

Edge of Sanity had a hit song?? 

[wolfking]

He's also in Bloodbath (at least Nightmares Made Flesh).

A band I know had their album mixed by Swano, and it sounded pretty cool.

Forgot about Bloodbath, I've got the Wacken Carnage cd/dvd also, that's pretty good.

[Ravenheart]

I love this guy, so underrated!

I only have;

Edge of Sanity: Crimson, Crimson 2, Spectral Sorrows, 2cd best of coming in the mail
Nightingale: I, Alive Again, White Darkness

Crimson 1 and 2 are two of the greatest metal compositions ever, and White Darkness is fantastic, I love that record.

Check out Purgatory Afterglow by Edge of Sanity. Good stuff there, and it has the hit song Black Tears.

Edge of Sanity had a hit song?? 

OK, "hit" is pushing it. But it's probably their best known song, aside from Crimson. They made a music video for it, too. It also got a little bit of airplay

[bodiesinflight]

I am a fan but should be a bigger one really.

I'd love to see Edge of Sanity live one day even though they're one of those bands I like but have never got round to listening to much (just so many bands out there and the ones that are still together tend to be first in my priorities).

His new band Demiurg are pretty cool.

[wolfking]

I love this guy, so underrated!

I only have;

Edge of Sanity: Crimson, Crimson 2, Spectral Sorrows, 2cd best of coming in the mail
Nightingale: I, Alive Again, White Darkness

Crimson 1 and 2 are two of the greatest metal compositions ever, and White Darkness is fantastic, I love that record.

Check out Purgatory Afterglow by Edge of Sanity. Good stuff there, and it has the hit song Black Tears.

Edge of Sanity had a hit song?? 

OK, "hit" is pushing it. But it's probably their best known song, aside from Crimson. They made a music video for it, too. It also got a little bit of airplay

True??  Cool, I'll check it out.  My best of should arrive next week so that will definitely get a flogging.

[wolfking]

I am a fan but should be a bigger one really.

I'd love to see Edge of Sanity live one day even though they're one of those bands I like but have never got round to listening to much (just so many bands out there and the ones that are still together tend to be first in my priorities).

His new band Demiurg are pretty cool.

Crimon 1 and 2 live in their entirety!!  OMG!!

[Big Hath]

wolfking (and anyone else), what Nightingale album should I start with?

[Ravenheart]

Either Invisible or White Darkness.

Man, I forgot I even made this thread.

[wolfking]

White Darkness was my first and it's my favourite.  It's incredible.

Saying that, I don't have all their albums.  I'm still missing 2 or 3 I think.

[Jaq]

Me and my ex-girlfriend used to be HUGE Swano fans, especially Nightingale and Edge of Sanity. I got her into his work, she got me into Devin Townsend via SYL.

I strongly suspect that me associating both artists with her may have a lot to do with my disenchantment with their work, though I will spin Nightingale because it's so good. They're amazing-they evoke so much classic AOR/prog without actually SOUNDING like any particular band. And Swano's an excellent producer, his albums generally sound amazing. And yeah, Moontower is pretty awesome as well. Edge of Sanity I mainly got into for Crimson and then Crimson II, which really is a Swano solo album.

Hmm. Maybe I'll overcome my reasons for avoiding music from that time frame and give Swano some time soon.

[Jirpo]

I've been listening to some Nightingale since Raven recommended me them in my roulette and I've been loving them! Thanks! I need to check out some of that other stuff.

[wolfking]

Anyone who hasn't heard Crimson 1 and 2 needs to rectify that, especially the first one.

[Jirpo]

Anyone who hasn't heard Crimson 1 and 2 needs to rectify that, especially the first one.

Will do, thanks Wolf! I've heard a lot of great things about them

[Nekov]

Anyone who hasn't heard Crimson 1 and 2 needs to rectify that, especially the first one.

Will do. I have only listened to Unicorn and Nightingale

[wolfking]

Just remember Edge of Sanity are a totally different beast to Nightingale.

[Nekov]

Does it have growls? I hate them 

[wolfking]

Does it have growls? I hate them 

They are 90% growls. 

[Nekov]

Well, no Edge of sanity for me then

[Big Hath]

RRRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR

[seasonsinthesky]

Crimson I & II are absolute must-haves. they are killer! (however, don't buy the Crim I/II vinyl — waste of money )

speaking of them — does anyone own the best of EOS release? what did they edit on the Crimsons to get them both on a single disc?

[wolfking]

Yeah, I own it.  Crimson is down to 38 minutes and Crimson 2 is 41 minutes.  I don't think I ever listened to those versions so I couldn't tell what is edited.  I might listen and try and figure it out.

[guitarrero]

Cool to see a thread about Dan here! As you guys already mentioned he's a genius when it comes to writing and performing music (playing various instruments!).
He also is a kickass-producer and i'm more than proud to say that, among many very very good records, he also mixed a shitty one, namely my bands' debut Album "Coma Ghosts" (review by our fellow KNH over here: https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=32796.0 ). We still are absolutely stunned about what he did with our songs, a true master in that field also.
But the thing that stoked me the most is: He is a totally down-to-earth and normal guy! Super-friendly, quick, blessed with a wonderful sense of humor and working with him kinda felt like working with a friend whom you know for ages! Absolutely wonderful person!

[Big Hath]

Moontower is freaking awesome.  Also, just got some downloads of Nightingale (Invisible , I, and White Darkness).  Loving them so far.  Still waiting on Crimson that I ordered from Amazon.

Will probably order Crimson II and Purgatory Afterglow next.


The other EOS albums seem to be rated rather poorly, especially on progarchives.  What happened with those?

[Ravenheart]

Your first mistake was looking at them on progarchives.

[Big Hath]

heh, you are probably right.

What about Odyssey?  What is that like?

[Ravenheart]

Odyssey was a small 3-song collection done by Dan. It features all clean vocals and but is more on the heavy, progressive metal side. Not quite Edge of Sanity, not quite Nightingale. Amon-Ra is probably the best song on it and is a good summation of what the other two tracks are like.

And to give your initial question an actual answer, the other EoS albums have a different tone than Purgatory Afterglow and the two Crimson albums. The earlier records are more raw, visceral, and rooted in death metal. It wasn't until The Spectral Sorrows that a significant and noticeable amount of melody was injected into the songs. Infernal was the last EoS album to feature Dan and is still quite melodic.

But Cryptic doesn't feature Dan at all and is typically regarded as their worst album.