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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: Ravenheart on September 07, 2010, 06:19:55 PM
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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 :)
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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.
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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.
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You don't have the stuff he has done with Arjen?
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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.
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Sörskogen - Mordet i Grottan (https://hem.bredband.net/frisun/Sorskogen_-_Mordet_i_Grottan.mp3)
Song recorded with Mikael Akerfeldt. You'll recognize the chorus.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?? :|
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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.
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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 :p
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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.
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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 :p
True?? Cool, I'll check it out. My best of should arrive next week so that will definitely get a flogging.
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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!!
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wolfking (and anyone else), what Nightingale album should I start with?
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Either Invisible or White Darkness.
Man, I forgot I even made this thread.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Anyone who hasn't heard Crimson 1 and 2 needs to rectify that, especially the first one.
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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 :)
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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
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Just remember Edge of Sanity are a totally different beast to Nightingale.
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Does it have growls? I hate them :-\
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Does it have growls? I hate them :-\
They are 90% growls. :lol
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Well, no Edge of sanity for me then
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RRRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR
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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?
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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.
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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!
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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?
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Your first mistake was looking at them on progarchives.
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heh, you are probably right.
What about Odyssey? What is that like?
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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.
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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.
thanks - so it may be similar to Moontower, but with clean vocals? If so, I am all over it.
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Ehh, it doesn't have the dense synth melodies that dominate Moontower, but it's still absolutely worth listening to. It's a highly enjoyable collection of songs.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwsLxPBknOk
Here's a new song from Swano's new project called Witherscape.
This is simply incredible. The album is out on July 29.
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I'll be sure to check it out :tup
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Oh god yes.
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Sounds awesome! As a huge fan of most things involving Dan, I can't wait for this.
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I love me some Dan Swanö, so I'm sure I'll be picking this up.
By the way, did the synth at 4:30 remind anyone else of Arjen, or was it just me?
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Been a while since I paid much attention to anything Swano's done (his work reminds me of my ex, terrible break up, didn't want to think about it for a while), but gave this a listen and liked it a lot. I'll be getting this.
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want. naow.
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Just given a listen :drool:
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I love me some Dan Swanö, so I'm sure I'll be picking this up.
By the way, did the synth at 4:30 remind anyone else of Arjen, or was it just me?
Yeah, Star One instantly came into my mind.
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I love me some Dan Swanö, so I'm sure I'll be picking this up.
By the way, did the synth at 4:30 remind anyone else of Arjen, or was it just me?
Yeah, Star One instantly came into my mind.
I'll join this camp.
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I really enjoyed that, but the growl doesn't sound right with the music.
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I really enjoyed that, but the growl doesn't sound right with the music.
I knew your warming to growls was getting too good to be true. Give it time, I started like you, with vox like Bodom, and slowly got into pretty much everything else.
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Wow, I just discovered this, sounds absolutely awesome. Another exciting release in July :caffeine:
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Album samples: https://www.amazon.com/The-Inheritance/dp/B00DS2G3Q2/
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Three posts in a row since I don't know if anybody is still following this thread, but the CD arrived today and I just finished my first listen.
Definitely exceeded my expectations. I didn't really expect anything that special although Astrid Falls is a phenomenal track, but the whole album is absolutely fantastic. Dan's vocals are really well done with some great vocal melodies. The guitar work is impressive as well, some of these riffs are simply incredible.
I'm really happy right now :D
Especially since the new JLB also came in the same package and I'm going to listen to that one now :metal
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Fngh. Must get on top of this.
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I am exercising restraint.
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I am exercising restraint.
SELF-RESTRAINT
INVENTORY
ANALYSIS
I've heard good things about Dan Swanö and he has engineered and mixed some of my favorite albums of all time, but I haven't really paid attention to his own music. I'll check some songs out on Youtube next week when I have time.
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His "solo" album called Moontower is worth checking out as well.
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Yes, definitely get Moontower.
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I really recommend everyone to get the Witherscape album. I love it more with every listen. I'm not the biggest fan of Crawling From Validity, but literally every other song is at least great, with The Wedlock Observation, To The Calling Of Blood And Dreams, Mother Of The Soul, Astrid Falls and The Math Of The Myth being nothing short of amazing :metal
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I listened to the two songs on the official Century Media channel on YT and the music is ok, but I'm not crazy about Swanö's clean vocals. Maybe I need to try again later...
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I listened to the two songs on the official Century Media channel on YT and the music is ok, but I'm not crazy about Swanö's clean vocals. Maybe I need to try again later...
:'( :'( :'(
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Don't worry, I loved his growls :metal Besides, some of my current favorite singers (LaBrie, Renkse, Stanne) have voices that I didn't care about at first ;)
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I never understood why Renske's vocals are so popular.
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Because he can sing so convincingly and emotionally and his tone is pleasant :)
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Dan Swanö on future Witherscape releases:
Wir reden momentan über eine Vinyl/Download-EP, die innerhalb von einem Jahr oder so veröffentlicht werden soll… Darauf werden zwei bis drei Cover im WITHERSCAPE-Stil sein, ein neuer Track und vielleicht eine Akustikversion von "Dead For A Day".
"We are currently talking about a vinyl/download EP, which we plan to release within a year or so... It will contain two or three covers in the Witherscape style, one new track and maybe an acoustic version of "Dead For A Day"."
:caffeine:
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pre-ordered the album last week from Amazon. US release date is August 6.
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I really recommend everyone to get the Witherscape album. I love it more with every listen. I'm not the biggest fan of Crawling From Validity, but literally every other song is at least great, with The Wedlock Observation, To The Calling Of Blood And Dreams, Mother Of The Soul, Astrid Falls and The Math Of The Myth being nothing short of amazing :metal
so yes, this is a really great album. Lot's of cool groove's, kind of in the Nightingale style, but some really good heaviness that makes you think of Edge of Sanity a bit. Kind of a cool amalgamation of Swano's many different musical sides.
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Still waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail. Wish it would hurry the hell up.
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I really love Dan's "hard rock vocals" in some places. Different from what you would expect from an album that can be labeled as progressive or melodic death metal.
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Finally got my copy of this yesterday. After two listens, I really enjoy it. It's really different for Swano, it has hints of all his other projects, but to me, it's pretty original, and it reminds me more of Opeth as opposed to Dan's other works. The second half of the album is a little weaker, but it requires more listens to grow obviously.
The guitar solos are amazing.
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Finally got my copy of this yesterday. After two listens, I really enjoy it. It's really different for Swano, it has hints of all his other projects, but to me, it's pretty original, and it reminds me more of Opeth as opposed to Dan's other works. The second half of the album is a little weaker, but it requires more listens to grow obviously.
The guitar solos are amazing.
After just one listen, I feel the opposite. The first three songs were kinda meh for me, but "Dying for the Sun" kicks off a run of some really good songs.
I like this album. I don't think it'll make my top of the year but it's just really enjoyable. I kinda wished they'd made more use of the guest musicians throughout the album rather than cramming them all in on "The Wedlock Observation." Also, Paul Kuhr is supposedly on this track, but for the life of me, I don't know where. Which is too bad, because he's a pretty awesome vocalist.
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I'm loving this album. It's on repeat in the car, really great stuff.
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Just chiming in to say Nightingale is awesome :metal Better Safe Than Sorry is the most addictive song I've heard in a while.
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Why is Moontower so freaking hard to find. You'd think a reissue would be in order.
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Chiming in to say that Crimson is one hell of an underrated song/album. I think Mikael Åkerfeldt's minute long scream halfway into the song is one of his best screaming passages IMO.
Even though it's from an album full of rerecorded Nightingale songs I personally love Nightmare Overture off of the album of the same name better than the one off of The Breathing Shadow. The tone of Swano's guitar on that version sounds :censored awesome and crunchy! :metal
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Why is Moontower so freaking hard to find. You'd think a reissue would be in order.
Agreed; I'd love to get a copy.
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Chiming in to say that Crimson is one hell of an underrated song/album. I think Mikael Åkerfeldt's minute long scream halfway into the song is one of his best screaming passages IMO.
Made my all time top 20, perfect song/album.
Why is Moontower so freaking hard to find. You'd think a reissue would be in order.
Agreed; I'd love to get a copy.
Same.
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Why is Moontower so freaking hard to find. You'd think a reissue would be in order.
So three people here want a copy. Now go find 9997 more and you'll have a shot at getting a reprint.
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Why is Moontower so freaking hard to find. You'd think a reissue would be in order.
So three people here want a copy. Now go find 9997 more and you'll have a shot at getting a reprint.
I'm sure we'd easily find that many people.
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I'd like to have one too :lol
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We should start a petition :lol
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Why is Moontower so freaking hard to find. You'd think a reissue would be in order.
So three people here want a copy. Now go find 9997 more and you'll have a shot at getting a reprint.
I'm sure we'd easily find that many people.
If you can prove it to whoever owns the rights, I'm sure they would love to take everyone's money.
You can also just buy the legal mp3 version. I prefer a physical copy, but I'm not going to pass up albums just because I don't have a physical copy. Also, consider setting up an eBay alert.
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Now I feel bad for buying Moontower off the shelves of the metal section of a local record store a few years back.
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I just thought of something. You should ask Blood Music, they seem to be in the business of making special re-releases. They post here occasionally.
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They only do vinyls.
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Didn't they do the CD re-release for maudlin of the Well a while back, though?
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Svart Records also does a lot of vinyl reissues, but I think they release some CDs as well.
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They only do vinyls.
Nah they do CDs as well, that one Sigh reissue came in CD or Vinyl formats.
And with the recent Cloudkicker ones they did, there was CD and Vinyl options for both albums.
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New Nightingale album coming in November: https://insideoutmusic.com/release.aspx?IdRelease=1728
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Awesome news :metal
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Awesome news indeed. I love the hell out of Nightingale. :metal
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i am OBSESSED with Swanö lately — this was my first try with Nightingale, though, and Nightfall Overture is kicking my ass :metal
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Ironically Nightfall Overture is the album I listen to the most (on Spotify), although I don't have it on CD. It truly feels like a"best-of" release and all the songs sound much more kick-ass than their originals, thanks to the great production and Dan's more powerful vocals. :metal It's amazing how much he improved as a singer after the first four albums.
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New Nightingale album coming in November: https://insideoutmusic.com/release.aspx?IdRelease=1728
What unexpected, awesome news.
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New Nightingale album coming in November: https://insideoutmusic.com/release.aspx?IdRelease=1728
What unexpected, awesome news.
My thoughts exactly! :metal
I'm still loving the Witherscape album.
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Been listening to the new Nightingale album.
Holy crap, it is amazing. Dan Swano's voice is the aural equivalent of pure gold.
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Retribution was my AOTY :metal
I recommend everyone to buy a physical copy, because the vinyl mix on the enhanced part of the CD is amazing and worth every cent! :hefdaddy
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Got my copy in the mail a couple of weeks back but I haven't had a decent chance to crack it open and have a listen. Should do that tonight.
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Retribution is pure awesomeness. Chasing the Storm Away and The Voyage of Endurance are to of my favourite songs from 2014, period.
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Finally got my hands on "Retribution" and WOW is it good! Dan's voice is really really outstanding and the songwriting is so cool as well... catchy tunes with lots of nice twists and turns... perfect! Can't stop listening to it. Dan is the man! \,,/
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Yeah, I've been spinning Retributon for the last couple of weeks and it's quite outstanding. On Stolen Wings, Chasing the Storm and Forevermore are my favs, but the whole thing is good.
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Chasing the Storm Away was my favourite song from 2014, simply outstanding. The chorus is magical.
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Lucifer's Lament is my favorite track, I think.
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Lucifer's Lament is my favorite track, I think.
Second favorite for me, just below Forevermore (Yeah, I love the cheesiest song)
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Lucifer's Lament might be the best song Dan has ever written...
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Lucifer's Lament is my favorite track, I think.
Second favorite for me, just below Forevermore (Yeah, I love the cheesiest song)
no way, you love the song stacked with the most memorable melodies! which isn't to say it's cheeseless, but that "Chasing the Storm Away" is FAR cheesier.
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i don't even know what cheese is
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i don't even know what cheese is
(https://thelinkcentre.co.uk/assets/images/BigCheese.jpg)
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o