CRIMSON

Crimson is considered Edge of Sanity's crowning achievement, masterpiece, finest work, etc. And even if you don't think that it's amazing, you have to admit that it's an ambitious move: one forty-minute conceptual song, with a push towards a more progressive style. While it's a good song and it's always at least interesting to see a band move outside of their comfort zone, Crimson doesn't quite reach the heights that have been ascribed to it.

There is not enough variety to sustain Crimson ' this is the main flaw, and it seems like Swano & Co pieced together about ten or so separate but similar songs in order to achieve the length that they did. Unfortunately the detriments of having full-blast death metal for one continuous forty minute song is that it can become a bit stagnant after a while, not really exploring much new territory even in the depths of the song. They do change it up, throwing in some upbeat and doomy riffs, as well as the occasional soft part, but for most of the track they stick to their principal sound, and in this regard, take no risks. There is nothing wrong with the actual music and the death metal is some of the band's strongest, with riffs-aplenty and quite a few energetically aggressive moments, while still showing off that melodic side. I've never been a huge fan of Swano's vocals but Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth has a guest spot and does a fantastic job, his growls furious and his clean singing pleasant.

The other issue with Crimson is that there isn't really any payoff. The song stops just as Edge of Sanity begins to build up to a big finish, and the grand finale that we do get seems very hastily thrown together after a disjointed previous few minutes. And the very end ' the last few seconds ' are painfully anticlimactic as it just screeches to a halt all of the sudden. I had to listen to this from multiple sources just to make sure the song wasn't getting cut off and I was missing something, but it seems as if they couldn't think of a real ending. The concept of this album isn't very important in comparison to the music although I'd like to address it, and I applaud EoS for this extra effort on top of the fact that they managed to write an album-length song. The storyline combines science fiction and mysticism, but the details are unknown to me because Edge of Sanity doesn't make their lyrics particularly clear and unambiguous, and I don't care enough to look it up. The nature of the growled vocals that are used a majority of the time makes the plot harder yet to follow and I'd like to petition a ban on primarily using harsh vocals for concept albums.

Crimson doesn't work as a forty minute song, despite having very little problem with flow. There are few drastic changes and even fewer distinct movements ' it is based more upon random meandering than musical evolution and real progress. The music behind this is some quality melodeath, and if you don't think of Crimson as one cohesive song, then it's a solid piece of work.