CRIMSON

A small classic in Prog metal, but a big one in the Death metal genre, Edge of Sanity's Crimson is one 40 minutes long song which has just about everything a metal fan could ask for. hey, even Mickael Akerfeld is present! And to make this an extra special song, the whole piece stands tall and proud all the way threw, having few if any fillers. impressive Mr. Swano! Now, having said that, this might not be the masterpiece it's made out to be, as there aren't many moments that really stand out from the rest, the whole thing seems to be good all the time. but I tell you, I want some "Holy crap, this is freakin awesome" parts if you know what I'm saying. and they seem to lack a bit here. But still, the result is great, and I'm pretty sure many will not agree with me on this last observation of mine.

As I said before this is quite the classic in the Death metal department, first of all, ´cause Edge of Sanity, along with Opeth, must be the biggest, best and most successful Melodic Death metal band ever, and second ´cause Crimson is the absolute peak of Dan Swano´s career. well, at least with Edge of Sanity. It seems to me Swano wanted to really stand out from the rest of his pears, and man did he! It's not usual for metal to have a 40 minutes long song in their catalog; it is for prog, but not for metal. With that in mind there is also one thing you should know: although there is a progressive tendency threw out the record (for heavens sake, this is a 40 minutes long song, how is that not prog?) . I would say this is rather prog-related than actual Prog, for it is, mostly, a very long metal song. In fact I don't think there are any actual prog moments, any kind of riff, solo or variation that you can clearly point out and say, without a doubt, "This is prog right here!", what makes this prog is, ones again, the fact that it is so long, and the way it is presented to us, as riffs, passages, and vocal lines come and go, appear again, sometimes a bit modify, which by the way is brilliantly done, but more than that. there is no prog in here.

To summon things up, if you are into metal and don't mind long compositions, this is for you. If you like Opeth, listen to this, you will like it, no doubt about it. but if you are not really that much into metal but want to find some prog here. mmm, this might not be the place for you.