Edge of Sanity was a Swedish

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...

band that, alongside

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/ rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mik ...

, is commonly regarded as being the first to fuse

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

styles like

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

and

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

with

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

. The group was founded by

Dan Swanö Dan-Erland Swanö (born 10 March 1973), also known as Dan "The Man" Swanö, is a Swedish musician and record producer who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist an ...

in 1989 and ended in 2003.

History

Edge of Sanity began as a death metal band with their debut release '' Nothing but Death Remains''. The band's second release, '' Unorthodox'', with tracks like "Enigma" and "When All Is Said", showed Edge of Sanity branching out from some of the genre's conventions. ''

The Spectral Sorrows ''The Spectral Sorrows'' is the third studio album by the Swedish death metal band, Edge of Sanity, recorded by Börje Forsberg in July–August 1993 and released by Black Mark Production in 1993. The bassist Anders Lindberg could not record the ...

'', '' Until Eternity Ends'', and '' Purgatory Afterglow'' continued the trend, so that by the release of ''

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, '' Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red co ...

'' (1996), Edge of Sanity was a

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

band. ''Crimson'' was a 40-minute

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Some ...

consisting entirely of one track, concerning a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

future in which mankind had lost the ability to breed. After one more album, '' Infernal'' (1997), guitarist/vocalist/songwriter

left Edge of Sanity, and his departure is generally associated with a decline in quality in the band's material. Swanö was replaced by Robert Karlsson, the vocalist of Pan.Thy.Monium (a

side project In popular music, a side project is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band. It can also be an artist or a band temporarily switching to a different style. Usually these projects emphasize ...

in which Swanö was also involved), but after one more album, ''

Cryptic Cryptic may refer to: In science: * Cryptic species complex, a group of species that are very difficult to distinguish from one another * Crypsis, the ability of animals to blend in to avoid observation * Cryptic era, earliest period of the Earth ...

'', the band split up. In 2003, Swanö revived the outfit as a one-man band (with several session musicians), and recorded a sequel to ''Crimson'', '' Crimson II''. Immediately after, he re-dissolved the project. The ''Kur-Nu-Gi-A'' demo was re-released on LP in 2011, and on CD in 2012.

Members

Final line-up

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

(1989–1997, 2003), keyboards (1991–1996, 2003),

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(1992–1993, 1997),

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

(1994–1997, 2003),

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(1997, 2003),

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

(2003)

Previous members

Andreas Axelsson ::''See also Andreas Axelsson (criminal)''. Andreas Axelsson is a Swedish musician, best known as a guitarist in progressive death metal band Edge of Sanity. Before he joined Edge of Sanity, Axelsson was the singer in black metal band Marduk, ...

− guitar (1989–1999), vocals (1997) * Sami Nerberg − guitar (1989–1999) * Anders Lindberg − bass (1989–1999) * Benny Larsson − drums (1989–1999) * Robert Karlsson − vocals (1997–1999)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:120 bottom:90 top:5 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1989 till:26/08/2003 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1989 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1990 Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitars id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums,_percussion id:multi value:yellow legend:All_instruments id:album value:black legend:Studio_release id:other value:gray(0.7) legend:Other_release id:bars value:gray(0.95) BackgroundColors = bars:bars LineData = at:01/11/1989 color:other layer:back at:01/01/1990 color:other layer:back at:01/02/1990 color:other layer:back at:01/03/1990 color:other layer:back at:09/07/1991 color:album layer:back at:01/01/1992 color:other layer:back at:01/03/1992 color:other layer:back at:01/05/1992 color:other layer:back at:08/07/1992 color:album layer:back at:15/11/1993 color:album layer:back at:01/03/1994 color:other layer:back at:01/10/1994 color:album layer:back at:02/04/1996 color:album layer:back at:05/02/1997 color:album layer:back at:11/11/1997 color:album layer:back at:29/11/1999 color:other layer:back at:26/08/2003 color:album layer:back BarData = bar:Swano text:"Dan Swanö" bar:Robban text:"Robert Karlsson" bar:Dread text:"Andreas Axelsson" bar:Sami text:"Sami Nerberg" bar:Anders2 text:"Anders Lindberg" bar:Benny text:"Benny Larsson" PlotData = width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(15,-4) bar:Swano from:01/01/1989 till:01/07/1997 color:vocals bar:Swano from:01/01/1991 till:01/07/1997 color:keys width:3 bar:Swano from:01/02/1993 till:01/07/1997 color:guitar width:7 bar:Robban from:01/07/1997 till:01/12/1999 color:vocals bar:Swano from:01/01/2003 till:26/08/2003 color:vocals width:3 bar:Swano from:01/01/2003 till:26/08/2003 color:multi bar:Dread from:01/01/1989 till:01/12/1999 color:guitar bar:Dread from:01/02/1992 till:01/07/1997 color:vocals width:3 bar:Dread from:01/02/1993 till:01/12/1993 color:bass width:7 bar:Sami from:01/01/1989 till:01/07/1996 color:guitar bar:Sami from:01/07/1997 till:01/12/1999 color:guitar bar:Sami from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 color:vocals width:3 bar:Anders2 from:01/01/1989 till:01/02/1993 color:bass bar:Anders2 from:01/12/1993 till:01/12/1999 color:bass bar:Benny from:01/01/1989 till:01/12/1999 color:drums

Discography

Albums

* '' Nothing but Death Remains'' (1991) * '' Unorthodox'' (1992) * ''

'' (1993) * '' Purgatory Afterglow'' (1994) * ''

'' (1996) * '' Infernal'' (1997) * ''

'' (1997) * '' Crimson II'' (2003)

EPs

* '' Until Eternity Ends'' ( EP, 1994)

Demos

* ''Euthanasia'' (1989) * ''Kur-Nu-Gi-A'' (1990) * ''The Dead'' (1990) * ''The Immortal Rehearsals'' (1990) * ''Dead but Dreaming'' (1992) * ''Darkday'' (1993) * ''Lost'' (1993) * ''The Spectral Sorrows Demos'' (1993) * ''Infernal Demos'' (1996)

Compilations

* ''

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

'' (1999) * '' When All Is Said'' (2006)

Videos

* "Black Tears" (1994) from ''Purgatory Afterglow'' * "Uncontroll Me" (1997) from ''Cryptic'' * ''Live in Norrköping 1991''

External links

Black Mark Records

Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edge Of Sanity Swedish progressive metal musical groups Swedish melodic death metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Black Mark Production artists