Edge of Sanity Evolution Dear friend Thank you for purchasing this piece of musical history. When I left the band I always knew that I had this thing to complete before I could call it a day. Remember, this is not "The best of" or a "Greatest Hits" cottection, it is the musical diary of the evolution of Edge Of Sanity. PERNICIOUS ANGUISH is the first track we ever wrote. It was written and recorded a November evening in 1989 using a 4 track porta studio. Sami, Benny and Dread was there to record the basic track for a new demo with their hardcare band F.Z.0. After a while they started jamming and I joined in on "vocals" and the rest is history. You can bear the beer!! Later on Anders lindberg joined on bass and Dread switched to guitar. We found a place to rehearse and we pretty much started all over again. The first song we nailed as a five piece was IMMORTAL SOULS. We wrote three more songs and recorded them live in the rehearsal room and released the "Immortal Rehearsals" demo . The version on this CD is taken from a bad cassette copy but I think you can bear what's going on anyway. Somehow we all felt that the "production" of the rehearsal demo wasn't good enough to start shopping for a deal so we re-recorded it and added MAZE OF EXISTENCE, a new track that was way ahead of the others in every way. "Kur-nu-gi-a" is sumerian for "hell" and it was the perfect name for our most successful demo. The demo sold well and after a while we got in touch with Black Mark. They wanted more material so we recorded THE DEAD and obviously they liked what they heard! It was a big thing for us to sign a record deal. Well, myself and Anders never got to sign it since we were both 17 at the time but our dear mothers helped us out and the first album was a fact. We recorded the "Nothing but death remains" album in Montezuma Recordings the first days of '91. It was five cool but expensive days and I have never liked the way the first record turned out. All our dreams about being the next big thing was crushed when we heard the final pressing, complete with drop-outs and all.. Re-mixing a track from this album have been a dream of mine for some eight years now and I can't believe I did it!! The sound on the master tapes was better than I had expected and I think ANGEL OF DISTRESS sounds a tot better in this 99 remix. After the disappointment with the first album setting nothing and not being mega stars, we returned to the rehearsal room and wrote a bunch of new, more brutal material. EVERLASTING was one of them. With this song we introduced the classic Edge Of Sanity guitar sound that would last forever?? Dread's "entombed sound" clashed in a cool way with Sami's "american sound". This version was recorded at my old eight track studio Gorysound the summer of 1990. By the time we got to record the second album Unorthodox this song was pretty much forgotten and ended up somewhere in the middle of this album. Everybody raved about the mega classic "Enigma". It's too good to be forgotten, so here it is in its mega brutal demo version. The only existing master of this demo is a bad cassette, so please have patience with some audio defects on this one, OK!!?? We recorded demos for Unorthodox right before leaving for Belgium to do our first gig outside Sweden, but unfortunately this is the only session that we couldn't find for this record. AFTER AFTERLIFE was one of the last songs we wrote before leaving for Stockholm and Montezuma once again during the Christmas holidays of 1991. One of the things I wish to achieve with this album is to bring forward some of the forgotten classics that can be found on Edge Of Sanity recordings. After Afterlife is one of them, enjoy the 1999 remix. During the Unorthodox sessions we recorded a few extra songs that would end up as bonus tracks on both the CD and the cassette. This remake of HUMAN ABERRATION with Dread on lead vocals can be found on the cassette version. To round it all off we recorded an immortal version of the Cryptic Death classic KILL THE POLICE. The ultimate encore in the Live-set, where the Line-up and sometimes even the language changed! We decided to shoot a video for WHEN ALL IS SAID so I went back to Montezuma to make a more video friendly edited remix of the track. Both the edit and the video failed, but the remix of the album version remained. If you listen carefully you'll find some new vocals! Black Mark wanted to release "When all is said" as a 12" maxi so we recorded some b-sides for that one the summer of 1992. I had this dream to record a cover of the Manowar classic BLOOD OF MY ENEMIES and this was the perfect time to do it. Unfortunately the 12" was cancelled and this version have been hidden since then. We all liked our version so we re-recorded it for the third album "The Spectral Sorrows". We decided to take a break and spend some time doing other things. I wanted the band to go in a more universal direction, blending a lot of different elements on. Personally I think I went over the top when I presented ELEGY to the other blokes. A total ballad/grunge track without any connection to Death metal, The song never made it onto "The Spectral Sorrows" only a very selected amount of people have heard it before, until now. You have to remember that this was in 1993, Death metat was nowhere near as "mainstream" as it is today. I think we did the right thing to leave it for dead, didn't we?? Anyway, after playing a showcase gig for MTV at The Dome in London we returned to the studio to nail the real album. I wrote THE MASQUE the night before we went into the studio because I felt the album was lacking some classic Edge material. The production of the original version is a combination of superb and absolutely horrible. I re-mixed this one in order to try to shape things up a bit and let the music stand out a bit more without the audio defects found on the first mix. The recording session of the third album saw the return of PERNICIOUS ANGUISH. I think we planned to use it for the record but later on we changed our minds and used it for the Japanese version of "Nothing but death remains. So unless you're a diehard fan or a record collector I am pretty sure that you haven't heard this version before. Compare it to the original version. Is it the same band?? Even though "The Spectral Sorrows" was our biggest commercial success we felt that the fourth album had to be different. I had written some "Twisted Sister Death metal" tracks and Dread and the guys had written a hardcore song. And I still can't believe that I managed to talk the others into recording the Police cover. After a while we realized that we were on our way to write just another "compilation album". The material was great but we felt that the fourth album had to be harder and more focused. We recorded the songs we had and released them as a mini album. The title track UNTIL ETERNITY ENDS is presented here in a re-mixed version with some brand new vocals. We started to write evil and furious "back to the roots" tracks but Black Mark heard about our brutal ideas, still high on the success of "The spectral Sorrows" they talked us into adding more melodic elements to the songs. I was eager to please and wrote "Twilight" and "Black Tears" the other blokes did their homework and dragged along "Velvet Dreams". Only one question remained, why "Until Eternity Ends" ?? Anyway, shit happens. "Purgatory Afterglow" saw the beginning of the "me and them" scenario. In order to have a little band feeling on the album we all joined forces and wrote SONG OF SIRENS. Due to some stress with the mix, the original idea to make this track a bit more "industrial" failed. I have been eager to remix this track since day one and here, it is. Sami and Dread recorded the lead vocals for this one. Then came the tribute albums!! I knew that the next album would take time and in order not to be totally forgotten the band was gathered once again to record a version of the Slayer classic CRIMINALLY INSANE. Our version suffered from a terrible production, but with the help of modern computer technology this re-mastered version sounds Light years better than the official mix. I moved away from Finspång and the other guys dropped by to my new hometown a weekend in November 1995 to write what should become the 40 minute track "Crimson". Our most spectacular song since "Sacrificed". The guys had written some stuff on their own that would work just fine as Japanese bonus tracks and MURDER. DIVIDEAD was one of them. Here it is in a re-mastered and slightly re-titled versions!! We also found the time to record a song for a Sator tribute. I WANNA GO HOME was our "touring Like this sucks song" when things were tough in the backseat of a Volvo!! "Crimson" sold surprisingly well and we went on the road for the last time with me behind the microphone. After returning from the road we started to write material on our own. One of the tracks from "Infernal" that I think sounds Like a "real" Edge of Sanity track is DAMNED BY THE DAMNED. The guys recorded the basic tracks with Peter Tägtgren at the end of 1996 while I did the vocals on my portable studio in the Abyss bedroom! The same machine was the used to record the Legendary MOONSHINE track. One night after Peter left the studio we sneaked into the main room and blasted away like maniacs. A lyric in Swedish slagging off old friends and a totally brutal alcohol dripping hardcore track to match made sure that JVC Japan didn't need a bonus track for "Infernal". So for the first time ever, enjoy the last track we wrote together!! I felt that the spirit of the band was impossible to cure with me in it and I chose to leave the guys to do their thing. My old band mate from Pan-Thy-Monium and Kill, Robert Karisson stepped in and took over the vacant spot. I had suggested him as a tour replacement much earlier but the rest of the band didn't like the idea. BLEED YOU DRY is my personal favetrack off the "Cryptic" album that was released very shortly after the release of "Infernal". I know the guys don't like it that much anymore, but I think it's smashing!! MOTHER is taken from a compilation album that Black Mark released. This version is slightly re-mastered in order to achieve a better overall sound quality. During the recording of "Crimson" the guys recorded the backing tracks for what should become EPIDEMIC REIGN I never found the spirit to finish it, until now. Robert and Benny came by, we had a chat, a coffee and a cool "vocal war" down at the studio. EPIDEMIC REIGN is an old lyric that Dread wrote in 1990. I found it when I was digging for nostalgia for this session. It was never used because I am not sure that the title is correct English, but who cares. We have used incorrect titles and lyrics before!!! Anyway, this track is a duet between me and Robert and this is my official resignation song!! Rock hard! Dan Swanö.