''Crimson II'' is the eighth and final full-length studio album by 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
Edge of Sanity and is a continuation of the storyline first heard on the album ''
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 c ...
'' (1996). It is the only Edge of Sanity release that does not feature original members
Andreas Axelsson, Sami Nerberg, Anders Lindberg and Benny Larsson. It also doesn't feature
Opeth frontman
Mikael Åkerfeldt, who was the special guest on Crimson 'I'. Instead, it features contributions from guest musicians
Mike Wead, Jonas Granvik, and brothers Roger and Simon Johannson.
Released during the advent of online
music piracy, the album was indexed into over 40 track splits on the CD pressings, running from 18 seconds to a minute and a half, to discourage ripping and sharing (despite software like
iTunes having the ability to rip groups of tracks as one file). When it was later released to digital stores and streaming services, the album was indexed into 9 tracks that are not all split according to the song movements; this caused the movement names to be extended with "Aftermath II" and "III" even though only the final two tracks contain the movement itself. Neither Swanö nor label Black Mark Production have commented on why this is the case or why the edited version was used.
The album was remixed and slightly edited for the compilation ''
When All Is Said
''When All Is Said'' is a remastered best of compilation album by the Swedish death metal band Edge of Sanity, released by Black Mark Production on October 2, 2006. On the promotional poster released by Black Mark Production, it reads: "Very rem ...
'' (2006) so it would fit on one CD. Full versions of both songs were used for a combined vinyl release in 2003. For this, the song was split in half, with side 2 picking up at "Achilles Heel."
Crimson I&II on Discogs
/ref> In 2011, it was reissued on "ice blue" vinyl but used the digital release as the audio source, as each section of the songs fade in and out at the exact times they do in the Amazon MP3 release.
The album is dedicated to the memory of 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 ...
frontman Chuck Schuldiner
Charles Schuldiner (born May 13, 1967 – December 13, 2001) was an American musician. He founded the death metal band Death in 1983, in which he was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and only consistent member until his death in ...
.
Track listing
Note: Although the album consists of one 43-minute-long song, it really is split up into 9 movements.
Digital Edition
To further confusion, the digital release of the album uses the ''When All Is Said'' remix/edit and splits it differently, causing some movement times to shift out of alignment. Most of the tracks also fade in and out at the beginning/end.
Personnel
* 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 and ...
− lead
Lead is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metals, heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale of mineral hardness#Intermediate ...
and backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...
, all other instruments, production, mixing, engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
* Roger Johansson − lead vocals
* Jonas Granvik − backing vocals
* Mike Wead − lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...
, engineering
* Simon Johansson − lead guitar
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crimson II
2003 albums
Edge of Sanity albums
Albums with cover art by Kristian Wåhlin
Concept albums
Albums produced by Dan Swanö
Sequel albums