''Cryptic'' is the seventh full-length

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the Swedish

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, 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 death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band

Edge of Sanity Edge of Sanity was a Swedish death metal band that, alongside Opeth, is commonly regarded as being the first to fuse extreme metal styles like death metal, death and black metal with progressive rock. The group was founded by Dan Swanö in 1989 ...

, released on December 1, 1997 by Black Mark Production. ''Cryptic'' is the only Edge of Sanity album to not feature any contributions from

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 ...

. Guitarist Andreas Axelsson hired vocalist Robert Karlsson, who was previously the vocalist in Swanö's avant-garde death metal band Pan.Thy.Monium, in an attempt to keep the band together. Despite this, all members of this short-lived lineup of the band would depart following the album's release.

Track listing

Personnel

;Edge of Sanity * Robert Karlsson −

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

* Andreas Axelsson −

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

* Sami Nerberg − electric guitar * Anders Lindberg −

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Benny Larsson −

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

;Production * Martin Ahx – artwork, cover art * Susan Nerberg – artwork, photography * Anders Forsberg – executive producer * Alejandro Palavecino – photography * Peter in de Betou – mastering * Michael Semprevivo – layout, typography * Ronny Lahti – producer, engineering, mixing

References

1997 albums Edge of Sanity albums {{1990s-death-metal-album-stub