I'm finally getting the Edge Of Sanity back catalog in stock here at C-Blast, after being almost impossible to obtain for years without paying insane import prices. The Black Mark titles from this pioneering progressive death metal band are all essential for fans of both Swedish death metal and prog-death, with some albums (Crimson, The Spectral Sorrows, Unorthodox) ranking as some of my own favorite progressive extreme metal albums of all time. This was, of course, the most well-known band from Swedish metal polyglot Dan Swano, formed after his run with Pan-Thy-Monium as a crushing entry in the evolving Swedish death metal underground. After a relatively straightforward 1991 debut, Edge Of Sanity quickly began to experiment with a combination of prog rock, hard rock and gothic influences being infused into the band's monstrous death metal, and in the process produced some of the most adventurous extreme metal to come out of the Swedish underground.

Released back in 1999 in celebration of Edge Of Sanity's 10 year anniversary, the double-disc set Evolution is thankfully not one of those "best-of" cash grabs, but rather a compilation of unreleased, rare and re-worked material that charts Edge Of Sanity's move from a barbaric Swedish death metal outfit into an ambitious, prog-rock influenced sound. The tracks leaps from the older straightforward death metal to the later prog-influenced material and also show off Swano's quirky choice of cover tunes, all of this stuff charting the erratic but always adventurous creative arc of Edge Of Sanity's founder and primary member Dan Swano.

The first disc features remixed and/or re-mastered tracks from their 1989 Euthanasia demo ("Pernicious Anguish"), the 1990 Immortal Souls demo ("Immortal Souls"), Kur-Nu-Gi-A demo ("Maze of Existence"), Dead But Dreaming ("Everlasting") and Dead demos ("The Dead"); remastered and/or remixed tracks off of the Nothing But Death Remains debut ("Angel of Distress"), Unorthodox ("Human Aberration", "After Afterlife") and Purgatory Afterglow ("Elegy"); and previously unreleased covers of Cryptic Death's "Kill the Police" (rendered as a hysterical, industrialized noisecore blast littered with fragments of dance beats and weird electronic noises) and Manowar's "Blood of My Enemies". Those early demo tracks exhibit the bands early primitive death metal sound, crushing chunky Swedish death metal with that trademark sludgy, monstrous power, while the later material and cover songs cut a swathe through Swano's later preoccupation with prog.

Disc two also features a bunch of remastered tracks, including "The Masque" off of 1993's The Spectral Sorrows, "Until Eternity Ends" from the Ep of the same name, tweaked tracks off of Purgatory Afterglow ("Song Of Sirens") and Infernal ("Damned By The Damned" and the awesome d-beat powered violence of the title track), and previously unreleased tracks (like the crushing doom-drenched "Pernicious Anguish", "Epidemic Reign " and the driving death n' rollers ""Moonshine" and "Murder. Dividead"). There's covers of Slayer's "Criminally Insane" (which originally appeared on the Slatanic Slaughter A Tribute To Slayer compilation), Danzig's "Mother", and the melodic punk rock of "I Wanna Go Home" (originally by the Swedish band Sator) that comes totally out of left field.

It's a mixed bag of stuff for sure, but with the amount of rare and re-worked material included it's pretty crucial for any hardcore Edge Of Sanity fan. Also included is a twelve page booklet with liner notes written by Swano himself along with loads of photos and images.