| The Breathing Shadow | 1995 |
| The Closing Chronicles | 1996 |
| I | 2000 |
Nightingale began as just a project of just Dan Swano with The Breathing Shadow, then his brother Dag Swano joined in 1996, and finally for the most recent project in 2000, Clive Nolan pitched in a little. The music of Nightingale is quite different than that of some of Swano's other death metal projects. It's a little bit like the epic, conceptual, progressive, melodic death metal of later Edge of Sanity, with neither the death nor the metal. But the music still maintains a unique style of its own, and it would be wrong to label Nightingale as Edge of Sanity with clean vocals. If the label of 'death metal' scared you away from Swano's work before, then this may be the place for you to start.
--Robert Grazer
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Nightfall Overture, The Return To Dreamland, Recovery Opus. LOW POINTS: Alone
The Breathing Shadow could have been an extremely great album had it been a little more polished. You see, this project took one week for Dan to come out with (and by 'come out with' I mean mix, record, and write), and let me tell you, it isn't just anyone who can work for a week and come out with an album as good as an 8. Of course, since there were only seven days that went into this project, there are certainly some errors. I don't think it was all that great of an idea (and I know I'm not alone in thinking this) to use drum machines, which might cost the album an entire point. But at times I think the whole album seems a tad unfinished, despite several great songs.
The opening "Nightfall Overture" is absolutely incredible, and while it seems incredible that Dan could deliver an album like this in a week, I would be just as impressed if he had only released this song in a week. It's that good. The feedback in the beginning leading into a little bit of a melodic guitar intro until the main melody of the song begins to shine through. Dan's vocals are already shining as he leads us into the world of The Breathing Shadow through some fine vocal melodies all the way through the fascinating keyboard melodies and all the way to the frightening ending cries of "Is there anybody out there? Is there anybody out there?" (and don't be thinking of Pink Floyd) to form a masterpiece that glides easily through its eight minutes. And in most parts you can hardly hear the drum machines at all, which is another big plus.
And then.... CRASH! The intro to "Sleep" is far too loaded down with the drum machines to be enjoyed at all, and even after the guitar joins in the muffle them, they can still be made out far too clearly. By the end the song is just so-so. But you learn to live with the drum machines eventually, "The Dreamreader" is a faster tune, where you can here the wicked drum machines just as clearly, but it works out better, and the quick piano break in the middle is very pretty. "Higher Than The Sky," on the other hand, has got a disgusting intro, with all sorts of funky sounds that sound far too out of place on this album. But the rest of the song is nice, based on a similar melody to "Nightfall Overture," which is fine as this is a concept album. Swano shifts the song to a slower pace with a pretty guitar background as he begins the first of several spoken word sections.
"Recovery Opus" contains some great vocal work by Swano, which is kind of needed to make up for the lyrics, which shift back and forth between well-written lines and corny attempts to enhance the album's mood. Following is the instrumental "The Return To Dreamland," which, in spite of a rather corny name, is an incredible song to tie the two halves of this recording together. "Gypsy Eyes" has a strong chorus to it, but even though the following "Alone" starts out rather well, with a slow (though occasionally dull) feel, and goes into a bit of a harder section for a couple minutes (and a great scream of "I'm not alone"), before the spoken ending, which absolutely kills the song. The spoken lyrics in the end are: "I saw my shadow move/but I didn't move/it has a life of itself/and it's breathing/and you can't run away from your own shadow. I'm desperately trying to run away from myself/but my shadow is following me wherever I go/just like my shadow/but it's not my shadow/it's not my shadow..." And while that may not seem like it's on the 'ruin the song' level just reading that, the way Swano speaks at that point really sounds like a writer who's been locked in a studio for a week and is going insane. And a great piano outro cannot even make up for the damage that's done in those thirty seconds.
"A Lesson In Evil" picks the pace up a little, and reminds me of "Steal The Moon" from the next album, and it does follow in a similar style to some of the other tracks here, but it's still quite enjoyable. It ends with another, much better spoken section. Closing off this little album is "Eye For An Eye," and the whole thing may seem a bit too tired to continue at this point, but you'll wake up following the reprised line "and the dark is conducting the nightfall overture" to a hideous scream of horror. And so ends our story here, soon to be continued on the following album. And continued in a better way too. If this is what Swano's capable of when he works alone for a week, imagine what he can deliver when he takes is time and works with his brother.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Thoughts From a Stolen Soul, Alive Again, So Long (Still I Wonder), Deep Inside of Nowhere, Steal the Moon, Revival. LOW POINTS: None.
Realizing that locking himself in a studio for seven days alone would not get him the results he desired, Dan Sawno now decided to enlist the help of his brother, Dag Swano, to help him with his next entry into the Nightingale project, and the result... is a masterpiece. Everything has been improved here, and this time nothing has been overlooked or forgotten. The drum machines are gone, and so is the somewhat rushed feel to the album. And the very fact that one man could make two such amazing albums in the same year (the other being Crimson) is certainly an incredible feat. This time we receive a fully progressive masterpiece, and there isn't a problem in sight.
Dan's vocals are also better. Before he had a lot of great moments, but an occasional "help me I'm trapped in a studio and haven't slept in seven days and can't get out and must continue making this album" sound could be found in his voice. Now he delivers perhaps his best vocal performance (certainly his best clean vocal performance), and seven great songs, all continuing the concept that began on the last album. And the concept is presented better as well. A lot of the lyrics are excellent as well. If I get he concept right (and I don't think I do) a man's shadow has possessed his body (which happened on the first album) and now that story continues, with the shadow no living the life and the man not in control of his body anymore, and watching what is happening to him now. I think. I can't be sure. Some of the lines to the songs are great anyway, whether you're paying attention to the concept or not.
To start this sucker off we have "Deep Inside of Nowhere" with a great piano line and vocals that begin lower than most of Swano's other stuff, but it's quite powerful, partly due to Dan's longing voice. I find the way he can put such an effective mood into a song just by singing to be amazing. This guy has got one of the best voices I've ever heard. He makes the song into a slow, moody, and melodic masterpiece. The reprised line of "I want your body dead" from The Breathing Shadow is much better than before, and the guitar solo fits in perfectly with the song, which deserves every one of its seven minutes. "Revival" picks things up to a little bit of a faster pace, but still keeping the sad mood of the album, with a great riff on the chorus. And the "I see the horizon..." section could be the best vocal melody he has yet written. And the lyrics are getting better as well. What seemed like just a crony little story before has been changed into something interesting and thought provoking.
Following is the nine minute "Thoughts From A Stolen Soul" and it's quite possibly the highlight of The Closing Chronicles. It's the first nine minute song that Swano had done with Nightingale, and what a piece it is. This is the place where both Swano's amazing voice and fantastic melodies all come together for an epic complete with keyboard and guitar solos in the middle, but not the technically impressive kind. The sole purpose of these solos is to build the mood of the song up, higher and higher, until everything boils over eight minutes in as Swano sing "We took the last of his soul, we took the last of his soul" over and over.
Then we move into slower territory with "So Long (Still I Wonder)" which almost has me in tears in only a few seconds. The melody is that powerful. You know something is sad when you're in tears before Dan breathes the magic of his voice into the song. And when he does begin singing the song is that much more powerful. "Steal The Moon" changes the mood of the album a good deal to much more upbeat ground, and you might think that such a change would shatter the flow of the album, but it all works. The mood defies the dark feel of the rest of the album, but it still works. Maybe it's because "Steal The Moon" is a needed break form the almost overwhelming depression of this release. It's a great catchy and memorable song. One that I'm sure almost anyone on this earth could enjoy.
"Intermezzo" is simple, just two chords on the keyboard slowly repeated, but with the vocal work and the lyrics going for it, it does well to return the album to its original dark mood after "Steal The Moon." "Alive Again" begins with a piano intro, and while it may seem like piano intros would be getting old for Nightingale after two albums full of them, and it did on the last album, here it works beautifully. "Alive Again" is just as melodic and beautiful as the other tracks on the album, but there is one thing that sets it apart: hope. Instead of the dark depressing feel that Dan has given us for the rest of the album we get something more uplifting, but still haunting at parts. It doesn't abruptly change the mood like "Steal The Moon" did, but rather it flows smoothly along from "Intermezzo," forming the ending that this album deserved.
This album shows what Dan Swano was really capable of in every way, and one of the finest examples of melodic music from the mid-90s. It's also a sample of what Dan always wanted to do, rather than death metal. And it's better than most of his death metal, maybe in part because it sounds like he wants to make this album. In later Edge Of Sanity work, especially Infernal, he's still there writing great songs, but it sometimes doesn't seem like his heart is in it at all. Here we get a truly sincere masterpiece than Swano can most certainly be proud of.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: The Journey's End, Breathing, Alonely, Scarred For Life, Still In The Dark, Dead Or Alive. LOW POINTS: None.
Wow, out of the few releases from 2000 that I've been able to sit through this is easily my current bet for the best album of the year. Nightingale's third outing finds Dan Swano creating maybe his all around most accessible work to date, since no song goes over five and a half minutes unlike the epics from the other two releases, and most of the album's eleven tracks are from three to four minutes in length, making this a much less difficult effort than something like The Breathing Shadow. And Swano's not writing alone anymore. His brother is making major songwriting contributions, and Clive Nolan from the band Arena adds some music as well. It ends up proving that I (a title which symbolizes this album being conceptually first in the trilogy of Nightingale albums) is a step in a good direction.
"Scarred For Life" is the first sign of this, once again the music is no more than just rock, or hard rock at most, but the Nightingale quality isn't lost with the art-rock on this song. The chorus is excellent, and the tune itself is just an all around hit, one of my favorites on the album. "Still In The Dark" is surrounded around a great guitar riff, with a catchy solo and quick pace to glide right through. I does have its heavier spots as well, such are the rocker in "Game Over" which could be the heaviest moment on the album, though it still is a rather mellow tune. A great one too. The keyboards drive "Remorse And Regret" right along until "Alonely" (which was written in the mid eighties) is an excellent clean entry, Swano's longing vocals pushing it up to be one of the album's highlights.
"I Return" was rejected from the Odyssey project for being too commercial, and maybe compared to the three songs there it is. After all it wouldn't have fit in with "I Am Two" or "Amon-Ra" at all. It just isn't that heavy. "Dead Or Alive" does (though maybe a tad upbeat for Odyssey) have a good deal of heavy guitar to it, all backed up by excellent melodies to be come an underlong but effective entry. The longest and best song on the album, "The Journey's End," follows, slow paced, but an effective guitar line, and an unforgettable quiet outro. The album closes with the instrumental "Breathing" which reworks the music from "Nightfall Overture" into just a couple minutes, and can be seen as almost beginning the song on The Breathing Shadow.
Overall I is not as powerful a statement as The Closing Chronicles, since neither the true melodic beauty of that album nor Dan's finest vocal work can be found here, but it is a very consistent and melodic work, showing Dan Swano and company slowly changing their musical direction smoothly and at the same time still delivering great music. The best songs on here, while not quite as fantastic as the best from the other two Nightingale releases, are enough to put I in my spot for the album of the year.
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