Edge of Sanity

Cryptic (Black Mark)
by Scott Hefflon

I hate this album, not because it’s not a good album (’cause it is), but because it ain’t at all what it oughtta be. Dan Swäno is out producing, doing solo work (Nightingale), and Sundown instead of impressing the hell out of us with shredding riffs, dazzling solos, and scalpel-sharp production in Edge of Sanity. After ’96’s Crimson, a single 40-minute track of mind-numbing beauty and horror (imagine if Fates Warning weren’t such arty pussies), and early ’97’s Infernal, Cryptic seems pretty standard fare for growling tech/death metal. Robban Karlsson’s vocals are competent yet typical of the Entombed/Grave/etc. school of roar, and while the guitar parts crack like a whip, they lack the finesse of one such as Swäno. While Cryptic is a rather good album filled with heavy riffs and demonic roars, I can’t help but wish they’d put the name to rest. Infernal coulda been their Swäno song, if you will, but no – they had to milk the name. Black Sabbath, anyone?