ODYSSEY – Reinventing The Past

The Swedish native, Dan Swano, a respected producer in Extreme Metal (known by his works on the late Dissection, Dark Funeral, Katatonia & Opeth amongst others), finally released an official full length solo album. Before starting his solo career back in 1999, Swano was already involved with several Metal bands that he created that ranged in various types of Metal subgenres, such Bloodbath, Edge Of Sanity & Nightingale. Finally, after all these years working for others, he finally did something small for himself. Under the title Odyssey, Swano released a compilation of covers over his all time favorite songs, whether those be Hard Rock, Metal, or even Pop. Alongside those tunes, Swano remastered his first self-titled MCD that holds the essence of Progressive Metal. Tucked together under the same box, it was named Reinventing The Past.

By the songs that Swano chose for this release, it is evident he likes the rather darker and colder side of music. Whether it’s Metal or Pop, Swano’s supposed vision is gloom and grey. On the cover songs, most of the music is down-tuned, insanely heavy, and most of the time not so melodic. Regardless, the work on some of those covers is very impressive and quite refreshing. “In The Heat Of The Night” (A cover from Sandra) & “Shake The Disease” (A cover from Depeche Mode), stood out as this compilation’s top symbols. The former sounded as if Sentenced or Poisonblack covered it as Swano sung in a rather low and crooked voice that resembled Ville Laihiala. Other better moments, where melody did take shape in limited dosages, were evident on “Gypsy” (Uriah Heep Cover) and on “Lost Horizons” (MSG Cover), which were very doomy like, yet, Swano’s perspective, however different, is very interesting.

Covers will be covers, but even if the intention was to target the listener to those, Swano’s originals were equally, and probably more, important. Through the three tracks: “I Am Two”, “I Carry A Secret” & “Amon-Ra”, you can truly understand from where Swano took his ideas and influences. The decision to mix the covers before the MCD was wise as it told the whole story of those original tracks. As for the tracks themselves, it is a different side of Swano that is still dark, but still reflected many things that were unseen on his other projects as an active member. There might be some dull moments, but overall, Swano, as musician / vocalist / composer, presented a fine array of diverse material that should be more recognized.

Tracklist

1. Eyes Of The World (Rainbow Cover)
2. In The Heat Of The Night (Sandra Cover)
3. Shake The Disease (Depeche Mode Cover)
4. At The Gallow’s End (Candlemass Cover)
5. Gypsy (Uriah Heep Cover)
6. Lost Horizons (MSG Cover)
7. Cherry (UFO Cover)
8. I Am Two
9. Carry A Secret
10. Amon-Ra

Lineup

Dan Swano – All Instruments, Vocals
Dag Swano – Lead Guitar
Markus Vanhala – Lead Guitar