Dan Swanö

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Dan Swanö’s UNICORN Announce CD And Vinyl Release

Posted by tarjavirmakari on October 4, 2018
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Unicorn-banner

Mastermind Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity, Witherscape, Nightingale…) has been busy lately bringing back to attention one of his old and first prog projects UNICORN, and the Spanish label Alone Records will put out next November 16th the very first CD and vinyl release of A Collection of Worlds – Resurrection.

Dan comments on this upcoming release:

“In 1988 I was 15 years old and my previous bands Ghost and Icarus had all of a sudden morphed into Unicorn. The “happy accident” that was the track “Times of Change” appeared in our world in the Autumn of ’88 and we decided to dive deeper into the more progressive direction that we had taken at the end of Icarus. Before we knew it, there were plenty of new songs in this style and the material was slowly evolving into something quite unique and after the recording two demos in the first half of 1989 we felt that it would be a good idea to re-record the best tracks from those demos along with the new tracks we had written, and that is how “A Collection of Worlds II” came about.

We were working with a 4 track cassette porta studio and knew very little of recording but in the end we got it all done and sometime in the spring of 1990 we released the recording on cassette. Since it was clocking in at 40 minutes, it was always “an album, but only on cassette” in my head and I cannot begin to even describe how amazing it is for all of us in the band (and some of our die hard fans!) to finally see the remixed/partly re-recorded version being made available on LP and CD for the first time! 

To me, this is the best thing Unicorn ever did, and one of the most important recordings of my life. I worked my ass off to re-record the vocals and restore and then remix the songs to sound as good as a four track cassette recording can.”

A Collection Of Worlds – Resurrection will be issued on six panels CD digisleeve, black vinyl (200 copies) and orange vinyl (100 pressings) and can be preordered at Alone Records webshop for November 16th release.

More information at https://www.facebook.com/unicornswe

Unicorn-logo

WITHERSCAPE: Announce New Album “The Northern Sanctuary”, Artwork Unveiled

Posted by tarjavirmakari on May 16, 2016
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

WITHERSCAPE

WITHERSCAPE, the progressive Death Metal outfit consisting of Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Dan Swanö (ex Edge Of Sanity/Bloodbath, Nightingale, etc.) as well as fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, have announced the worldwide release of their sophomore full-length album “The Northern Sanctuary” for July 22nd, 2016 via Century Media Records.

Following up on the refreshing impact of 2013’s much acclaimed debut album “The Inheritance” (“Album of the month” by Germany’s Rock Hard magazine and position # 97 in the official German sales charts) and 2014’s complimentary “The New Tomorrow” EP, “The Northern Sanctuary” is yet another mesmerizingly dense conceptual album, enhanced by breathtakingly powerful artwork courtesy of Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák / http://www.hjules.com (Nightingale, Destruction, Tyr, etc.), which can be seen above.

Once more lyrically supported by Paul Kuhr (Novembers Doom), WITHERSCAPE continue the storyline launched with the debut album, as Swanö explains: “The theme picks up where we left off with the “The New Tomorrow” EP. There is a 50 year jump in the time line from the 1st album and the main character “Mannen i vitt” (The man in white) has purchased the house where all the horror initially happened. He’s restored it and rents out rooms to people from the big cities, who are aiming for some peaceful northern Swedish silence. But the entity still haunts the house and “Mannen i vitt” is possessed by it, so consequently he/it does terrible things to the “patients”. Since the house is built on one of the gates to hell, there’s a ritual taking place, opening the hellish dimension from where the evil entity once came, so it can go back there…”

Musically, “The Northern Sanctuary” manages to seamlessly blend the best elements of the band’s 70’s/80’s Prog/Hardrock and even AOR roots with contemporary, yet always atmospheric and subtle extreme Metal. Its infectious catchiness will doubtlessly appeal to the passionate followers of Swanö’s diverse artistic catalogue, but also to fans of bands like Opeth, Amorphis or Symphony X.

Look out for further album details and first song samples for “The Northern Sanctuary” to be revealed soon…

Witherscape-The-Northern-Sanctuary

But in the meantime you can check back on music from the previous WITHERSCAPE releases:

“Dead For A Day” lyric video: youtube.com

“The Math Of The Myth” song stream: Soundcloud
“The New Tomorrow” song stream: Soundcloud
“Astrid Falls” song stream: youtube.com
In related Swanö news, look out for a special festival appearance by his Progressive Rock group NIGHTINGALE this very weekend at Rock Hard Festival in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. NIGHTINGALE will perform on Sunday, May 15th between 2:05 – 2:50 PM and will also have a signing session between 3:30 – 4:15 PM. More details here: http://www.rockhardfestival.de

Also, don’t forget to check out the “complete works” collection with 40+ tracks by Swanö’s former brutal US-style Death Metal project INFESTDEAD released last week as “Satanic Serenades” on 2CD, 2LP and Digital Download via Century Media Records.

Two songs from INFESTDEAD’s “Satanic Serenades” can be heard here:
“Re-Resurrection” (from “JesuSatan” album): youtube.com
“Angeldemon” (from “Hellfuck” album): youtube.com

Visit CM Distro for copies of the release in your format of choice: CMDistro

WITHERSCAPE Line-Up:
Dan Swanö – Vocals, Keyboards and Drums
Ragnar Widerberg – Guitars and Bass

WITHERSCAPE Discography:
The Inheritance – 2013
The New Tomorrow – EP 2014
The Northern Sanctuary – 2016

WITHERSCAPE Online:
witherscape.com
facebook.com
danswano.com

INFESTDEAD Launch Two Tracks From “Satanic Serenades”

Posted by tarjavirmakari on April 16, 2016
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

On May 6, 2016, Century Media Records will release INFESTDEAD‘s anthology, “Satanic Serenades”, as Gatefold 2LP, 2CD in O-Card, digital album uniting all recordings by this Swedish unholy death metal duo consisting of Dan Swanö (Witherscape, ex Edge Of Sanity, ex Bloodbath) and Dread (Tormented, ex Marduk, ex Edge Of Sanity). Remastered and mastered for vinyl by Dan Swanö, accompanied with liner notes, loads of blasphemous lyrics, and brand-new artwork by Gyula Havancsák (Destruction, Annihilator), “Satanic Serenades” is an official 40+ tracks collection offering classic US inspired death metal in the Deicide, Morbid Angel vein!

Infestdead-cover

Dan Swanö comments: “It’s awesome to finally be able to present the evilution (sic) of Infestdead with the sound and imagery I always hoped for!”

The European presale for “Satanic Serenades” has started, so grab your format of choice here:
– Gatefold red 2LP, 180 gram vinyl + 2 lyric inserts – limited to 100 copies / CM Distro EU exclusive
– Gatefold black 2LP, 180 gram vinyl + 2 lyric inserts – first press: 800 copies
– 2CD Jewelcase in O-card
Preorder your copy here: CMDistro.com

The presale for the US exclusive vinyl edition will be announced soon!
– Gold Gatefold 2LP, 180 gram vinyl + 2 lyrics inserts – limited to 100 copies / CM Distro US exclusive

Pre-order the digital album here:
itunes.com
amazon.com

The legendary vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/producer is perhaps best known for his work with Edge Of Sanity, Nightingale, Bloodbath, and recently Witherscape. Active since the early ’90s, his career runs much deeper than this revered quartet, having produced countless bands (Opeth, Dissection, Katatonia, Asphyx etc.) as well as launching or taking part in side projects including Moontower, Odyssey, Pan.Thy.Monium or INFESTDEAD. The latter formed in 1993 and released two albums – “Hellfuck” (1997) and “JesuSatan” (1999) – plus EP/split releases. Even if it’s just plain and violent death metal, Mr Swanö turns everything he touches into amazing music, be it prog or unholy brutality!

Two songs from “Satanic Serenades” can be heard here:
“Re-Resurrection” (from “JesuSatan” album): youtube.com
“Angeldemon” (from “Hellfuck” album): youtube.com

INFESTDEAD – Satanic Serenades (88:49) track-listing:
Disc 1
1. Re-Resurrection (3:29)
2. Christinsanity (3:44)
3. Born To Burn (3:53)
4. JesuSatan (3:09)
5. Undead Screaming Sins (3:19)
6. The Burning Of The Son (3:42)
7. Sinister (3:49)
8. Evil² (3:08)
9. Antichristian Song #37 (4:19)
10. Black Night (Deep Purple cover) (2:11)
11. Burn Me (Without The Grace Of God) (3:06)
12. Dead Earth (3:18)
Tracks 1 – 10: “JesuSatan” album (1999)
Tracks 11 – 12: “Demo 1993”

Disc 2
1. Rebirth (0:30)
2. The Desecration Of Christ (1:52)
3. Infest The Dead (1:40)
4. The New Empire (1:48)
5. Mercenary, Merciless (1:42)
6. Born. Nailed. (1:37)
7. The Plot To Kill Jesus (0:43)
8. Blaspheme The Abbess (1:59)
9. Polterchrist (1:54)
10. Sacrifice The Saviour (1:58)
11. Hellfuck (1:26)
12. Darkness Complete (1:38)
13. Haunting The Holy (1:33)
14. Heaven Denied (1:58)
15. Salvation Incomplete (0:59)
16. Bewitch The Virgin (1:53)
17. Angeldemon (1:23)
18. World Inverted (1:58)
19. Son Of The Darkside (1:52)
20. Hellborn (1:49)
21. Satanic (1:56)
22. Amen (0:26)
23. Bestial Genocide (1:47)
24. The Rising (0:42)
25. I’ll Be Black (2:23)
26. In The Spell Of Satan (2:31)
27. Save Me From The Hands Of Christ (2:03)
28. Fucked By Satan (0:37)
29. Burn Me (Without The Grace Of God) 1994 remix (3:05)
Tracks 1 – 23: “Hellfuck” album (1997)
Tracks 24 – 29: “Killing Christ” MCD (1996)

More info about Dan Swanö can be found here:
danswano.com
witherscape.com
facebook.com

WITHERSCAPE: New EP “The New Tomorrow” Out Now, Title-Track Unveiled

Posted by tarjavirmakari on December 8, 2014
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

WITHERSCAPE

WITHERSCAPE, the stunning dark metal outfit formed by Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Dan Swanö (ex Edge Of Sanity/Bloodbath, Nightingale, etc.) together with fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, have released their new EP “The New Tomorrow” via Century Media Records.

Succeeding last year’s acclaimed debut album “The Inheritance”, which was voted “album of the month” by Germany’s Rock Hard magazine and also entered the official sales charts in Germany on position # 97 upon release, the new EP marks a conceptual and musical bridge between the thick concept of the debut and their upcoming sophomore album, expected for a late 2015 release.

The title track for the EP release, “The New Tomorrow”, is now also streaming promotionally here:

https://soundcloud.com/centurymedia/witherscape-the-new-tomorrow/s-Lwp2p

WITHERSCAPE’s Dan Swanö checked in as follows about the track: “Me and Ragnar got together in December 2013 to do some song writing. And once we entered our positions, me behind the drum kit with a microphone and Ragnar riffing away on his Strat, “The New Tomorrow” just flowed out of us in minutes. It starts with a flashback from the track “The Inheritance” to clearly state that this song is an essential part in linking the first and the upcoming second album, both musically and lyrically.”

Here is the complete tracklisting of the EP:

WITHERSCAPE – “The New Tomorrow” EP:
1. The New Tomorrow (4:42)
2. Defenders Of Creation (4:27)
3. A World Without Heroes (2:36)
4. Out In The Cold (6:35)
5. Dead For Another Day (4:40)

witherscape-ep-cover

“The New Tomorrow” contains 5 unreleased songs: A brand new (title) track, 3 cover songs (“Defenders Of Creation” by Warrior, “A World Without Heroes” by Kiss and “Out In The Cold” by Judas Priest) and “Dead For Another Day” (an extension of the debut album’s “Dead For A Day” single). Its CD version (10 tracks) will also include special vinyl-mix versions of the same songs as bonus and the Digital Download version (7 tracks) includes another 2 bonus cover songs (“A Cry For Everyone” by Gentle Giant and “Last Rose Of Summer” by Judas Priest) from the sessions of “The Inheritance”, which are so far digitally unreleased. The 12″ vinyl version of the EP is playable on 45rpm, will be pressed on 180 gr. vinyl and comes either as standard black edition or in the following limited coloured options: Gold (100x, via CM Distro Europe), Transparent Red (200x, via CM Distro Europe) or Neon Orange (100x, via CM Distro USA).

The EP as well as the WITHERSCAPE debut album, “The Inheritance”, can be ordered from CM Distro here: smarturl.it/tntCMDISTRO

Or otherwise from these following locations:
smarturl.it/tntITUNES
smarturl.it/tntAMAZON
smarturl.it/tntAMAZONMP3

WITHERSCAPE online links for “The Inheritance”:
“Dead For A Day” lyric video: youtube.com/DeadForADay
“Astrid Falls” song stream: youtube.com/AstridFalls
“The Math Of The Myth” song stream: soundcloud.com/TheMathOfTheMyth
Introductory interview with Dan Swanö: youtube.com/Interview
Track-by-track with Dan Swanö: youtube.com/TrackByTrack
Bonus-track-by-track with Dan Swanö: youtube.com/BonusTrackByTrack
Re-Mix CD-Enhancement explanation by Dan Swanö: youtube.com/Explanation

WITHERSCAPE Line-Up:
Dan Swanö – Vocals, Drums and Keyboards
Ragnar Widerberg – Guitars and Bass

WITHERSCAPE Discography:
The Inheritance – 2013
The New Tomorrow – EP 2014

WITHERSCAPE: To Release “The New Tomorrow” EP In December

Posted by tarjavirmakari on November 2, 2014
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

WITHERSCAPE

WITHERSCAPE, the stunning new dark metal outfit formed by Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Dan Swanö (ex Edge Of Sanity/Bloodbath, Nightingale, etc.) together with fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, are about to release the EP “The New Tomorrow” via Century Media Records on December 9, 2014.

Succeeding last year’s acclaimed debut album “The Inheritance”, which was voted “album of the month” by Germany’s Rock Hard magazine and also entered the official sales charts in Germany on position # 97 upon release, the new EP marks a conceptual and musical bridge between the thick concept of the debut and their upcoming sophomore album, expected for a late 2015 release.

WITHERSCAPE – “The New Tomorrow” EP:
1. The New Tomorrow (4:42)
2. Defenders Of Creation (4:27)
3. A World Without Heroes (2:36)
4. Out In The Cold (6:35)
5. Dead For Another Day (4:40)

witherscape-ep-cover

“The New Tomorrow” contains 5 unreleased songs: A brand new (title) track, 3 cover songs (“Defenders Of Creation” by Warrior, “A World Without Heroes” by Kiss and “Out In The Cold” by Judas Priest) and “Dead For Another Day” (an extension of the debut album’s “Dead For A Day” single). Its CD version (10 tracks) will also include special vinyl-mix versions of the same songs as bonus and the Digital Download version (7 tracks) includes another 2 bonus cover songs (“A Cry For Everyone” by Gentle Giant and “Last Rose Of Summer” by Judas Priest) from the sessions of “The Inheritance”, which are so far digitally unreleased. The 12″ vinyl version of the EP is playable on 45rpm, will be pressed on 180 gr. vinyl and comes either as standard black edition or in the following limited coloured options: Gold (100x, via CM Distro Europe), Transparent Red (200x, via CM Distro Europe) or Neon Orange (100x, via CM Distro USA). Pre-orders will be available soon from: http://www.cmdistro.com

WITHERSCAPE’s Dan Swanö checked in to comment on the release as follows: “The new track “The New Tomorrow” is introducing the new main character, “mannen i vitt” (“The man in white”) and the storyline revolves around his quest for the meaning of life and how he wants to make a difference in the world of the forsaken. It is 1950 and he finds this wonderful estate up north and buys it at an auction. He begins the work to turn it into a sanctuary for ones with broken spirits or other disabilities, who need to escape the ever-growing stress of the big city life. The plot will continue on the 2nd full length WITHERSCAPE album, which will hopefully be out at the end of 2015.

The cover versions were chosen because they are songs that resonate with us at their very core, but didn’t necessarily have – in our humble opinion – the production or performance to portray their full glory. We gave them the WITHERSCAPE treatment and learned a lot from analyzing, performing and recording them. And we will bring that experience with us into the writing for the 2nd album…

The re-make of “Dead For A Day” called “Dead For Another Day” was born out of the idea to let WITHERSCAPE make a WITHERSCAPE cover and remove all things death and metal to see what it would sound like. We fell in love with the new approach and decided to include it on the EP to show the versatility that can be expected from this band!”

WITHERSCAPE online links for “The Inheritance”:

“Dead For A Day” lyric video:

“Astrid Falls” song stream: http://youtu.be/EwsLxPBknOk

“The Math Of The Myth” song stream:

Introductory interview with Dan Swanö: http://youtu.be/jZjrYzT9_jU

Track-by-track with Dan Swanö:

Bonus-track-by-track with Dan Swanö: http://youtu.be/bwBQSewnKiM

Re-Mix CD-Enhancement explanation by Dan Swanö:

All physical formats of WITHERSCAPE’s “The Inheritance” album can still be purchased from CM Distro in Europe here: http://www.cmdistro.com/Search/witherscape

First song samples for “The New Tomorrow” EP will be available soon.

WITHERSCAPE Line-Up:
Dan Swanö – Vocals, Drums and Keyboards
Ragnar Widerberg – Guitars and Bass

WITHERSCAPE Discography:
The Inheritance – 2013
The New Tomorrow – EP 2014

WITHERSCAPE online:
http://www.witherscape.com
http://www.facebook.com/witherscape
http://www.danswano.com

WITHERSCAPE: “The Inheritance” Enters Charts In Germany; New Song & Track-By-Track Video Online

Posted by Stargazer on August 9, 2013
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

WITHERSCAPE, the stunning new dark metal outfit formed by Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Dan Swanö (ex Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath, Nightingale, etc.) together with fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, have now released their debut album “The Inheritance” all over the world via Century Media Records. The album just entered the official sales charts in Germany on position # 97. Congratulations! Yet another taste of the album can be experienced by checking out the newly launched song “The Math Of The Myth“ on Century Media’s Soundcloud page.

A highly entertaining track-by-track video feature with Dan Swanö breaking down the song-content of “The Inheritance” for you can be seen below:

And here is a “bonus feature” of Dan Swanö commenting on the two special cover songs (“Last Rose Of Summer” by Judas Priest and “A Cry For Everyone” by Gentle Giant) featured on the limited edition Mediabook CD format of “The Inheritance”:

Also, check out Dan Swanö explaining the ”re-mix” CD enhancement section featured on “The Inheritance”:

WITHERSCAPE’s debut album is available in the following standard track-listing:

 

WITHERSCAPE – “The Inheritance”:
1. Mother Of The Soul
2. Astrid Falls
3. Dead For A Day
4. Dying For The Sun
5. To The Calling Of Blood And Dreams
6 .The Math Of The Myth
7. Crawling From Validity
8 .The Wedlock Observation
9. The Inheritance

Additionally to the standard jewel case CD and the digital download version, “The Inheritance” is also available as limited edition Mediabook CD including two bonus tracks as well extended artwork with a 32-pages booklet featuring the full short story concept for this album and also as LP (plus full album on CD as bonus).

WITHERSCAPE