Dan Swanö
Quick Facts
Biography
Dan-Erland Swanö (born 10 March 1973) is a Swedish musician who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and drummer for the band Witherscape, as well as the Owner of Unisound but he achieved fame as the vocalist and songwriter of progressive death metal band Edge of Sanity.
As a multi-instrumentalist he is regarded as influential in the underground melodic death metal, black metal, progressive metal, death metal, progressive rock, power metal communities. He is known for his progressive rock-influenced songwriting style and his frequent use of both clean and growled vocals.
Music
Swanö has fronted a number of bands, including Edge of Sanity, Brejn Dedd, Unicorn, Infestdead and Route Nine. He has also been a member of Katatonia, Ribspreader, as well as playing drums and lead guitar in death metal band Bloodbath.
He has also contributed his vocal talents to Arjen Lucassen's Star One project. The two musicians are good friends, with Lucassen contributing guitar parts to Swanö's Nightingale project. He can also be heard on the albums Theli and A'arab Zaraq – Lucid Dreaming by the symphonic opera metal band Therion. He was also producer and contributing writer of the band Diabolical Masquerade, the now defunct solo avant-garde black metal band of Anders Nyström aka Blakkheim (Katatonia, Bloodbath, ex-Bewitched). He also contributed some guitar solos, backing vocals on various Diabolical Masquerade albums, and played the drums on the album Nightwork. He also produced and played the keyboards on the Memories from Nothing album by Swedish progressive rockers Another Life, released on Vic Records.
Swanö has also released a solo progressive death metal album entitled Moontower, on which he showcases his multi-instrumental talent, playing all instruments (guitar, bass, drums, keyboard) as well as providing all the vocal work.
During 2009 Swanö re-activated Odyssey, this time performing all instruments by himself. Swanö recorded 7 of his all-time favourite songs which was released in November 2010 on the album 'Reinventing The Past', together with the three 1999 tracks as a bonus on Dutch based Vic Records. His brother Dag played guest lead guitar on the song 'Gypsy' (Uriah Heep cover).
In 2013, Swanö released with his new project Witherscape the full studio album The Inheritance, with Ragnar Widerberg as co-member, and the collaboration of, amongst other guest musicians, Novembers Doom's founder Paul Kuhr. It was followed a year after by the EP The New Tomorrow. In 2016, the full studio album The Northern Sanctuary was released, via Century Media Records like its predecessors, featuring once again Paul Kuhr.
Dan Swanö has a diverse vocal register, encompassing many styles, which include death growls; clean, melodic singing with a warm rich tone; deep, dark, gothic vocals and thrash shouting.
As a peculiarity, he is a left-handed guitarist (right hand on the neck) but plays on right-handed guitars without reversing the strings (highest strings up), which is quite unusual.
Family and work
Despite the large amount of releases to his name, Swanö up until recently worked full-time in a music store (Musikbörsen) in Örebro, near his home in Sweden, rarely doing live performances with any of his bands. He had played bass in his elder brother Dag Swanö's band Pan.Thy.Monium with Dan using Day DiSyraah, and Dag using Äag as pseudonyms. Dag also plays guitar in Nightingale, formerly under the name of Tom Nouga.
Musical contributions
Bands | Audio engineering | Audio mastering | Audio mixing | Backing vocals | Bass guitar | Drum kit | Electric guitar | Electronic keyboard | Former member | Member | Other Instruments | Record producer | Vocals |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aeon | |||||||||||||
Altar | |||||||||||||
Ancient | |||||||||||||
Ancient Ascendant | |||||||||||||
Another Life | |||||||||||||
Another Perfect Day | |||||||||||||
Argentum | |||||||||||||
As Light Dies | |||||||||||||
Battlelore | |||||||||||||
Bloodbath | |||||||||||||
Bombshell Rocks | |||||||||||||
Brejn Dedd | |||||||||||||
Bucovina | |||||||||||||
Canopy | |||||||||||||
Coldworker | |||||||||||||
Coraxo | |||||||||||||
Cronian | |||||||||||||
Dark Funeral | |||||||||||||
Darkcide | |||||||||||||
Darkified | |||||||||||||
Dawn | |||||||||||||
Dawn of Dreams | |||||||||||||
De Infernali | |||||||||||||
Demiurg | |||||||||||||
Demon Project | |||||||||||||
Denial | |||||||||||||
Diabolical Masquerade | |||||||||||||
Dissection | |||||||||||||
Edge of Sanity | |||||||||||||
Effloresce | |||||||||||||
Evergrey | |||||||||||||
Evocation | |||||||||||||
Evoke | |||||||||||||
Fall of Serenity | |||||||||||||
Fleshcrawl | |||||||||||||
Frameshift | |||||||||||||
Gates of Ishtar | |||||||||||||
Ghost | |||||||||||||
Ghostorm | |||||||||||||
Godsend | |||||||||||||
Gorath | |||||||||||||
Hail of Bullets | |||||||||||||
Hallows Die | |||||||||||||
Hearse | |||||||||||||
Incision | |||||||||||||
Infestdead | |||||||||||||
Insomnium | |||||||||||||
Kaoteon | |||||||||||||
Karaboudjan | |||||||||||||
Katatonia | |||||||||||||
Lay Down Rotten | |||||||||||||
Maceration | |||||||||||||
M.E.S.S | |||||||||||||
Mahlstrøm | |||||||||||||
Marduk | |||||||||||||
Masticate | |||||||||||||
Mechanization | |||||||||||||
Millencolin | |||||||||||||
Mirrors of Obsidian | |||||||||||||
Moredhel | |||||||||||||
Mörk Gryning | |||||||||||||
Motorowl | |||||||||||||
MyGrain | |||||||||||||
Nasum | |||||||||||||
Nightingale | |||||||||||||
Novembers Doom | |||||||||||||
Novembre | |||||||||||||
October Tide | |||||||||||||
Oddland | |||||||||||||
Odyssey | |||||||||||||
Omnium Gatherum | |||||||||||||
Opeth | |||||||||||||
Overflash | |||||||||||||
Pain | |||||||||||||
Pan.Thy.Monium | |||||||||||||
Proserpine | |||||||||||||
Rakshasas | |||||||||||||
Ribspreader | |||||||||||||
Route Nine | ? | ? | |||||||||||
Rytmihäiriö | |||||||||||||
Scartown | |||||||||||||
Somnae | |||||||||||||
Sörskogen | |||||||||||||
Star One | |||||||||||||
Steel | |||||||||||||
Subway Mirror | |||||||||||||
The Foreshadowing | |||||||||||||
Theatre of Tragedy | |||||||||||||
Therion | |||||||||||||
Threshold | |||||||||||||
Torture Division | |||||||||||||
Total Terror | |||||||||||||
Uncanny | |||||||||||||
Under Black Clouds | |||||||||||||
Vinterland | |||||||||||||
Wake Arkane | |||||||||||||
Winds | |||||||||||||
Witherscape | |||||||||||||
Wounded Knee |
Discography
Solo
(All Instruments/Vocals)
- 1998 – Moontower
with Edge of Sanity
(Vocals/Keyboards/Add. Guitar 1989-1997), (All Instruments/Vocals 2003)
- 1991 – Nothing But Death Remains
- 1992 – Unorthodox
- 1993 – The Spectral Sorrows
- 1994 - Until Eternity Ends (EP)
- 1994 – Purgatory Afterglow
- 1996 – Crimson
- 1997 – Infernal
- 1999 - Evolution (Compilation)
- 2003 – Crimson II
- 2006 - When All Is Said (Compilation)
- 2012 - Kur-Nu-Gi-A (EP)
with Nightingale
Drums (1994-2000), Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards (1994-present)
- 1995 – The Breathing Shadow
- 1996 – The Closing Chronicles
- 2000 – I
- 2002 – Alive Again
- 2004 – Invisible
- 2005 – Nightfall Overture
- 2007 – White Darkness
- 2014 - Retribution
with Pan.Thy.Monium
(Bass/Keyboards/FX)
- 1990 – ...Dawn (Demo)
- 1991 – Dream II (EP)
- 1992 – Dawn of Dreams
- 1993 – Khaooohs
- 1996 – Khaooohs and Kon-Fus-Ion
- 2010 – ...Dawn+Dream II (Compilation)
with Unicorn
(Drums/Lead Vocals)
- 1988 - A Collection of Worlds, Part I (Demo)
- 1989 - A Collection of Worlds, Part II (Demo)
- 1991 - The Weirdest of Tales (Demo)
- 1992 - After Before (Demo)
- 1993 - Ever Since
- 1995 - Emotional Wasteland
- 2015 - A Collection of Worlds Resurrection
with Infestdead
(Guitar/Bass/Drum-programming)
- 1996 – Killing Christ (EP)
- 1997 – Hellfuck
- 1999 – JesuSatan
- 2015 - Satanic Serenades (Compilation)
with Steel
(Vocals)
- 1998 - Heavy Metal Machine (EP)
with Katatonia
(Session drums)
- 1999 - Tonight's Decision
with Odyssey
(All Instruments/Vocals)
- 1999 - Odyssey (EP)
- 2010 - Reinventing the Past
with Bloodbath
(Guitar/Vocals/Keyboards) (Drums 00-02)
- 2000 – Breeding Death (EP)
- 2002 – Resurrection Through Carnage
- 2004 – Nightmares Made Flesh
- 2008 – The Wacken Carnage (Live album)
with Karaboudjan
(All Instruments/Vocals)
- 2001 – Sbrodj (EP)
with Total Terror
(Guitar/Vocals)
- 2008 - Total Terror
with Witherscape
(Drums/Vocals/Keyboards)
- 2013 - The Inheritance
- 2014 - The New Tomorrow (EP)
- 2016 - The Northern Sanctuary
with Incision
(Drums/Vocals)
- 1990 - Perverted Possessions (Demo)
- 1991 - Infest Incest (EP) (Unreleased)
with Darkcide
(All instruments/Vocals)
- 2007 - Split EP with Infestdead
with Masticate
(Guitar/Bass/Vocals)
- 1990 - Desecration (Demo)
with Stygg Död
(Bass/Vocals)
- 1990 - Välkommen till Helvetet (Demo)
- 1990 - 666+Våld (Demo)
with Brejn Dedd
(Drums/Backing Vocals)
- 1998 - First Demo (Demo)
- 1988 - Ugly Tapez (Demo)
- 1989 - Born Ugly (Demo)
with Wounded Knee
(Drums/Backing Vocals)
- 1990 - Searching (EP)
- 1992 - Feelings
with Route Nine
(Drums/Bass/Vocals/Keyboards)
- 1992 - Disrupted Vacancy (Demo)
- 1993 – Before I Close My Eyes Forever (EP)
- 2001 - The Works (Compilation)
with Ulan Bator
(Drums/Backing Vocals)
- 1990 - Gummicancer (Demo)
- 1990 - På Rätt Spår (EP)
with Ghost
(Drums/Vocals)
- 1985 - Djävulstriangeln (Demo)
- 1986 - Hollywood (Demo)
- 1987 - Solens Söner (Demo)
with Subway Mirror/O(:the circle)
(Guitars/Vocals)
- 1990 - Prime
- 1991 - Golliwog
- 1992 - RaQ
- 1993 - Jpp
- 1994 - Unreleased album
- 1998 - Wisepope
with Deppdöden
(Drums)
- 1990 - Titta först på när jag dansar (EP)
with Star One
(Vocals)
- 2002 – Space Metal
- 2003 – Live on Earth
- 2010 – Victims of the Modern Age
with Maceration
(Vocals)
- 1992 - A serenade of agony
Miscellaneous
- Laodicea
- Manfred Villes
- Necrony – guest vocals, guitars, compositions (under the alias "Day Disyraah")
- Second Sky
- Schecht + Akerfeldt + Swanö '98
- The Lucky Seven
- The Project Hate MCMXCIX – producer on Cybersonic Superchrist. Mixing and Mastering on Deadmarch: Initiation of Blasphemy, Armageddon March Eternal – Symphonies of Slit Wrists, In Hora Mortis Nostræ, and The Lustrate Process
- Ulan Bator
- Bleeding the False
- "Aeon: New Album Title Announced". Blabbermouth. 17 February 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- "http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=175101">ANCIENT ASCENDANT To Release 'Into The Dark' In August – 7 June 2012, Retrieved 12 May 2013
- "http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=175101">ANCIENT ASCENDANT To Release 'Into The Dark' In August – 7 June 2012, Retrieved 12 May 2013
- The Last Alliance
- ^ The Last Alliance
- Street Art Gallery (Album, 1996)
- ^ Duh (EP)
- "Unisound Recordings – 2015".
- A Dance on the Grave (1995)
- "Unisound Recordings – 2012".
- Breath of the Demiurg (Album, 2007), The Hate Chamber (Album, 2008) & Slakthus Gamleby (Album, 2010)
- Catacombs of the Grotesque (Album)
- Nightwork
- ^ Death's Design
- The Phantom Lodge
- ^ Coma Ghosts
- ^ Glorious Collision
- "Evocation Prepares To Record New Album". Blabbermouth. 24 January 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- On The Song "Fraud of Dark" from The Album, Frozen in Fire
- Frozen in Fire
- On The Song "Legend", from The Album, "Black Box"
- In the Electric Mist (Album, 1995) & A Wayfarers Tears (Album, 1997)
- As The Shadows Fall (Album, 1993)
- "Gorath Parts Ways With Drummer, Announces Replacement". Blabbermouth. 27 December 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- Misotheism (Album)
- MXCII (Album)
- "Hail of Bullets Putting Finishing Touches on New Album". Blabbermouth. 13 March 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ ....Of Frost and War (Album)
- World of Ruin (Album)
- In These Veins
- "http://www.centurymedia.com/newsdetailed.aspx?IdNews=17018&IdCompany=3">INSOMNIUM: NEW ALBUM AND BOOK "WINTER'S GATE" TO BE RELEASED SEPTEMBER 23RD, 2016
- Veni Vidi Vomui
- Jhva Elohim Meth... The Revival & Dance of December Souls
- Tonight's Decision
- Jhva Elohim Meth... The Revival & Dance of December Souls
- Weekend Ritual Massacre (Album)
- Weekend Ritual Massacre
- "Mechanization – Discography".
- For Monkeys
- Metamorphose (Album)
- "MOTOROWL: NEW ALBUM "OM GENERATOR"". Century Media Records. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- "Novembers Doom: A Eulogy For The Living Lost Video Released". Blabbermouth. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- The Pale Haunt Departure
- The Novella Reservoir
- Into Night's Requiem Infernal
- Guitar solo on the song "Dark World Burden" on the album The Pale Haunt Departure
- Wish I Could Dream it Again (Album, 1994) & Arte Novecento (Album, 1996)
- Rain Without End
- "Odyssey: Reinventing The Past Artwork Unveiled". Blabbermouth. 1 March 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ Odyssey (EP, 1999) & Reinventing the Past (Album, 2010)
- ^ Odyssey & Reinventing the Past
- The Redshift
- ^ The Redshift
- Morningrise
- ^ Morningrise
- Nothing Remains The Same
- "About Proserpine". Proserpine.
- Human Machine (Album)
- Kans Mama Da Shraaph (EP)
- "Albumit | Rytmihäiriö". Surmacore.com. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ Surmantuoja (Album)
- "Легенды большого города" (Russian spelling for "Legends of a big city")
- Forever More (EP)"Dan Swanö Mastering Somnae Forevermore E.P.". Somnae.
- ^ Victims of the Modern Age
- ^ Space Metal
- "The official The Foreshadowing releases page".
- Theatre of Tragedy
- Theli and A'arab Zaraq – Lucid Dreaming
- Dead Reckoning
- "Torture Division: Evighetens Dårar II Demo Details Revealed". Blabbermouth. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- "Dan Swanö Issues Update on Second Sky Project". Blabbermouth. 4 February 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- "The Project Hate MCMXCIX Announces Lineup Changes". Blabbermouth. 5 January 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.