Invisible

For people who are unfamiliar with Nightingale, they are a side project for Edge of Sanity mastermind Dan Swano which also features his brother Dag. Swano has pursued a different route in this band by exploring the progressive rock territories, which for hardcore fan of edge of sanity is quite surprising but nonetheless refreshing to hear. Swano's influences range from Spocks Beard, Yes, and even Pink Floyd which you can hear on the latter track on this album.

The album starts out with a strong resemblance to their 2003 album untitled "Alive Again". The only difference being on this occasion they seem to have some harder riffs in store. Dan Swano has really developed into an exceptional vocalist and that quality is what defines Nightingale as a band. Along with Swano's great vocals the guitar work is solid with several memorable solos enticing you to listen again and again.

On a negative note, at times the lyrics can seem a bit redundant with choruses often being repeated towards the end of songs. But perhaps that is the only way Nightingale will ever appeal to a larger mainstream audience rather than an underground cult following. Either way this is a solid album and shows that Nightingale have a lot left in the tank. One can only expect great things from master musician Dan Swano.

I like Nightingale a lot, because the latter two albums really exemplify what Dan Swano really is all about. The stuff he listens to is a lot of neo-prog and hard rock type stuff, and Nightingale is a chance for him and his brother Dag to put out some hard rock akin to what they love.

Invisible is a pretty solid album, though I haven't really decided where I would rank it among Nightingale's works. It always takes time for Nightingale albums to grow on me, so I might be inclined to give this a much higher rating in a month or two.

Musically, it most closely resembles the last album, Alive Again, and that makes sense since that's when Nightingale really became a band instead of just Dan. He and Dag split the songwriting duties about 50/50, and if you're a Swano conisseur such as myself, it's pretty easily to tell who wrote what. Dag's songs are surprisingly good (I don't think he's that great a songwriter generally), whereas Dan's are a little disappointing. In fact, I'd even say my two favorite tracks are Dag songs, Invisible and Stalingrad.

The brothers Swano mix up duties as far as who's on guitars and who's on keys. No matter who's doing what, those are the strongest aspects of the album. The keys are great, and the lead guitars are stellar throughout. Each song has at least one beautiful, breathtaking solo that makes you want to break something. The drums and bass are nothing spectacular. All of the great musicianship and intricacy comes from whatever the brothers Swano are doing. The bass is just there, functional, never special, and the drums are the same way, except for a rather nifty double-bass moment in one of the tracks.

The vocals are really something to write home about. Dan gives a lot of feeling, as I really think he's become more comfortable singing his heart out in recent years. He used to have a clenched-teeth sound that, though I didn't mind it, is fairly non-existent now. He has confidence and range and power and emotion.

The better half: Still Alive, A Raincheck on my Demise, Atlantis Rising, The Wake, Stalingrad.