The Bad Penny (beta)

It’s a preeeeety safe bet to say that Dan Swanö belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Swedish melodic death-metal musicians. Not only did he help engender the extreme-metal genre with his bands Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, Unicorn, Pan-Thy-Monium and about two dozen more (see for yourself), his knowledge of the musical strain is unparalleled. To put it simply, without Dan Swanö, there probably wouldn’t be melodic death metal (and all its latter-year torchbearers, like At the Gates, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and the like).

We connected with Dan “The Man” Swanö after publishing our 20 Best Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Bands of All Time feature in mid-December. Little did we know that posting the piece would result in a reaping of dividends like communicating and collaborating with some of the most revered musicians in the metal underground, not to mention other enthusiasts concocting their own best-of lists and sending them to The Bad Penny so we could, in turn, share them with you. (After finishing this read, check out some of the other submissions from true, authentic metal musicians like Swanö. They’re listed at the end of the article.)

Swanö was so generous in providing us with loads of memories, thoughts and commentary about how he fell in love with music, his coming-of-rage years and how he became so well-versed in Sweden’s distinct brand of metal that we will likely run a sequel story in the not-too-distant-future. (So long as you engage in the conversation with us by submitting comments, sending in your own lists and the like, that is.)

And with that, let’s hear from the immortal Dan Swanö about the bands and songs that helped make him the metal god that he became and continues to be to this day.