Once in a great while a band or an artist likes to go back and reinterpret songs they’d written earlier in their career. In recent years we saw Anthrax do it with The Greater Of Two Evils and Testament do the same with First Strike Still Deadly. This time out it was Nightingale that gave some of their material a makeover. Nightingale spawned from the hands of the musical genius/producer known as Dan Swanö, initially a one-man project that later became a complete band with the help of Dan’s brother, the equally talented Dag (aka Tom Nouga).

The first album, The Breathing Shadow, released in 1995, was a dark, subdued, goth-influenced rock project written, recorded and produced solely by Dan Swano himself in just a week’s time. But by the time The Closing Chronicles was released in 1996 it was clear that Nightingale had quickly changed gears and shed the gothic overtones for a heavier prog-rock vibe. Thanks to the structural guidance of Dag, the differences are tenfold (especially without the drum machine that was used on the first album). The Breathing Shadow is a great album, but after four subsequent albums over the years it sort of stands out from the pack; not the redheaded stepchild by any means, but definitely the oddball of the group.

So as a treat to the fans, in early 2005, Nightingale’s ten year anniversary, Dan and Dag decided to re-record some tunes and present them to the world as Nightfall Overture, titled after the first track on The Breathing Shadow. The album features ten tracks, eight re-recorded songs, one new song and a cover song originally recorded by Edge Of Sanity, Dan’s stellar death metal project. But how does it all pan out? Well, it’s quite amazing and depressing at the same time. (I’ll get to that in a second). The album starts off with the title track and it’s a stunning rendition of the original, gone is the soft, moody gothic rock, replaced with a heavy yet beautiful guitar tone, real drums, synths, piano and, of course, Dan’s amazing and godlike vocals that were very subdued on the original. The same thing applies to the second track, “The Dreamreader,” even more so with this track as there was nary a riff on the original, let alone riffs as heavy as they are on this new version. Both are far superior to the originals and that’s exactly the problem, really. These versions are just too good! After hearing how amazing these two songs sound I can’t help but want the entire The Breathing Shadow album to be re-recorded, the thought of it just leaves me wanting, which is quite depressing. Trust me, I'll take what I can get, but I am definitely hoping someday the other tracks get a facelift.

The Closing Chronicles is given the treatment next with “Revival” and “Steal The Moon” followed by “Alonely” and “I Return” from the album I. Then Alive Again is represented with new versions of “The Glory Days” and “Shadowland Serenade.” These songs are very similar to the originals, generally with only slight changes; the production is obviously better—at least on the I and The Closing Chronicles tracks—and a little more raw, the vocals are sung slightly different and sometimes better, some solos have changed, a few quite a bit, but overall, even though the songs haven’t changed much, they definitely have a different vibe, which makes the concept of re-recording them much more acceptable. Plus, they’re killer tunes either way you look at it.

The album ends with essentially two new songs. The first is “Losing Myself,” originally an Edge Of Sanity song from the 1997 album Infernal. The original is one of a few Edge Of Sanity songs that sort of take a departure from their usual death metal style, so it feels more at home on this album than it did on Infernal—(which seemed to be the splitting point for the band with Dan contributing a few songs like this one to that album. It was to be Dan’s brief swansong under the Edge Of Sanity name, only to be resurrected as a one-man project after the rest of the band completely disbanded after releasing one more album). I’ve always thought this song sounded like a Nightingale b-side anyway, so it’s a welcome addition to the family. Again, this song stays pretty much true to the original, but with better overall sound and vibe. The album ends on a strong note with a new song called “Better Safe Than Sorry.” It’s a heavy, prog-rock gem with a great, catchy chorus, nice synth work, an awesome breakdown and, as usual, some of Dan’s excellent vocal work that just seems to get better and better with age.

Essentially there isn’t a single thing wrong with this album, it just showcases how good this band really is, and how much better those already-great songs on that first album could be. It’s arguable that the original album has its own special quality, and it does, but in my world re-recording all the songs would not take away from the original as the differences between the two versions would be too great. They would essentially sound like two different albums. A man can dream (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). The worst thing about this CD is the availability of it, only 500 copies of this version—the Limited European Tour Edition—were initially pressed by Black Mark. It was supposed to be re-released by the end of 2005 with some bonus material, but that has yet to happen.

If you're patient, sit tight, as this album should be re-released this year along with the new Nightingale album, White Darkness—and hopefully the Second Sky album, which is essentially a new Unicorn album (Unicorn was Dan’s prog-rock project he started when he was just 16 years old, it was excellent then, I can’t imagine what he’ll do with it now). In the end, this album comes highly recommended. If you're not patient, find it.

Note: Last I heard Dan did have a few copies of this version left. Head on over to his messageboard and inquire about it, either he or Dag will answer you.

MP3: Nightfall Overture, Revival and Shadowland Serenade (these are bootleg-quality live tracks taken from tomnouga.se)

Note: In time these links will likely becoming outdated.