GREEN CARNATION

Trilogies in music in respect to albums being released are rare; too often we have part one, sometimes part two, but often times part two is where the music stops. Norway’s Green Carnation had early ideas of flirting with a trilogy of albums; it remains to be seen if we are getting a volume three at the moment. Volume one was a phenomenal release, but sadly it was mentioned to me too late to make my 2025. When I was given the chance to review volume two, I knew it was something I should not pass up. Having missed the band the two previous times they came to Toronto (2005 and 2016), if online sources are correct, of course, the band sadly wasn’t on my radar until this year, but experiencing the whole discography of music, I’m hoping 2026 is the year that they return to Toronto to perform, and if not this year, sooner rather than later in the band’s very rare performances.

Coming in very synth-heavy, we are met with the opening track ‘Sanguis (Blood Ties)’— it comes through really strong and empathetically. Slowly, the drums start to warm up to match volume-wise, almost equal but not overpowering the keyboards, before the rest of the band joins in to establish this masterclass of a progressive metal song. Although this song sounds bright musically, the lyrics are about some very tough life lessons and a touch of haunting once the layering of vocals combines off and on throughout the song. The longest song on the album, and the only song released to the world, the extended version on the album is 9 minutes vs. the 7 minutes. The band really makes those two extra minutes as an outro worth obtaining the album vs. the radio edit. The double bass drums really come through with cadence and consistency, but the infectious synths dominate the song musically. We are met with a pre-recorded message; it could be from anywhere or anything. The beginning words aren’t clear, but hauntingly, this recording ends with “How dare you! Send them back!”

‘Loneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold’—very slow and melodic guitars dominate this song, met with those all-too-familiar synths; it almost feels like a eulogy is coming in. The shortest song of the album, lyrically very sad, brings up friendship, loss, and maybe even something darker due to the conversation with the singer and a friend. With the song being so short, the guitar is the solo instrument, with the heartbreaking and yet impressive vocals for added effect with inflection on certain words; nothing is wasted in this song. ‘Sweet To The Point Of Bitter’ — the tempo is brought back to life almost immediately, and we are met with everything all at once. The dueling guitars, one keeping the tempo and the other keeping the screaming solo in place in tandem adds something awesome and beautiful. This song lyrically has a lot of back and forth, with the title being sprinkled into the song multiple times, and it comes across as a fight internally or with something higher than us. There are moments outside of the singing in the middle where I wouldn’t exactly call it a guitar solo moment, but the tandem guitars have some moments to breathe without singing. The drums on this song really come off bright and clear as day with the fine cymbal work. More of the tandem guitar work follows, but this time a lot more aggressive with a much longer intro.

‘I Am Time’ — the guitars are the best part of this song, from the melodic melodies to the power chords, and the distortion effects really add to the proceedings. The outro with the synths is a great ending, while lyrically there are too many conflicting things and topics to tell definitively if this is a battle with oneself, with a person, or with multiple people. Another pre-recorded message greets us with a stark warning on multiple fronts, “desperation and despair/too much for us.” ‘Fire In Ice’—while this message is going on, the slow and euphoric guitar notes drone on with a tiny bit of drumming; the space between the notes makes this very mellow until everything else fills in. This song comes off lyrically about bargaining but also cementing one’s place in respect to living life together; my favorite hard-hitting line from this album is in this song: “If there is no compassion, we’ve already lost the fight,” followed by a pre-recorded outro with the same beginning intro to finish the track.

The final song of this short album, ‘Lunar Tale’ — starts off strong with a grand piano until the singular (and then layered) vocals kick in. Although lyrically short in length, Kjetil makes great work with his inflection in the words, and the spacing and effort into taking time to sing the words really adds to the effect, much to the same styling of ‘Loneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold’ before this one. A lot more instruments are on this song as well just to add to the effect; the atmospheric outro is a bit too long, drawn out, and the silence for the last 15 seconds is an absolutely deafening end to this album that ultimately is slower, melodic, and filled with depressing lyrics. Much like the naming of a dark poem trilogy, it will be interesting to see how this part plays in the balance of the trilogy when the final release happens.