Green Carnation

Rebirth doesn’t occur overnight, nor can it exist in a vacuum. 

Norway’s Green Carnation know all about starting over and working hard to achieve their shared goals, while overcoming adversity.  

A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is Green Carnation’s latest album, the first in a trilogy that is sure to please longtime fans of the band’s epic, landmark release, Light of Day, Day of Darkness. The Shores of Melancholia feels of two worlds; a level of immediacy combined with this insistent feeling that, yes, something substantial is indeed brewing within Green Carnation’s creative minds.  

“I think it is right to say we are returning to a longform storytelling like Light of Day, Day of Darkness,” begins Green Carnation’s vocalist Kjetil Nordhus, “…but just done in a totally different way. It is not feasible to try and copy ourselves by doing another hour-long song or anything. It has already been done. But on the levels of epic-ness and storytelling I feel that A Dark Poem certainly has those elements, within a three-album frame.” 

The Shores of Melancholia is an album that’s sure to please both longtime fans of Green Carnation, as well as those new to the fold. The album opens up with two back-to-back bangers that incorporate the catchy rock arrangements that helped define the band’s Blessing in Disguise era. “As Silence Took You” and “In Your Paradise” are melodic, with strong hooks and choruses that welcome listeners to Green Carnation’s newfound heaviness. 

The band’s bassist and songwriter, Stein Roger, explains, “A Dark Poem is a collection of songs that explore feelings of alienation in existential questions and down to the very inner self. The first part of the trilogy throws the listener into these questions from the first song. We hope to keep the audience trapped in there with us until the last second of the third album. The albums do vary in style, but always with the same basis. If we manage to keep the audience trapped within each album, we will manage to keep the audience trapped throughout the trilogy, which would be a great achievement.” 

“Me My Enemy” starts out slow, anchoring a spacey, almost jazz fusion groove from drummer Jonathan Alejandro Perez with a bass line from Roger that’s impossible to deny. This song features some of the album’s most notably memorable lyrics, as well, as Nordhus delivers what’s perhaps the album’s definitive vocal performance. This song’s dark melancholy is juxtaposed against “The Slave That You Are,” an aggressive throwback to Green Carnation’s underground past that features guests vocals from Enslaved’s Grutle Kjellson.  

Elsewhere, the album’s title track feels mysterious and moody, a song with a vibe that matches the evocative cover art from former Dark Tranquility guitarist Niklas Sundin. “The Shores of Melancholia” retains a chorus that’s striking and dynamic, thanks to the subtle keyboard playing of Kenneth Silden. Finally, “Too Close to the Flame” brings the album to a fittingly grand finale, clocking in at nearly 10 minutes, with some of the album’s most progressive arrangements. At the same time, however, the song breezes by with a natural sense of song craft that’s sure to make Green Carnation fans want to replay their journey to The Shores of Melancholia from the very beginning.  

It isn’t as if Green Carnation need a lot of assistance retaining attention from their audience, of course, as evidenced by their triumphant appearance at the 2016 ProgPower Festival. This was a reunion born from tough times, a temporary hiatus that occurred in 2007 after a troublesome U.S. tour in support of their Acoustic Verses album.  

Nordhus asserts, “since coming back in 2016, the extremely positive feedback from fans, record buyers, concert audiences, music writers, reviewers and the metal community in general has been very motivating for us, first to continue after 2017, and then to sign the very ambitious record deal with Season of Mist, which includes the trilogy project.” He continues, “I think, with A Dark Poem, we are doing something that will be a milestone in our career – challenging for ourselves, challenging for our fans, just the way Green Carnation has always been.” 

Those fans have always possessed a profoundly emotional connection to Green Carnation, one that feels frank, unique and dedicated. The collective grief associated with the aforementioned Light of Day, Day of Darkness today almost feels like a legacy of sorts – cathartic energy that continues to connect listeners to the music of Green Carnation.  

Kjetil and Stein Roger seem to be in agreement with this observation, admitting, “the very strong emotional connection is most certainly a connection we do feel when releasing new music, at every live show, and in the time in between. With Light of Day, Day of Darkness being an album that connected so strongly to so many people, there has never been a time where the band’s legacy has separated with this, and – in different forms – we have continued to explore many of the same themes as in that album, although maybe not that specific.” 

The Shores of Melancholia and this idea of a multi-album series is one that’s been kicking around within the Green Carnation camp for years. There was even talk, at one point, of the band releasing a concept release titled The Rise and Fall of Mankind. Nordhus is quick to distinguish this first entry in A Dark Poem as dedication for the future, however, saying, “I think it is fair to say that the idea of a trilogy was born then, yes, but The Rise and Fall of Mankind never materialized. Although there might have existed themes and ideas at the time with The Rise and Fall of Mankind in mind, A Dark Poem is composed with 100 percent focus on writing new material that fit together as a monumental piece of music in three parts.” 

The vocalist continues to discuss the timeline for this new album’s songwriting roadmap, informing us that, ““it began before ‘The World Without a View’ [single], AND The Leaves of Yesteryear to be totally honest. When signing the new deal with Season of Mist in 2017, we had the trilogy project in mind, and it was part of the reason that we did sign a five-album deal with the label at the time. We knew that we needed time to do the trilogy project and planned to release one album plus re-launching The Acoustic Verses in the process, to give us enough time.” 

If 2020’s Leaves of Yesteryear was the resounding call for Green Carnation’s aforementioned rebirth, then The Shores of Melancholia is the album where, from the point of view of both Kjetil and Stein Roger, the band lay it all out on the proverbial table. And that includes returning to the live stage. 

“I can promise you that the ambitions are sky high musically,” reply both men. “With this trilogy we have put in an extreme amount of work over a very long period of time, and we are confident that this will be a milestone in Green Carnation’s career.” They go on to admit that, “what happens live is not only up to us. But by being a very active band with releasing not less than three albums in 2025 and 2026, we are certainly hoping to be a band that many people want to see live, and that concert and festival promoters want to book. We are already working extremely hard on The Shores of Melancholia live set, so we will be ready!” 

Line-up:

• Kjetil Nordhus : Vocals
• Tchort : Guitar
• Bjørn Harstad : Guitar
• Stein Roger Sordal : Bass
• Endre Kirkesola : Keyboards
• Jonathan Alejandro Perez : Drums