Green Carnation
Journey to the end of the night (CD) 2000 Prophecy
Imagine a doomier and even more experimental In the Woods... and what you get is Green Carnation. Well, it's a bit different under the surface, but that statement comes pretty close to describing this outfit in short. When Green Carnation was formed around 1990, pausing for almost a decade while its members were involved in bands like the already mentioned In the Woods... and the black metal outfit Emperor. It's interesting that Tchort, Emperor's bassist, plays the guitar and not the bass on this album. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine he could produce music so different from what he normally does. Furthermore, 'Journey to the End of the Night' is not just a half-assed experimental attempt at something new, it's an album that simply surpassed all expectations. The album, includes members from Einherjer and Tristania besides Tchort, X and Christopher Botteri of the unfortunately disbanded In the Woods.... 'Journey...' is an album containing complex and dreamy music, with some very long songs, the longest clocking at over eighteen minutes. It's almost as In the Woods...' 'Omnio' and 'Strange in Stereo' were blended together with a few other fresh ideas. As it was with those two albums, 'Journey...' has some exquisite vocals, both male and female. Note that five different vocalists appear on the album. The lyrics, written by Tchort, deal with a very delicate matter, the loss of his daughter. A violin is used in three of eight tracks, adding to the melancholy and sorrow. The biggest downside to this enjoyable album must be the somewhat similar song structures and the overall similarity of the songs themselves. This has obviously been done on purpose, though, to create the bleak atmosphere. I must mention the excellent 'Under Eternal Stars' as my favorite track, with beautiful female vocal display. To sum things up, this release just whets my appetite for what is hopefully yet to come from Green Carnation.	1. Falling into darkness 2. In the realm of the midnight sun 3. My dark reflections of life and death 4. Under eternal stars 5. Journey to the end of night (Part I) 6. Echoes of despair (Part II) 7. End of journey? (Part III) 8. Shattered (Part IV) Approx. 70 minutes
Reviewed by Bojan Janjanin
Light of day, day of darkness (CD) 2001 Prophecy
When I first heard this album I immediately was sold. Containing just one, 60 minute, song, Green Carnation has created an album that I simply can not do justice with words. This truly epic and majestic album grabs you and takes you on a musical journey. I could very clinically describe all the different styles found on this album, give you references to other bands, but somehow I feel that would diminish the grandeur of this album. 'Light of day, day of Darkness' is not just music, it is an experience, a journey! I'm always sceptical to call music "art", but in this case I have no doubts, this is art in its purest -avantagde- form. If I perhaps dare to make one comparison, it would be to Devil Doll's 'The Girl who was Death'. Not just because that album also exists out of one extremely long song, but both albums have that epic storytelling feel to them as well. 'Light of day, day of Darkness' however has a much fuller sound, it is epic, bombastic and shines with grandeur, while it lacks the insanity of Mr. Doctor. Both however offer you a musical journey. 'Light of day, day of Darkness' is filled with slush guitars, orchestral parts and comfortably mixes together musical and vocal styles which you wouldn't think of to fit together on one album, let alone one song! Every single detail seems to have been thought about and has been put there for a reason, everything makes sense. More so, despite all the different styles and its length, this feels like one complete song, one journey. I didn't once have the feeling that it got boring or that something did not fit. The music flows forward in perfect unity. The experience of the various band members and their talent shines throughout the entire album. It takes more than just talent to write an album as this, it takes experience, and you must know exactly what you're doing. Obviously Tchort has both and so do the other members of Green Carnation, all seasoned veterans of other major heavyweights (Emperor, In the Woods, etc.). My advice would be to get this album asap and experience it for yourself. As I said at the beginning of this review, I lack to words to describe it. I would only not recommend it if you are into the short rock & roll type of songs and not a fan of lush musical arrangements. As I said, this is a journey, an experience, not a collection of a songs!	1. Light of day, day of darkness Approx. 60 minutes
Reviewed by Aldo Quispel