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: : Green Carnation: The Acoustic Verses : :
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Band/Artist
Green Carnation
Title:
The Acoustic Verses
Released
2006
Label
The End Records |
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Track
listing:
1. Sweet Leaf
2. Burden Is Mine... Alone
3. Maybe?
4. Alone
5. 9-29-045: My Greater Cause, Pt. 1 / Home Coming, Pt. 2 / House of
Cards, Pt 3
6. Childs Play, Pt. 3
7. High Tide Waves |
: : The Players : :
Stein Roger Sordal -
Bass, ebow, coffee, lead vocals and backing vocals | Tchort - Acoustic
guitar | Kjetil Nordhus - Lead vocals and backing vocals | Tommy Jackson
- Drums and percussion | Michael S Krumins - Acoustic guitar, semi
hollow guitar and theremin | Kenneth Silden, - Piano,rhodes, strings and
mellotron | Bjørn Harstad - Tremolo guitar, slide and guitar effects
Guest Musicians:
Leif Wiese - Violin | Gustav Ekeberg - Viola | Bernt Andrè Moen - Chello |
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: : The Acoustic Verses : :
Now, what kind of music do you expect to hear from
a band led by a former member of two well known black metal bands? Not
music like you get on this album, that's for sure.
Green Carnation have been around since 1999, releasing four albums in
the power metal/progressive metal vein. Their first four albums, made
with different line-ups, has been well received by critics.
And now this year, their fifth album "The Acoustic Verses" is released.
This time, they have abandoned all electric guitars, replacing them with
acoustic guitars. A bold experiment indeed, and mostly a successful one
as well.
The result is a slightly melancholy album, where the acoustic guitar is
the main instrument in most of the songs. Keyboards are carefully used
to fill out the soundscapes, and the violin is used to good effect on a
couple of tracks.
All instruments are played gently and carefully - creating a calm, lush
atmosphere that inspires the mind to forget about the here and now,
loosing oneself in the melancholic beauty of the songs. The music is
mostly calm, with a distinct frail and melancholy sound, and passages of
haunting beauty.
Personal highlights on
the album are the tracks "Maybe", "Alone" and "Child's play part III".
All of them creating atmospheres you can lose yourself in totally,
immersing mind and soul in the melancholy and slightly haunting
atmosphere created by the music.
Special mention to the track "9-29-045", 15 minutes and 29 seconds is a
hefty length for a acoustic song. And the first 11 minutes or so of this
song is the best part of the album, the final part of the song stops it
from being a perfect track though.
Comparing the sound on this album with other artists is extremely
difficult. Moodwise it has some similarities to the calmer songs and
ballads made by Marillion/Fish, but with a much higher degree of
emotional impact. Musically this album doesn't sound like anything I've
come across before.
Total score: 8,5 / 10
Reviewer: Olav Bjornsen
: : Visit the Artist’s Website : :
: : Discography : :
Journey To The End Of The Night -1999
Light of Day, Day of Darkness - 2001
A Blessing in Disguise - 2003
The Quiet Offspring - 2005
The Acoustic Verses - 2006 |
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