Like so many bands today,
Green Carnation started out as a Death Metal band. I understand the temptation and desire to move forward from Death Metal into other things. Death Metal at its base form can be repetitive and to make new headway in the form can be difficult, if not impossible, without losing its intensity. Some bands prefer to retain the heavy dropped tuning of Death Metal and mix it with Pop or Rock or both to see what they can come up with.
Passenger has really gotten a hold of this new "Death Rock" style (my new classification for it) and are forging the way for it's future.
Green Carnation have totally dropped the Death Metal growling guitars and jumped headlong into a metal meets "Momentary Lapse Of Reason"
Pink Floyd. On the latest adventure these gentlemen have indeed created an epic masterwork here. This will be on my Top
Ten List for 2003 I can tell you that.
There a couple of songs that will stand out as immediate and catchy when listening to the disc for the first time. One being
"Crushed To Dust" the other being
"Myron & Cole". Tracks 1 & 7 respectively. The rest of the album requires you to stop and listen without distractions. As you let it percolate in your brain over successive listens it will unfold and reveal it's power, passion, and intricate melodies to you. It is an aural treat I can assure you.
In brief, I will list what you can expect from the instruments and vocals on this album. You have clean, very clean, but powerful vocals. Some of the vocal melodies will remind you of early,
Dio fronted,
Rainbow to a Peter Gabriel flavor. If you have heard
"Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" from these guys then you'll know what to look forward to. Unlike that previous record you have songs that are themselves singular and can be heard apart from each other.
The guitars range from clean, single coil pickup clean, to EMG Humbucker dirty. The Bass is a constant flavor with occasional chorus effects to add a neat dimension. The keyboards are all over the map. You have organ sounds, piano, and synth effects present here. The drums are very well recorded and seem to work through all the various degrees of material. They can be heavy and light and still sound perfect for each song. A testament to, not only the production of the drums, but also to the drummer's taste in picking out a good kit to play on.
This album is better in my opinion than
"Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" simply because you don't lose anything if you only get to hear a song or two on the way to work. Musically they are both excellent, of course, but this is an easier listen.
As I said earlier there is some
Pink Floyd flavors in here, as well as a very progressive rock vibe happening. Double kick drumming appears briefly but at the right places. They have a classic on their hands with this one. I cannot find any flaws with this record at all. Songs are excellent, every one. The production is pristine and clear. I congratulate
Green Carnation on taking chances and doing whatever they felt like regardless of the world at large. This daring dive into invention has yielded incredible results and I'm sure that if they keep going with the attitude that they do only what sounds good to them, then will we be blessed with more albums of this stature. Excellent work gentleman, and thank you for giving this art to me and the rest of the world. The pleasure is indeed mine to hear it.
If you'd like to know who
Green Carnation is and what they have done heretofore, then explore them by going to their official
website.
Written by
David Wednesday, August 6, 2003
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