Green Carnation
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Green Carnation is a Norwegian
progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...
band from
Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
, formed in 1990. Green Carnation's trend of music has continuously changed on every release one by one; from straight forward
death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...
in their demo, to
death-doom Death-doom (also known as death-doom metal or doom-death) is a fusion genre of death metal and doom metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep death growl, growling vocals and double bass dr ...
, then a progressive
doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...
sound, to an atmospheric gothic metal sound, to a melancholic
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
sound and in 2006, went as far as to releasing an entirely acoustic album '' Acoustic Verses''. The band released its first album in 14 years titled '' Leaves of Yesteryear'' on May 8, 2020, which marked a return to their earlier gothic
progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...
roots.Blabbermouth.net Review
/ref> A new single was composed, arranged, rehearsed and they were went on to record “The World Without a View” during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, "The World Without a View" was released digitally on December 18, 2020.


History


Formation and early years (1990–2001)

Green Carnation is the creation of former
Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
bass player Terje Vik Schei ( a.k.a.
Tchort Terje Vik Schei (born 7 July 1974), better known by his stage name Tchort, is a Norwegian musician. He is known for his time spent playing bass for the black metal band Emperor and for leading the progressive metal band Green Carnation. He ha ...
), founded before Tchort joined Emperor in 1990. It eventually split, with the remaining members X-Botteri, Cm:Botteri and Anders Kobro creating
avant-garde metal Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, art metal and experimetal) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde music, avant-garde elements, including non-stan ...
band In the Woods.... Green Carnation's first album, ''
Journey to the End of the Night ''Journey to the End of the Night'' (, 1932) is the first novel by Louis-Ferdinand Céline. This semi-autobiographical work follows the adventures of Ferdinand Bardamu in World War I, colonial Africa, the United States and the poor suburbs of ...
'', was not recorded until 1998 and was released in October 2000 through German record company
Prophecy Productions Prophecy Productions is an international record label, founded in Germany by Martin Koller in 1996. It proclaims promoting "transcendental ..captivating music".
. The release was a
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...
inspired
doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...
album. The Botteri brothers, Alf Tore Rasmussen, and Geir Solli left the band after recording the debut album, and then Anders Kobro from In The Woods... joined up with Tchort. Together, they spent nearly two years making the foundational arrangements for what eventually became '' Light of Day, Day of Darkness'', a single track, 60-minute
progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...
epic which is one of the longest single songs in
metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
. They then did a pre-production in the studio with Tchort on guitar, Kobro on drums, and Endre Kirkesola on bass. This was enough to convince guitarist Bjørn Harstad, also of In The Woods..., to join the band in time for the final recording of the album, accompanied by Stein Roger Sordal on bass, Kjetil Nordhus on vocals, and
Bernt Moen Bernt André Moen (born 17 February 1974) is a Norwegian musician. He is known as a jazz pianist, composer and music teacher. Career Moen was born in Kristiansand. He has been involved in a series of metal bands, and is now professor in perf ...
of Shining on keyboards. ''Light of Day, Day of Darkness'' was released in 2001 via Prophecy Productions in Europe, while the US release was handled by The End Records.


Genre branching and new identity (2001–2006)

Following this release, the band released their 2003 full-length album '' A Blessing in Disguise'' through French record label Season Of Mist. The album consisted of a blend of progressive metal/
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
elements, slightly gothic tinges, and
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
elements and brought the band into another musical terrain. Bjørn Harstad left the band after the recording of A Blessing, a decision he made due to his other work commitments. Unfortunately Bernt Moen also decided to quit the band due to obligations with other artists and solo projects after the Blessing in Disguise tour of 2003. Two years later the band followed up with the album '' The Quiet Offspring'', introducing Kenneth Silden on keyboard and Michael Krumins on guitar. The album was released through
Season Of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...
in Europe and
The End Records The End Records is a record label in Manhattan that specialized in rock, heavy metal, indie, and electronic music. History Early years (1998–2005) The End Records was founded by Andreas Katsambas in Pasadena, California, with the goal of ...
in the US. This album brought the band into an even more hard-rock style of music and is seen by many to be their most commercial-sounding release. At this point, they made the decision to replace Anders Kobro with drummer Tommy Jackson (Jacksonville). Jacksonville was a natural choice since he had been a long-time friend and partner of Stein Sordal's other projects, Soxpan, Sordal and Plutho ++). Later in 2005, the band released an EP entitled '' The Burden Is Mine... Alone''. This EP marked the debut of
bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...
/
guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...
Stein Roger Sordal as a lead vocalist in the band, with the song that shares the name of the EP and the song was written and performed entirely by him. Drummer Tommy Jacksonville also debuted as songwriter and lyricist on the EP. He wrote the song "Transparent Me" for the album. This release also worked as a taste of what was to come with their following full-length album. Early 2006 marked the release of their fifth full-length '' Acoustic Verses''. This album was yet another stylistic shift for the band. On the album, the band played all acoustic instruments, showing off a softer, warmer style for the band while retaining the progressive and darker feels they established since their debut.


Hiatus (2007–2014)

According to Tchort's writings in the booklet to ''Acoustic Verses'', Green Carnation's next studio release was going to be the second part of "The Chronicles of Doom" trilogy, which began with ''Light of Day, Day of Darkness'', and is going to be titled ''The Rise and Fall of Mankind''. In February 2007 Green Carnation recorded their second live DVD, '' A Night Under the Dam'', where they played the entire ''Acoustic Verses'' album as well as a few other songs. The DVD was recorded under a 30-meter-tall dam in the Norwegian mountains and was the last release to be seen by the band's current line-up. On August 17, 2007, Tchort announced that due to the poorly organized American tour and subsequent financial and motivational losses, the line up of Green Carnation had split up.

. He stated that he would
"continue writing music under the name Green Carnation, but probably will never play live again with the band."
The expected album, ''The Rise and Fall of Mankind'', has been postponed with no current release date, but Tchort has said that the album will be released sometime in the future. However, the announced album title was eventually discarded for unknown reasons after the group's long break.


Reunion (2014–present)

On February 20, 2014, the band members announced that they would reunite for a second version of ''A Night Under the Dam'' on July 31, 201

. In the same press release, they further announced their availability for festivals and shows
A short documentary
about the reunion show has been released on the Norwegian websit
Eternal-Terror
On September 10, 2016, Green Carnation made its debut at
ProgPower USA ProgPower USA is a progressive and power metal festival held annually in the United States since 2001. Its upcoming edition, ProgPower USA XXIV is scheduled to take place on September 3–6, 2025. The festival's band selection process focuses o ...
(PPUSA) at Center Stage in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. The band played "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" in its entirety to a sold-out venue. This performance received rave reviews and many claim it to be one of the best performances ever, at PPUSA. On August 24, 2018, the group released their third live album '' Last Day of Darkness'' on DVD/CD format under the
Prophecy Productions Prophecy Productions is an international record label, founded in Germany by Martin Koller in 1996. It proclaims promoting "transcendental ..captivating music".
label. The show was recorded at the Kilden Centre,
Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
on November 26, 2016. The band announced the recording of their first album in 14 years titled '' Leaves of Yesteryear''. On March 5, 2020, was released the title track as a music video and a single for digital download. On May 6, 2020, the band did a live listening party via
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
to introduce the world to their sixth studio album. Finally, ''Leaves of Yesteryear'' was released on May 8, 2020, via
Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...
and produced by Green Carnation and Endre Kirkesola. The album was recorded and mixed by Endre Kirkesola. The mastering was done by mastering engineer Maor Appelbaum. On November 13, 2020, the band released the single "The World Without a View", only available as a
streaming video Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...
and digital download via 
Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...
. The song was since released digitally on December 18, 2020. In December 2021, the remastered edition of the 2006-album "Acoustic Verses" was released, with new cover art and additional songs. It was followed by the single release of "Time in a Bottle", a cover song, originally written by Jim Croce.


Discography


Studio albums


Other releases


Band members


Current members

* Terje Vik Schei (a.k.a. Tchort) −
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
s (1990–1991, 1998–2007, 2014–present) *Stein Roger Sordal −
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
,
vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
, guitars, harp (2001–2006, 2014–present) *Bjørn "Berserk" Harstad – guitars, slide guitars, ebow (2001–2003, 2006, 2016, 2019–present) * Kjetil Nordhus − vocals (2001–2007, 2014–present) *Kenneth Silden −
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
, keyboards (2005–2007, 2014–present) * Jonathan Pérez
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
(2016–present)


Former members

*Christopher "C:M." Botteri – bass (1990–1991, 1998–2001) *
Anders Kobro Anders Kobro is a Norwegian drummer who played in the bands In the Woods... and Green Carnation. He was also playing for Carpathian Forest Carpathian Forest is a Norwegian black metal band formed by Nattefrost and Nordavind in 1992. They ...
– drums (1990–1991, 2001–2005) *Christian "X" Botteri – guitars (1990–1991, 1998–2001) *Richart Olsen – vocals (1990–1991) *Alf T. Leangel – drums (1998–2001) *Bernt A Moen – keyboards, piano (2001–2004) *Øystein Tønnessen – keyboards, piano (2004) *Michael Krumins − guitar,
theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...
(2004–2007, 2014–2017, 2022) *Tommy Jacksonville −
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
(2005–2007, 2014–2016) *Endre Kirkesola – keyboards (2001, 2016–2017)


Live session musicians

*Ole Vistnes – bass (2005, 2022) *Anne Marie Almedal – vocals (2006) *Trond Breen - guitars (2022 - )


Timeline


See also

* In The Woods... * Tristania *
Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
*
Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...
*
Carpathian Forest Carpathian Forest is a Norwegian black metal band formed by Nattefrost and Nordavind in 1992. They are known for their unique style of black metal, often categorised as black 'n' roll and includes a prominent, clanky bass tone and lyrics tha ...
* Chain Collector * Subterranean Masquerade


References


External links

* * Green Carnation @ AllMusic.com {{Authority control Norwegian progressive metal musical groups Norwegian gothic metal musical groups Norwegian doom metal musical groups Norwegian death metal musical groups Norwegian avant-garde metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1990 1990 establishments in Norway Musical groups disestablished in 1991 1991 disestablishments in Norway Musical groups reestablished in 1999 Musical groups from Kristiansand Musical sextets Metal Mind Productions artists Season of Mist artists