GREEN CARNATION
By now you may have already run across the acclaim this album is getting and are already itching to get your hands on it. Allow me to give you the added incentive to hurry and do just that because the raving praise this album has garnered thus far from critics elsewhere is justly deserved. Now, here is my own breakdown.GREEN CARNATION's inception into the Metal community was not a good one from my vantage point. Their first release reeked of directionless confusion and dulled me into the next dimension. Had I walked away and ignored the band after that first release I would have truly missed out on one of the most majestic Metal releases in, well, decades really. Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness is quite nearly this decade's answer to PINK FLOYD's The Wall of the1970's. Not surprisingly that comparison transcends not just the 25 or so years separating those two releases and the obvious genre difference but the atmosphere this album carries with it is at times not too far from that established by PINK FLOYD in their heyday.
The album is one track. That's right - one song. Well, truthfully its really several songs that have been amalgamated into one but there are several seamless transitions that create the illusion of one long and journeyed composition. The only problem I had with this is that I can't advance to sections of the song because all cd players will read this as one track at 60 minutes plus. Not a problem when you consider that you'll be absorbed for the majority of your listen anyway. This is what makes this release so incredibly good - the sheer captivation of your senses.
The album begins with haunting synthesization and the innocent ramblings of a playful child (band leader Tchort's son in fact). As the slow drumming steps in and the album begins its lengthy journey the mood is immediately set and the emotion begins flowing at once. Because there are so many differing elements to this album its too time consuming and cumbersome to cover every transition but suffice it to say that the fluidity of this album is startling. Waves and crests of emotive strings and keys and the backdrop of an enormous ensemble of guest musicians (numbering around 30 or more including a children's choir and opera choir) create an epic and majestic musical portrait of the deepest scope. While there is heavy emphasis on supportive elements on this album let one not forget that this is a Metal album above all things. Heavy guitars drive and steer this beast across its many landscapes of emotional depth with the listener riding the steady wave of triumph and tragedy, sorrow and consolation, that the album seems keenly geared toward building. Its a towering success. Deep into the album there are some bizarre experiments with female chants, which while adding a very odd and eclectic quality, are perhaps a bit too overbearing in length but they add a chill to your spine and alter the mood once again.
Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness is a dark album when you step away from it and view (or hear as it were) it from a perspective of totality. However, to call this simply Doom Metal is criminal. This is so much more and genre classification is completely defied. Allow me to call it Ambient/Doom/Epic/Orchestral Metal. Actually that doesn't do it justice and its likely you won't be able to label this with anything currently in the Metal subgenre arsenal. Its just too far out. GREEN CARNATION have created an album that rocks, that saddens, that nurtures, that gives hope then takes it away, that weeps and then dries the tears with breezes of melody. I picture this musical tapestry as a succession of hills and valleys with changing weather patterns and an endless horizon. So yes, its really good see?
A few notes. No death growls, just clean singing and well done too. If I had to name band's for comparison I couldn't do it save for the aforementioned PINK FLOYD mention and I think if PINK FLOYD were a Metal band this is probably the direction they'd pursue. I'm tempted to bring OPETH into the equation but not even OPETH have tried anything this bold and artistic to date. Truly this is just GREEN CARNATION. And that folks, is brilliant.
This is mandatory. That's all - mandatory. Its also one of the top 5 releases of 2001 and might just go down as one of the top 5 of the past two decades. Now go get it, bring it home, turn down the lights, listen and dream....
