Green Carnation - Journey to the End of the Night (2000)

Green Carnation's origins date back to 1990 when the band was formed in Kristiansand, Norway as a death metal band by a sixteen year old named, Terje Vik Schei. A year later the, 'Hallucinations of Despair' demo was released and whether or not it got any attention is beyond me, but a few years down the road Terje was asked to play bass in Emperor and some (all?) of the GC members formed a band by the name of In The Woods in '92. In the late 90's, In The Woods broke up and some (all?) of its members joined up with Terje (better known as Tchort) to re-form Green Carnation, although this second formation of the group was more or less a continuation of In The Woods. Confused yet? Good, because the whole thing seems like one big jumbled mess to me too.

Looking back to 2000 I remember my only reason for wanting to hear this band was because Vibeke Stene (now formerly of Tristania) performed some guest vocals and, well, don't tell anyone but I had a little crush on her back then. Shhhhhhhhhh! Nevertheless I continued to follow the band throughout the years and for what its worth to tell I have to say seeing this band live about six years ago was one of the best shows I've ever attended, but that's another story.

'Journey to the End of the Night' is a strange album though, because it sounds like Tchort had some great ideas lined up for this release, but unfortunately he failed to write truly gripping songs with these ideas. I'd probably go so far to say that this album basically sounds like a demo version of the bands second album, 'Light of Day, Day of Darkness.' Much of what is within that album is here, but just not fully realized yet, but basically this is the same sort of progressive doomy metal with some stringed instruments, clearly sung lead male vocals with various guest female soprano singers assisting him.

Kjetil Nordhus had not yet joined the band as vocalist at this point either, in fact none of the guys that were in the band when they went on hiatus a few years ago were present just yet. The lead vocals are however handled by some guy named RX Draumtanzer, which I think is the former vocalist from In The Woods, and I have to admit I didn't mind his work in his old band, but here is just sounds like he's holding back and not allowing his voice to reach its full potential.

Perhaps what makes the record additionally challenging is that its well over an hour in length and four of the eight songs are over eleven minutes, with the longest clocking in at just a little under eighteen. I think you'll find that these songs have some great parts to them, but that's just it, only a few parts. So, perhaps that's why the following full-length was a single sixty minute track, even though it clearly could have been split into about 6-7 parts.

In the end if you truly adore, 'Light of Day, Day of Darkness' or were a big time In The Woods fan then its entirely possible that you'll feel the same way about this release or perhaps you'll like it, I dunno. If anything though at least this release doesn't have any stupid giggling baby nonsense like the sophomore release did, and that, my friends, is a truly great thing.