Green Carnation – A Dark Poem, Part III: The Messiah Complex

One year ago, almost to the day, Norwegian progressive metal band Green Carnation released the first in a trilogy of albums. I was fortunate enough to be able to review that release at the time. Now part 3 is here and somewhere between them is a part 2 which I appear to have missed. Never mind, I will seek it out. Meanwhile the final episode of this story is “A Dark Poem, Part III: The Messiah Complex”.

This concluding chapter is 38 minutes long and consists of just four tracks which increase in length as you move through the album. The collective parts of “A Dark Poem” are based on a poem called Ophelia by French poet, Arthur Rimbaud. It is a 19^th century ghost story which also has three parts. Its opening line (translated) is “On the calm black water where the stars are sleeping, white Ophelia floats like a great lily”. The poem itself is based on the character in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The subject matter related to ‘Unconditional Artificial Chemistry’ is pertinent to more recent and indeed future times. The chilling line “With every byte and code I will comply” appears several times in the song. The implications in the accompanying video are equally scary. The relentless driving riff throughout the song feels like the unstoppable force that is AI and algorithms.  Kjetil Nordhus’s measured vocal delivery portrays a sense of the servitude offered by the online bots. At certain points the guitars and bass seem to growl in the background, adding an element of menace.

The title track, ‘The Messiah Complex’ is softer initially, before gradually gaining strength and intensity. The soft parts are mellow and calming, the heavier parts have marching rhythms and crashing chords. After a crescendo is reached, a breakdown ushers in a final mellow stretch with little guitar licks. The mention of Matthew and Herod indicate that this one is about another form of control, organised religion and power. The hook line is “Soul on parole”, and all in all it’s a mysterious song, but a solid rocker, nevertheless.

Of the first three “normal” tracks, ‘Broken Souls, Common Enemies’ is the most varied and longest of them. Ingrid Ose guests on flute in a quieter part mid song which is reminiscent of Pink Floyd. Either side of this are multiple styles including a thrashy section with harsh vocals and a strange piece of spoken word. The only proper guitar solo on the album straddles this dialogue with the flute acting as a backdrop to the words. All these elements make it the standout track on this album for me and possibly across all three.

Now for something completely different, the final track on this immense three-part journey is ‘A Dark Poem – Orchestral Suite’. For the remaining 16 minutes and 47 seconds we leave the realm of rock n ‘ roll and enter that of classical music. The band is joined for this by Ingrid Ose once more along with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and Opera Choir. If you played this to someone without telling them who it is they would never guess it was Green Carnation.

The Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra is made up of almost 70 musicians including Ingrid Ose, so you can imagine how grandiose this piece is. It is reminiscent of a work by any of the great classical composers. Moving as it does between dramatic, beautiful and ethereal – courtesy of the choir – it is moving and stirring. If you listen very carefully, occasionally there are bits of Arthur Rimbaud’s poem spoken in the background. At the beginning before the music starts I managed to identify a few lines. “O pale Ophelia! beautiful as snow. Yes child, you died, carried off by a river. – It was the winds descending from the great mountains of Norway. That spoke to you in low voices of better freedom”. After that it is hard to pick any of it out behind the majesty of the orchestra, band and choir.

This ambitious trio of chapters was many years in the making, then released in quick succession. The band have set themselves a very high bar to maintain. What will they take on next? Whatever it is, I’m sure it won’t be a disappointment. We wait with great expectations.

Tracklist:

1. Unconditional Artificial Chemistry
2. The Messiah Complex
3. Broken Souls, Common Enemies
4. A Dark Poem – Orchestral Suite