CoC : Green Carnation - Journey to the End of the Night : Review

Green Carnation - _Journey to the End of the Night_
(Prophecy, 2000)
by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10)

With the influential In the Woods... having recently been laid to rest, Green Carnation had all the potential to be quite the surprise for those who mourned the loss of ItW. The work of the Botteri brothers (ex-ItW) will sound familiar, and even main vocalist Rx Draumtanzer tends to sound somewhat similar to Jan Svithjod of the departed ItW. However, Green Carnation also features Tchort (ex-Emperor bassist) on guitars and a list of guests including vocalists Synne Soprana (also ex-ItW) and Vibeke Stenne (Tristania) and also a part-time violinist, among other guest vocalists. The general style isn't far from the very atmospheric doom metal that you might expect, and the album runs for 70 minutes. Sounds good if you like ItW, doesn't it? Too bad it doesn't quite live up to all the expectations. Hardly any of the material here is as good as most of what ItW have done (though it's often quite similar). The song structures themselves tend to go on and on for a lot longer than their contents seem to justify. In addition, the production is below average. Draumtanzer's vocals are often simultaneously too close to Svithjod's for comfort, yet at the same time never anywhere near as good as his -- and pretty much the same can be said about most of the music compared to ItW. But then again, despite the feeling that not really as much planning and maturing went into the making of this record as should have, it still avoids sounding like a horrible caricature of ItW because the musicians involved are talented and still pulled off a very decent album. In my opinion more likely to make you miss ItW even more than to provide much solace, this is mostly a somewhat flawed but still reasonably good record that in my view just doesn't live up to its potential and the expectations one might have about it.

(article published 13/3/2001)

ALBUMS
1/27/2010	Q Kalis		Green Carnation - Alive and Well... in Krakow
1/30/2006	A McKay	9	Green Carnation - The Quiet Offspring
1/2/2006	A McKay	8	Green Carnation - The Acoustic Verses
5/27/2004	B Meloon	2	Green Carnation - A Blessing in Disguise
4/12/2002	A McKay	9.5	Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness

GIGS
3/15/2006	A McKay	Green Carnation / Beyond the Embrace / Deimos	The Quiet, Acoustic Light of Darkness