A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia comes out this Friday, September 5, but you can hear all six grand and gloomy songs today by listening to the full album stream on the Season of Mist YouTube channel.
Listen Below.
Pre-order
https://orcd.co/greencarnationadarkpoem1
Pre-save on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/prerelease/2o7sN7WqyIQDx96WvqtYUm?si=qoQVyW1ZR9e0cVH3FHPIIg
"Today is a milestone in Green Carnation's history, as we're now finally able to share the first part of A Dark Poemwith the world", says the band's vocalist Kjetil Nordhus. "The incredible amount of work behind this album, and the time it took to finish it on the level we wanted, makes it even sweeter to finally be here. This is indeed a proud moment for Green Carnation. We are looking forward to the journey ahead".
Green Carnation will perform all of A Dark Poem live in their hometown of Kristiansand, Norway on September 12, 2026. During this once-in-a-lifetime 3-hour performance, the band will perform all three parts of their epic album trilogy in full, one after another, alongside some very special guests and the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.
Get tickets
https://kilden.com/forestilling/green-carnation-3/
No matter how long or where the journey has taken them, Green Carnation have always sought to climb the highest mountains. While founded by Emperor's former bassist Tchort in the early '90s, the Norwegians quickly blazed their own trail through fields of symphonic doom, hard rock, acoustic plucking and progressive metal. The idea for an album trilogy stems back to the band's very first opus, Light of Day, Day of Darkness, though the inspiration for A Dark Poem dates back even further to Arthur Rimbaud's 1870 poem "Ophelia".
"We like to purse things that are extremely ambitious", says Nordhus. "Creating a trilogy of albums felt like it might be just out of our reach, which is what made us want to see if we could do it".
Though only the beginning of the band's latest epic journey, The Shores of Melancholia pulls a page from across Green Carnation's storied 25-year discography. The album's opening one-two punch landed a direct hit during the band's set yesterday at ProgPower USA. "As Silence Took You" opens its sails with majestic, billowing leads before "In Your Paradise" chugs full steam ahead after the clarion call of a flute. "It makes you want to bang your head a little", Nordhus says with a pleased smile. "I think melancholia suits Green Carnation very well".
While navigated with the band’s familiar mastery, the view from The Shores of Melancholia is no palatial retreat. "The album reflects the troubled relationship between our personal lives and the external world", Nordhus explains. "It's about losing faith in the world we've come to know and how that leads to an inner dystopia". Judgement day appears around every corner, steering them from the title track’s anxious war-torn tide to the Floydian whirlpools of paranoia that drench "Me, My Enemy". The dark and stormy "The Slave That You Are" even claws back to Green Carnation's budding days in extreme metal thanks to the blackened howl of Enslaved's Grutle Kjellson.
“A lesson learned, now bridges burn”, Nordhus cries out with impassioned cleans, as if tied to the mast during the album's bright and blazing closer "Too Close to the Flame".
On A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia, Green Carnation set sail on an epic journey into a dark night of the soul.
Current line-up
Kjetil Nordhus - Vocals
Tchort - Guitar
Bjørn Harstad - Guitar
Stein Roger Sordal - Bass
Endre Kirkesola - Keyboards
Jonathan Alejandro Perez – Drums
Recording line-up
Kjetil Nordhus - Vocals
Bjørn Harstad - Guitar, Effects
Stein Roger Sordal - Bass, Guitars, Keyboards
Endre Kirkesola - Keyboards, Synthesizers, Organs, Effects
Jonathan Alejandro Perez – Drums
Guest Musicians
Ingrid Ose - Flute on “In Your Paradise” & “Me My Enemy”.
Grutle Kjellson (Enslaved) – Harsh Vocals on “The Slave That You Are”.
Henning Seldal – Percussion on “Too Close to the Flame”.
Production Credits
Recorded at DUB Studio in Kristiansand, Norway
Produced by Endre Kirkesola, Stein Roger Sordal & Kjetil Nordhus.
Sound Engineering by Endre Kirkesola.
Mixed by Endre Kirkesola & Bjørn Harstad
Mastered by Lawrence Mackrory
Cover Art
Niklas Sundin (https://www.nsundin.com)
Photography
Lars Gunnar Liestøl
Bio
George Pacheco
Pre-order
https://orcd.co/greencarnationadarkpoem1
Pre-save on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/prerelease/2o7sN7WqyIQDx96WvqtYUm?si=qoQVyW1ZR9e0cVH3FHPIIg
Follow Green Carnation
Bandcamp: https://greencarnationsom.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenCarnationNorway
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/green2carnation/
Twitter (X): https://x.com/Green2Carnation
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2vfEaTADayEniT7xbG-XCA
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ZaJhNBAhJ3HjPsWiB9sDc
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/artist/green-carnation/72866964
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/artist/8192
Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/23079