THE QUIET OFFSPRING

This is the fourth release from the band, and still I found it hard to categorize its sound as prog metal as the next man would probably said. For me the music of Green Carnation is less metal than Dream Theater or Shadow Gallery to name some examples. I found it more commercial, if you like, and therefore more accessible. A diverse array of musical references comes into mind when one listens to this album. Eighties hard rock influences (Van Halen-like), some classic rock snippets (Deep Purple-like), as well as progressive references can be heard, which consequently transformed into large diversity of styles, ranging from gloomy ambience to up tempo and heavy guitar works. In all, they blend into Green Carnation sound which would linger longer in one's head after a couple of spins.

"The Quite Offspring" is a good opening track with its catchy and memorable chorus. This song may be dubbed as a Green Carnation sound signature. However the second song, "Between The Gentle Small And The Standing Tall" and "Just When You Think It's Safe" offer different tune, for it has a straightforward rock'n roll feel to it. Kjetil Nordhus, the vocalist' delivers nice vocal parts here, but I still regarded his as a little poppy, since the songs need tougher deliverance. The third song, the better one however, has a good sing a long melody, and it has a definite Green Carnation sound.

The next song, "A Place For Me" has a similar approach with the tenth, "When I Was You". A melancholic atmosphere, a promise of a ballad song, gradually builds up into heavier and crashing guitars, followed by keyboards lead, thinned down with acoustic passages, which ultimately creates superb songs. A haunting guitar solo that starts around 2:15 in "When I Was You" is quite interesting. The vocal department is great, a bit less dramatic than it should be though (Daniel Gildenlow of Pain of Salvation would probably do better). These two songs really provide us with some nice sound surprises and progressive breaks. The later song is the longest track on the album which helps the composition to accommodate those dynamic breaks.

The rest of the songs are also quite good, although, as with the other above mentioned songs, do not contain hard hitting guitar riffs which used to be present on a prog metal outing. It is recommended because of its almost experimental nature, but hardly essential.

This review is dedicated to the -hopefully-new fans of Green Carnation, Mr. Sumantri and Mr. Baskoro of Surabaya, Indonesia.