THE QUIET OFFSPRING

The Green Carnation of 2005 is slightly different from the Green Carnation I heard back in 2001, 'Light of Day, Day of Darkness' was a masterpiece, I heard that album and fell in love with the band. Their root style of doom/black metal is still somewhat present in their work, but now they just rock out a lot more and go for a more conventional progressive metal style, yet it doesn't sound like any other progressive band I've ever heard. The first three tracks made a really big reaction on me simply because these songs rock, nuff said. There full of great guitar riffs, fantastic solos, fine lyrics, and have very catchy structures to them that keeps you coming back for more and more. Then there's 'Purple Door, Pitch Black,' which is my personal favorite song on this new album. This particular song features great keyboard work, a very catchy riff, and one of the most memorable chorus' I've ever heard. I love it! Another thing that really makes this album excel is Kjetil Nordhus' vocals, which sound a lot more confident and just vastly improved over his earlier performance with the band. Of course everyone else sounds great as well. The two guitarist's belt out great riff after great riff followed by some fantastic solos, the drumming is tight and precise, and the keyboards help to give the album a great atmospheric touch.

There's a few more mellow tracks like 'Child's Play - Part 1 & 2' or 'When I was You,' which are really great, but largely The Quiet Offspring is a more fast paced rocking progressive album that just blew me away and keeps me coming back for more and more.