JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT

Let me tell beforehand a few historical facts being quite essential IMO for full acknowledge of this excellent album. In 1998 guitarist Terje Vik Schei (aka Tchort) after having played in death metal bands like Emperor and Satyricon for a couple of years joined forces once again with the Botteri brothers and Anders Kobro who released together quite a few great albums between 1995 and 1999 under the name IN THE WOODS. to record finally GC's debut (8 years after formation of this band). However during recording some problems occurred since their first two vocalists had to cancel studio duties. Finally the band managed to find 5 new completely different vocalists, Vibeke Stene, Atle Dorum, Geir Sollid (aka RX Draumtanzer), Synne Soprana and Linn Solaas who helped finishing the recordings in July 1999 very successfully completely relying on improvisation and talent. The album finally saw its release in late 2000 on the Prophecy Productions label. And the result was really more than remarkable and could be roughly described as a kind of psychedelic rock (due to the input of Christian "X" and Christoffer Michael "CM" Botteri who were the important minds behind the music of ITW) with a strong influence of doom/death metal brought in by Tchort. Latter one (who has been all the time the important mind behind GC's music in return) wrote as well all the lyrics for this album and dedicated it to his daughter who tragically died just before. I think taking into account all those facts it's not that much surprising that this album got such an extremely dark sound and reveals quite an obvious similarity to ITW's "Omnio"-album just with a more metallic sound.

As said already the music on here sounds extremely morbid and sorrowful on the one hand but as well very often majestic, even pompous at times and throughout spine-chilling on the other hand. Thus people who need their Prog to be mawkish, cheer- and delightful will hardly get pleased by this record. But even for those fellows (like me) preferring "the dark side of Prog" this isn't easy stuff at all and though being, besides their second masterly album my favourite one by GC right from the beginning the compositions on here are hard to memorize after listening. Track lengths of 10, 15 or even 18 minutes are a strong hint that it's definitely Prog we're dealing here with. Moreover rather lengthy introductory sequences of atmospheric synths sounds and the climactic structure of the mostly slow-paced doomy tracks will certainly appeal rather to the more intense and advanced listener than to the common impatient one. Though being deeply rooted in doom metal and despite their length the tracks don't sound repetitive or minimalist like it's usually the case in that particular sub-genre. Each one of the five vocalists is doing his/her job very well and there are as well quite a few sections with wordless vocals emphasizing well the moony and disembodied atmosphere of this album. Especially Synne Soprana, known already from "Omnio" shines as well here with her voice. But despite all celestial and beautiful female voices (there are in fact 3 different ones of them) nicely contrasted by two male apocalyptical sounding ones this record never comes close to any standard gothic metal band's ones at any moment but instead represents a highly unique work in the field of dark progressive metal. It's very difficult to name any highlights since all tracks are just awesome and build on each other within the concept of this album.

Unfortunately GC's debut will always stand a bit in the shadow of its terrific follow-up but actually I don't see (or better hear) no reason for that. Rather would I consider "Journey To The End Of The Night" one of the best debut albums ever done by a band and certainly an excellent collector's addition for any fan of dark and heavy progressive music.

The unplanned difficulties that led up to the recording of this album are fairly evident in the rather improvisational nature of much of the music. In many ways though this is a more progressive record than some of the later Green Carnation albums, which tend to be both more subdued and sound more polished (not necessarily a good thing, especially with ‘The Acoustic Verses’ that sounds like it underwent too many studio mixing sessions in my opinion).

This album has a rawer feel to it, particularly on the very long tracks such as “In The Realm of the Midnight Sun” and “Under Eternal Stars” which sound at times like death metal jam sessions. The various female vocals, seemingly ever-present in most Nordic metal, are always a welcome additional and give the music an even more majestic tone.

One complaint is the weak production quality compared to the later Green Carnation albums. This may sound like a contradiction after saying that those records sound too polished, but in this case it isn’t just a matter of the music not being heavily engineered – it’s really more that the sound quality is a bit rough in places, and particularly with the lead guitar which seems to suffer from a little more feedback and over-amplification than is necessary. This is in contrast to the drums which are exceptionally miked and sound great.

The other minor quibble is with the male vocals, which aren’t bad but are undistinguished. The lyrics are impossible to follow, which would be understandable if this were a growling album or something, but it isn’t so the seemingly intentional muddling of the vocals doesn’t seem to serve much purpose and detracts a bit from the overall experience. The female vocals are the other hand are crisp, clear and beautiful, especially on “Journey to the End of Night (Part I)” – the moody, eerie passage toward the end of this track is one of the album’s highlights.

The closing trio of song snippets are a bit disjointed, but I like the heavy tempo and majestic feel to all of them, especially the soaring closing track “Shattered”. This one is actually too short and could have made for a much stronger closing with an extended instrumental passage and maybe a heavy crescendo or two. Oh well.

All things considered this album should be seen as a positive sign of things to come for the band, and since I first heard this after listening to ‘Light of Day, Day of Darkness’ it makes the genesis of that album make a bit more sense. By the time the band put out 'The Quiet Offspring' they had really perfected the sound that began to grow here.

This isn’t the band’s best work, but it’s not bad either. A solid three star effort for sure, and likely to be considered quite good by metal aficionados and even post-rock fans who like a little metal in their music. Recommended for those kinds of folks.

peace

# 1300. I'm not sure even where to begin with this album. It is a record I have been trying to find for a long long time. I'm actually not surprised that it was delivered to me on my birthday, even if I wasn't expecting it. God is good. A little background information first about this band and album would be helpful. GREEN CARNATION did release an EP many years earlier but before they would release a studio album Tchort would leave to play bass for EMPEROR. The rest of the remaining members would get a singer and form IN THE WOODS... Tchort would reunite with the band after IN THE WOODS... called it a day. This album is very unique in the GREEN CARNATION discography for a number of reasons. It is their long delayed debut record, but the only one that would include the Botteri brothers(bass / lead guitar) from IN THE WOODS....In fact this album sounds like an IN THE WOODS... recording (dark, gothic, heavy, emotional and psychedelic), even including a guest appearance on vocals from Synne Soprano the gifted IN THE WOODS... singer. The other important fact to tell you about is that Tchort's daughter would die tragically previous to this recording, and in fact that awful event would be the concept of this album. This record is also dedicated to his deceased daughter. Of course knowing this makes Tchort's lyrics so meaningful as we are allowed a glimpse of his suffering, his questions and his sorrow. I'm reminded of the book of Job in the Bible where we read about Job's inner torment, thoughts and questions after losing his family and health. It's like Tchort takes us on a trip into the abyss. Yet there is no way for us to fathom his pain or loss. We can only listen helplessly.

The first song has no lyrics but for me this is the most emotional track on here. Even the title "Falling Into Darkness" conveys how Tchort must have felt when he heard the tragic news. It opens with bass and cymbals as drums and female vocal melodies arrive. The first time I heard the guitar come ripping in around 2 minutes and Synne start to sing those high vocal melodies over top, my eyes filled with tears. "In The Realm Of The Midnight Sun" is dark and haunting as female vocal melodies sing softly over top until she starts to sing the words : "Black lights, shattered dreams, broken hope, shadows over my pale face." "The world has casted me out and pushed me down into a darkness where only cold and fear can reach me." "I sink deeper, stumbling through the vast labyrinth of sadness, the track I follow leads me down to an ocean of sorrow and pain." The music is amazing ! In the beginning the guitar grinds away as the drums slowly pound. This song has both female and male vocals. It has calm and very heavy passages throughout. Screaming guitar 6 minutes in. Thunderous drums 9 1/2 minutes in and a minute later. Check out the drumming after 13 minutes.

"My Dark Reflections Of Life And Death" is very spacey to open as guitar comes and goes quietly. It's building as drums join in, until 4 minutes in the riffs hit us. Male vocals a minute later. He's asking questions at this point, longing for the past before all this happened. The lyrics are so depressing as he has just given up. The guitar grinds away powerfully as he sings. A calm 8 1/2 minutes in until we have silence after 10 minutes. It's starting to build until a crushing soundscape with male and female vocals comes in. Very powerful section where he sings "White bewinged angel of the light tempts me to change my life, come, come to me, she whispers, longing eyes, she stares through my soul and mind, wants me to become one with the light." He sings this over and over. Incredible section. Remember Tchort gave himself his name (Tchort) which is Russian for "Devil" or "Black God". Amazing section follows when the female vocals come in at 15 1/2 minutes. "Under Eternal Stars" is doom-like at times, very BLACK SABBATH sounding. I love this song that features female vocal melodies and male vocals. The guitar grinds and the drums sound incredible. I like the way they contrast the heavy passages with the calm ones. Great track.

"Journey To The End Of The Night Pt.1" opens with a cool guitar line. It's blown away a minute in by a distorted, blistering guitar solo as female vocals soar over top. Male vocals join in with drums. The rhythm rampages until after 3 minutes when it calms with a good bass line. Female vocals followed by more great bass. The tempo picks up 10 1/2 minutes to end it as it blends into "Echoes Of despair Pt.2". This is atmospheric and dark as drums build. Great sound ! Awesome song that blends into "End Of Journey? Pt.3". This is heavy and slow with male vocals. More incredible drumming as guitars grind away. The tempo picks up with male vocals 2 minutes in. Contrast continues. Violin late. It blends into "Shattered Pt.4" as Synne comes in singing in an uptempo soundscape. She changes to vocal melodies a minute in. Amazing.

It was worth the wait. Sure this album is not without it's faults, but this is one of those very special recordings that transcends the actual music.

Journey To The End Of The Night is the debut album from Norwegian doom/ goth progressive metal act Green Carnation. Green Carnation was founded by Tchort (Terje Vik Schei) in 1990 and released one demo called Hallucinations of Despair in 1991 which is basically simple black metal. Soon after that the band disbanded and Tchort went on to play bass for infamous Norwegian black metal band Emperor. Tchort is featured on Emperor´s classic debut from 1994 In the Nightside Eclipse. Soon after the recording of the album Tchort would leave Emperor.

Emperor where going through some difficult times as guitarist Samoth was in jail for Arson. He had been a part of burning down some of the ancient Norwegian churches in the summer of 1992. Drummer Faust was in even more serious trouble as he in the summer of 1992 had murdered a young homosexual man who had made strong sexual advances towards him. Faust agreed to go into a nearby forest with the man and stapped him to death after being furious of the man´s advances. Faust was jailed in late 1993. After these events Tchort probably felt the need for a new horizon. I must admit I´m not sure why he left Emperor, but it´s my guess that some of the above events had an effect on his decision.

As a sidenote Tchort is also a member of old school death metal band Blood Red Throne and black metal band Carpathian Forest.

When Green Carnation broke up and Tchort went on to play with Emperor the other remaining members founded In the Woods which is a band that is also featured on PA. After In the Woods disbanded in 2000 some of the members hooked up with Tchort again and they re-ignited the Green Carnation name. They recorded Journey To The End Of The Night and it was released in 2000.

Even though all members of Green Carnation holds strong ties to the Norwegian black metal scene Green Carnation is anything but an extreme metal band. The band uses doom metal guitar riffs that reminds me a bit of good old Candlemass when they are most up-tempo and melodic. When the riffs are slow and doomy they sometimes remind me of early My Dying Bride or Anathema ( it´s hard not to be reminded of My Dying Bride when the violin kicks in on Under Eternal Stars). The singing consists of female operatic soprano vocals and more ordinary male vocals. Note that there are no growling vocals on this album. The songs are generally very long. Four of them clocks in at over 10 minutes. I wouldn´t describe Green Carnation´s music as complex even though there are quite a few sections in every song. The music is very atmospheric. There are both distorted and acoustic parts on the album which means the album seems dynamic. Being a parent myself it´s hard not to be emotionally touched by the lyrics which are inspired by the death of Tchort´s daughter shortly before the recording of the album and the album generally has a very dark atmosphere because of this.

The musicianship is excellent but that´s expected when we´re dealing with experienced musicians.

The production is very enjoyable.

I think this is a good album, but I must admit that I´m having a hard time really getting into the music and finding catchy and memorable parts. It´s without a doubt a progressive album, but I think the songs seem a bit too similar in sound for me to call it excellent. The guitar riffs are not very interesting either. Too generic. It´s like they are just there to support the atmosphere and not to entertain which unfortunately for Green Carnation is one of the things I value most in metal ( Challenging and innovative guitar riffs for me thank you). I was in doubt if I should give the album 3 or 4 stars but I´m not really hooked even after a substantial amount of listens so 3 it will be. I hear something though and I might upgrade this album some time in the future if it opens up to me.