Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

THE QUIET OFFSPRING

Green Carnation

Experimental/Post Metal


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Green Carnation The Quiet Offspring album cover
3.39 | 109 ratings | 14 reviews | 18% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

Write a review

Buy GREEN CARNATION Music
from Progarchives.com partners
Studio Album, released in 2005

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. The Quiet Offspring (4:05)
2. Between the Gentle Small & the Standing Tall (4:15)
3. Just When You Think It's Safe (5:18)
4. A Place for Me (5:26)
5. The Everlasting Moment (5:09)
6. Purple Door, Pitch Black (4:12)
7. Childsplay Part I (4:47)
8. Dead but Dreaming (5:26)
9. Pile of Doubt (5:56)
10. When I Was You (7:22)
11. Childsplay Part II (4:23)

Total Time 56:19

Line-up / Musicians

- Kjetil Nordhus / vocals
- Michael Krumins / guitar
- Terje Vik Schei "Tchort" / guitar
- Kenneth Silden / keyboards
- Stein Roger Sordal / bass, guitar
- Anders Kobro / drums

With:
- Bernt A. Moen (unconfirmed) / piano & keyboards (7,11)

Releases information

CD Season Of Mist ‎- SOM 091 (2005, France)

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
Edit this entry

Buy GREEN CARNATION The Quiet Offspring Music



GREEN CARNATION The Quiet Offspring ratings distribution


3.39
(109 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(18%)
18%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(44%)
44%
Good, but non-essential (26%)
26%
Collectors/fans only (9%)
9%
Poor. Only for completionists (3%)
3%

GREEN CARNATION The Quiet Offspring reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by hdfisch
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars Edited 09/27/05!

GREEN CARNATION's fourth studio output is a bit of disappointment compared to their other releases, I've got to say. I can only explain the dramatic decay in quality with the reason, that they had some commercial success in mind. Many songs are at least for my ears more reminiscent to Finnish goth rock band HIM, maybe with a bit more heavy approach. The title song is still one of the better ones and rather prog metal-alike. Track 2 has a main part, which reminds me more to grunge or alt.rock with a short keyboard section in the middle. Track 3 is quite straight modern hard rock. Track 4 is the second one showing more the quality of their previous albums. Tracks 5, 6 and 9 are again very much HIM-reminiscent, quite nice goth rock, but nothing special. Track 7 is a nice dark ballad, but as well rather ordinary and track 8 is very much in a METALLICA vein more or less. Tracks 9 and 10 are more acoustic-type ones, quite nice and a bit outstanding of the rest.

As a summary, THE QUIET OFFSPRING is for me without any doubts their weakest album showing only in half of the songs some resemblance to the type of music they did in their first two releases. An album quite nice to listen, but actually it could be from any other goth rock band and after the already weaker last one it marks another step downward for them. Fans of mentioned band HIM or similar stuff should be attracted by it for sure. Absolutely NOT ESSENTIAL for a Prog fan I would say and worth not more than 2 1/2 stars!

Review by Vanwarp
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars The Quiet Offspring is Green Carnation's fourth studio album, and just as it was with previous offerings, the band aptly demonstrates again the far-reaching facet of their talent. You'll find them treading all over the musical map, sometimes classic rock, sometimes 80's heavy metal, sometimes American acoustic folk rock and sometimes the keyboards and vocals will simply remind you of 70's rock. And lets not forget about the "progressive" musical influences that at times suddenly emerge out of nowhere and appear somewhat awkward until you get used to it...many spins later. I'm afraid mainstream enthusiasts will not find it commercial enough and those who prefer their metal hard, heavy and melodic will also be disappointed and consider this album too "experimental."

What makes this album so interesting to me is the manner in which the band manages to mix a plethora of influences into one melting pot and continue to maintain a certain modern atmospheric metal inkling to their sound. To achieve this and to do it successfully is an amazing accomplishment in itself. How many albums do you know that one minute remind you of one metal band or another - in this particular case Katatonia or Beseech come to mind - and the next moment Deep Purple or some other classic rock act from yesteryear strangely pops up in your mind. I mean, nobody in the metal realm even comes close to Green Carnation when it comes to mixing a wide range of influences spanning not only in different rock and metal sub-genres but through decades of musical influences as well. This band has effectively released four very different albums, all with their own unique and distinct musical influences and appeal.

On The Quiet Offspring, the band hits hardest when they are at their most experimental, that is when they are mixing opposite musical styles together, to superb effect I might add. For instance, the slow building "When I Was You" instills a false hope of tranquillity before exploding in a delirious mix of crushing guitars. Also, the boys rock out in true rock 'n roll fashion on two back to back performances: "Between the Gentle Small & the Standing Tall" and on "Just When You Think it's Safe." These tracks manage to put a big smile on my face.

About the only thing I can complain about here is the lack of hard hitting guitar riffs on the album as a whole. These guys don't tread into melodic metal territory very often preferring to rely on good sound rhythm guitar patterns and the occasional very sweet solo or chaotic guitar moment.

Did I forget to mention this band also relies heavily at atmospheric undertones, piano, hammond keyboard, acoustic guitars, clever song-writing and song structures, good melodies and arrangements, what more can one ask for? Just listen to the bands first single, the engaging "A Place For Me" and then try to imagine where the band is heading musically? Whatever you're thinking, you're so wrong. First, a piano intro, then Kjetil comes in acapella, then with what appears to be a cello, very melancholic atmosphere here, then they hit you with crashing guitars and just as you think they're rocking out again they slow it all down with acoustic guitars, very soothing, very unexpected. And the song's not over yet, progressive elements are added to the mix. Great stuff I tell you. Just when you think you have them all figured out they'll throw a ballad at you or something with a 70's vibe and then a heavy modern metal vibe a la Beseech, in the end, it's all so irresistible to me. I can't get enough of it.

This is far from being an experimental album, it borrows heavily from a wide variety of musical influences, pulling them all in together, resulting in a most original album. I like these guys, I fell in love with them when I first heard Light of Day, Day of Darkness and, my appreciation for the band continued to grow with A Blessing in Disguise and now this - The Quiet Offspring - an album that grabbed me, lured me in, got my complete attention and now won't let me go.

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars This is the kind of album that lands easily into my ears and my mind. Not quite sure at first spin what makes this album is enjoyable at first experience. I learned from my friends during rock music discussion held recently that it's basically "groove" that makes me feel okay with the music. First of all I have to make point that I don't want to talk whether or not this album is prog. The fact is that most songs featured here are pretty straight forward and practically no curved-lines in its composition. Do you still consider this as prog? I leave it up to you to categorize. One thing for sure "The Quiet Offspring" delivers an appropriate balance of riffs (heavy and soft) and nice melody. This combination provides good nuance and groove of the music. There are parts with heavy riffing and there are parts without riff, replaced with rhythm section.

When I heard the opening track "The Quiet Offspring" (4:05) at the first time I almost rejected the CD because the guitar riffs were too loud to my ears. With some patient I could get through with track one which basically is a good metal track with good melody. "Between The Gentle Small & The Standing Tall" (4:15) brings bass guitar to play as melody at introduction part and it then becomes rhythm section during lyrical passages. The song has good harmony especially when piano augments the arrangement.

"A Place For Me" (5:26) has a touchy soft piano touch with classical music influence. The low register notes voice line at the intro part is really great. Guitar rhythm brings the music into upbeat mode and returns back to a bit psychedelic style. The basslines are really good. The guitar riffs and rhythm section in "The Everlasting Moment" (5:09) is really a good one to rock. Well, I can consider this track as an excellent straight forward rock music with good melody. In this case I can see the band's similarity with Opeth, musically. "Purple Door, Pitch Black" (4:12) is another beautifully crafted metal music with good melody.

The album can be considered as a mixture of Porcupine Tree's music with its ambient-spacey nuance and Opeth - especially on heavier parts. Song like "When I was You" proves to be sufficient to say the ambient nature of the band's music. It's an excellent mellow track. "Child's Play" Part 1 and 2 are also excellent tracks; ccessible to many ears. These two tracks should be united into one cohesive whole.

On summary level, I can only say that the music offered by this album is a pleasant one to enjoy. Viewed at any dimension, no one would deny how excellent the composition is. It comprises good melody augmented with music riffs (soft and heavy) and some solo and ambient / psychedelic mode at some segments. This is an excellent addition to any rock music collection even if you don't consider this as a prog album. If you don't find the subtleties of this album - be it a memorable melodies and / or hard-edge guitar solo - what you need to do is simple, if I can advise you, just enjoy the groove. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars I must confess I was very surprised at how accessible this record is. The reason for my surprise is my familiarity with IN THE WOODS... and considering that GREEN CARNATION is the offspring (haha) from that band, I was expecting something different. This is my first taste of GREEN CARNATION and this record seems to be a concept record or at least have a theme.There are pictures of the band in the liner notes of them all as children, and the title song seems to be about a son who can't do anything right in the eyes of his father, so he's quiet. "Child's Play-Part 1" is dedicated to Pascal who died at 5 years old. So this is an emotional album, which is not surprising knowing IN THE WOODS...

Things get started with "The Quiet Offspring" a song that contrasts the heavy in your face riffs and the pastoral acoustic guitar passages. "Between The Gentle Small And The Standing Tall" is again about "gentle" children and "tall" adults, it opens with bass guitar leading us to an uptempo melody. There is lots of riffing and some keys as well in this alternative sounding tune. "Just When You Think It's Safe" is an enjoyable, energetic song with some great guitar.

"A place For Me" features mood and tempo changes throughout. It opens with piano and gentle vocals that sound similar to Peter Nicholls (i'm serious !). The synths remind me of PORCUPINE TREE and I love the guitar in the uptempo melody. Good song ! "The Everlasting Moment" features a catchy guitar melody and theatrical vocals at times. "Purple Door, Pitch Black" is another melodic, accessible tune with lots of guitar. "Child's Play-Part 1" is a mellow, mournful song with synths, acoustic guitar and violin. "Dead But Dreaming" is a heavy song with aggressive vocals. It's great ! "Pile Of Doubt" is an atmospheric song and I love the way the keys are playing slowly in the background of the faster paced melody. "When I Was You" is a powerful, emotional slower paced tune. Another good one. "Child's Play-Part 2" features lots of piano melodies and fragile vocals.

A good album but when compared to IN THE WOODS... for example it's just too mainstream sounding to these ears.

Review by evenless
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars My "The Quiet Offspring" CD contained a sticker that said: An avant garde sensation of groovy hard rock and progressive metal from this ever evolving band

I think this statement is very true! Green Carnation started out with a good debut, followed by their one track masterpiece album "Light of Day, Day of Darkness". Their third release "Blessing in Disguise" was somewhat more accessible and contained more 'plane rock songs', varied with some very emotional tracks. "The Quiet Offspring", being their fourth release is an album in the same vein of its predecessor.

I must admit that when I first heard this album it just sounded okay. I wasn't anyway near as impressed as when I heard "LOD, DOD" for the very first time, but this comparison is somewhat unfair as "LOD, DOD" still impresses me with each listen. When listening to this album more often you get a better grip on it and the songs begin to open up. The tracks "Child's Play, Pt 1" and Child's Play, Pt. 2" are very emotional, especially when you know what they're about. When you're curious I recommend you read sinkadotentree's (John Davie's) review.

"The Quiet Offspring" probably started out as a three star album to me, but now, after listening to it some more, I really think it deserves 3,5. Nevertheless I round it down to 3 as I would normally rate "Blessing in Disguise" and "The Acoustic Verses" both a bit higher.

Review by ClemofNazareth
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog Folk Researcher
4 stars This is among my favorite Green Carnation albums (so far at least), even more so because I managed to pick it up for only $7 USD at a used record store. Not being a hard-core metal fan, I can appreciate the band’s tendency lately to put out less heavy and more melodic music, although they certainly haven’t turned into a folk band or anything.

This one is more commercially-minded than their previous releases, which is most evident in the simpler guitar riffs and tighter vocal tracks. Songs like “Between the Gentle Small and the Standing Tall” and the title track would sound just fine on FM radio, and that’s not in itself such a bad thing since a little commercial success helps ensure the band will be around for a while to make more music.

Green Carnation always seems to find ways to keep reinventing their sound from album to album without ever trying to recreate or improve upon their previous work. This probably puts off some fans much in the same way Opeth has managed to alienate some of their fans as they’ve taken a similar approach to finding new ways to make music over the years. But for me the chance to hear something fresh from Tchort and company every couple of years is a bit of an adventure. This one seems to be the least well-received by many fans, and the fact the band has simplified their arrangements somewhat and tended toward more traditional-sounding metal vocals (no growling once again) might be a put-off for some.

And sure – there are a few forgettable tracks here. “A Place for Me” doesn’t do much for me, and “Purple Door, Pitch Black” actually sounds like a fairly generic late nineties hair band tune. But the title track and “The Everlasting Moment” in particular stick in my mind for hours after playing them, and the band still exudes that uniquely Nordic sense of barely-restrained gloom on songs like “When I Was You” and the two-part “Child’s Play”, although the latter is a bit too laid back – almost a lead-in to “Sweet Leaf” on The Acoustic Verses.

This is not the kind of album serious metal fans will likely flock to, but the first three tracks and “The Everlasting Moment” are among the band’s tightest and most memorable songs in my opinion. I should probably give this three stars, but those solid tracks I’ve mentioned and an extra nod for the baby pictures (plus one of my favorite album covers ever) convince me to bump that to four stars. Recommended to fans of later Opeth albums and those who like a little melody in their metal.

peace

Review by Conor Fynes
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 'The Quiet Offspring' - Green Carnation (6/10)

Green Carnation was a project first incarnated by its members in order to explore sounds other than black metal, so it should not come as a surprise that this band has been constantly changing. Featuring members of the Norwegian black metal band Carpathian Forest, Green Carnation first began with an artistic doom sound; their album 'Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness' is a classic for its style, and considered by many of this band's fans to be a masterpiece. The bottom line is that Green Carnation had a great thing going on, but if this project had become stuck in one sound like Carpathian Forest, it would defeat the point. 'The Quiet Offspring' sees a big change of Green Carnation's sound, and while many listeners may be put off by the simplified approach that they take here, the band does do an admirable job of taking on this new sound, although I cannot say it is an improvement over anything they had done before this.

While I would not quite say that Green Carnation has traversed into the realm of 'mainstream rock', there are some big moves that the band has taken towards tighter song structures, and an overall more to-the-point attitude when it comes to their music. Considering that this is the same band who churned out an hour-long epic, hearing Green Carnation now adhering to the much more common four minute formula is a little jarring at first, although I will say that it is not quite as bad as it sounds; the band hasn't totally turned its back on its fans. We still have a metal edge, and proggy sound in the songwriting, although these are much less integral to what the band is about on 'The Quiet Offspring'. The songs have a progressive metal sound to them, but the familiar textures are transposed onto a more accessible style. It's certainly not a preferable move in terms of enduring musical enjoyment, but there are some damned good songs here.

The production and performance is edgy (albeit in a 'hard rock' sort of way), but there are also sounds here that emphasize atmosphere in Green Carnation's sound; much of 'The Quiet Offspring' is led by groovy guitar licks and riffs, but Green Carnation gives the listener an alternative here as well. 'Childsplay' parts one and two are leaning towards mellow ambiance over any rock orchestration, and the standout track 'Pile Of Doubt' has a very atmospheric intro that harkens back to the sounds of Green Carnation when I really liked them. Here, I am not feeling their music nearly as much, although the band manages to pull off this hard rock sound very well, and even throw in some added layers. The album- from by understanding- is a loose concept piece about childhood, but there is not so much depth in it as to give it much attention. Green Carnation may have simplified (some might say 'dumbed down') their sound here, but 'The Quiet Offspring' is still worth checking out.

Latest members reviews

2 stars 10 Years On: Green Carnation's The Quiet Offspring I don't think anyone really had a problem with A Blessing in Disguise, in the end. Sure, following up an album-long epic that has since become a prog metal classic with a song-oriented album is obviously going to get a bit of backlash, but wh ... (read more)

Report this review (#1371205) | Posted by Gallifrey | Saturday, February 21, 2015 | Review Permanlink

3 stars The Quiet Offspring ? 2005 (3.4/5 - nearly 4 stars) 11 ? Best Song: Just When You Think It's Safe Is it Green Carnation going Dream Theater, or are they just running out of ideas? I'll go with the latter, because the former is much more of a shameful venture. It's a lot like Blessing in Disgu ... (read more)

Report this review (#458259) | Posted by Alitare | Wednesday, June 8, 2011 | Review Permanlink

4 stars This is my third Green Carnation purchase and I have to say, I'm not disappointed with any of them or the Acoustic Verses which I purchased after. Each album seems to have a strong unique identity and I appreciate the depth of talent in creating such varied works. While LODDOD presents a mysti ... (read more)

Report this review (#182380) | Posted by Hang10 | Saturday, September 13, 2008 | Review Permanlink

4 stars A Blessing In Disguise was a success for this Norwegian band on a number of levels. Not only was it a fantastic collection of atmospheric, progressively-inclined metal/rock songs, but it was an intelligent move for a band who were following up a monolithic epic in the form of the single-tracke ... (read more)

Report this review (#86099) | Posted by bleak | Monday, August 7, 2006 | Review Permanlink

3 stars 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, ... (read more)

Report this review (#60086) | Posted by | Sunday, December 11, 2005 | Review Permanlink

2 stars I agree with the first review: for me this 4th studio full album is a disappointment. This is not a bad cd and surely deserves 3 to 31/2 stars in a more general rock site. My 2 stars are because (1) here we have a PROG site and (2) this band previously performed splendid albums as "Journey to ... (read more)

Report this review (#37362) | Posted by Asiostygius | Thursday, June 23, 2005 | Review Permanlink

4 stars 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 ... (read more)

Report this review (#34342) | Posted by | Friday, May 13, 2005 | Review Permanlink

Post a review of GREEN CARNATION "The Quiet Offspring"

You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.