LIGHT OF DAY, DAY OF DARKNESS

THIS IS IT!

This is the CD I would take on a long trip if I was limited to one item. It is a fabulous kaleidoscope of sounds that captivate your senses through this marathon, one hour (YES 60 MINUTES) song/album. The Gods surely whispered in Tchort's ear (the band leader and composer) while he wrote this masterpiece, for it smacks of divine intervention. What is amazing is the fact that it manages to hold your interest (it really absorbs you) and keep you coming back for more. In fact when I first listened to it I was in my car and it mesmerized me. I wouldn't stop driving because I didn't want to stop the music. I keep driving for an hour even though I only went to the post office 2 miles away.

Light of Day, Day of Darkness Now what about the music? It is impossible to describe this music but I will try. A soft synth starts out this masterpiece which is soon joined by a subtle tea kettle whistle and some light guitar and drum work at the two minute mark. A childs voice can be heard in the background as the vocalist starts his agonized, melancholy singing about the 2:40 mark. This continues for about a minute and then after a heavy metal interlude is joined by a choir, then after another minute a very crunchy guitar comes in with the singer until the 6:30 mark, whereupon we slow down again and get reflective for about two minutes when the guitars and choirs very heavily chime in. At about 10:50, as good as the music is so far, Green Carnation is just getting warmed up, the music gets even better and we've barely gotten started.

I haven't mentioned the symphonic orchestra yet but their presence, mostly in the background, is invaluable. At the eleven minute mark the guitars, choirs and orchestra come together for a half minute leading to a drum and guitar interlude. Violins join in and take over at 12:40 and then the singer comes in joined by the crunchy guitars, singing "I think therefore I am, You are a fantasy made by me, I dream this world, When I end, the world will end with me, I am everything you are".

We are now at the 18 minute mark, at a slow heavy guitar part where the male choir sings for about two minutes and then solo for another minute culminating at one of my favorite parts. At twenty-two minutes and counting Green Carnation puts on their Pink Floyd hats for about five minutes and then becomes Green Carnation again until halftime(about 32 minutes).

At the 32 minute mark, a seemingly unrelated five minute section with a solo saxophone and lady singer makes it's appearance. I love lady singers but not this one and I find this section jarring and distracting in a most flawless performance otherwise.

At the 38 minute mark we return to the dark brooding passages that we experienced at the 18 minute mark, then a nice keyboard section that sounds slightly Pink Floydish again. This section also contains a great whining guitar solo. Now at 44 minutes(only three quarters of the way through), the music gets reflective again via our great singer and a plunking guitar changing to an organ at 46:30, then the pace picks up with the crunchy guitar a minute later.

At the 50 minute mark, the singer and both choirs join the crunchy guitar with a little up tempo section which leads us back to our half time singer and the full orchestra doing they're exceptional imitation of 'Salome' sitar and all. Back to the familiar G.C. sound and beat at 53:30 for a couple a minutes, then slow acoustic guitar and violins, leading to an ethereal sound and a baby talking. Then the Grand Finale and it is wonderful. If you think this sounds like a symphony or an opera, IT IS!!

Tchort himself writes inside the album literature; " Light of Day...is musically dedicated to my son, Damien Aleksander for bringing joy, inspiration and meaning to my life, and lyrically dedicated to Christian and Christopher Botteri - on an everlasting mental and emotional journey".

Similar Bands Evergrey, Therion, Thy Majestie, Dream Theater, Aryeon

I could write a book about this phenomenal creation, but here's the bottom line. LIGHT OF DAY is a profoundly, serious composition that is a must for the symphonic and progressive rock collector! GET IT, TURN UP THE VOLUME, PUT ON YOUR HEADPHONES, FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT AND GET READY FOR THE RIDE OF YOUR MUSICAL LIFE!!! TEN STARS!

Take a seat and have a listen, this is an only track of 60 minutes. As a prog lover I do have some experience with lengthy tracks but this goes even further. Ok Green Carnation try to convince me that you can keep my attention for that long. In fact, they did. Haven't been bored for one second. What an outstanding song ! The atmospheric music and the songlines that are detached to it take time for a slow development from one magnificent fragment to another. The music on this album is baptised in a melancholic, dreamy mood. Throughout the album there seems to be going on a battle between hope and disappointment in the vocals ; I guess this what they mean with "light of day and day of darkness". The song takes off with a kind of ambient soundscape that would be suitable for using on a soundtrack but then the tension is building up till the guitar riffs drop in without disturbing the large landscapes of sound. The influence of Floyd is heavy felt on the keyboard parts which consists of organs and atmospheric keyboard sounds that include elements from space rock as well. But also some vocal parts are reminiscent to Floyd ; sounding lazy and astral at the same time but mostly very sad, great all the way. At one point there's even the famous riff of another brick in the wall. The drums are carrying the music in a slow and majestic way. Is this band preparing itself for stadium gigs ? I wouldn't mind ! It may seen odd but that doesn't mean this album isn't heavy. Off course also the guitar contains several screaming Gilmour ingredients but there's also some expanded heavy parts where the chords get damn meaty and some vocals are getting near to the sound of a death grunt. But then again in other parts of this album, the delicate playing of flute, piano or sax takes over without sounding out of place. It seems there's quite some diversity in styles but the changing of the different atmospheres goes smooth enough, you have to listen very carefully to notice it. Green Carnation are building on the strongest elements of Floyd, combine it with progmetal, eastern influences and even some Faith no more vocals. What do you get ? A high original but overall magnificent record with an enjoyable atmospheric, yet powerful sound.

Being unfamiliar with the band but having read several positive reviews my expectations on this album were pretty high before listening to "light of day, .". Still. got overblown by this fabulous record. This is great. I want to buy all of their albums !!!

It's very hard for me to describe what I felt after listening to this overwhelming piece of music. It's overwhelming in that it is a lot to take it, whopping in at a hefty 60 minutes, and it's overwhelming in the musicality and the ideas that flow forward. There are many good spots on the album/song, and there are some dry spots that make it seem like they could have cut out an extra 5 or so minutes. Regardless, this album is a phenomenal piece that should not go unnoticed.

Let me begin on the music part by saying that there are varying degrees in heaviness on the album. There are very quiet, symphonic parts, and then there are great heavy metal sections. What's great about the vocals is that there is a choir that helps guide the way throughout the entire track.The drumming is varied and comes in and out according to the tempo and mood of different tracks. Many elements of influence are heard throughout the recording, ranging from Floydian soundscapes to more eastern influenced sections.

My least favorite part of the album is when the female vocalist has a solo around the 32 or 33 minute mark. It tends to drag on and I usually restrain myself from skipping it. I really appreciate the acoustic work that follows. It's very mellow and gives off a soothing sound. The crunchy guitars are also very welcome, with many memorable and intricate riffs laced with incredible bass and drums.

Overall, this is a work that all should check out. There are only a few parts that I do not enjoy, but once I get through them, it's smooth sailing. I give it a four because there are places where they could have cut out some time, it would have been better as a 55 minute track than a 60. Regardless, the band never ceases to amaze me with each listen. 4/5.

Whenever I listen to a Progressive Rock or a Progressive Metal album, it is practically impossible not to compare it with other popular progressive albums. Most progressive albums will have "Pink Floyd-ish" passages and/or some segments with certain "Opeth- esque" influences that will flow from soft and atmospheric to technical and melodic, culminating most of the times in explosive triumphant heavy passages with powerful riffs and driving double bass drums...yummy!

Green Carnation should be considered a melancholic progressive metal band. Light of Day, Day of Darkness is an overture with perhaps one very distinctive attribute which separates it from all other albums in this field, and that is that the album contains only one track. Mind you, the length of that track is one hour long! The song includes a male lead vocalist, some female vocals (soprano style), and some choirs.

To keep the listener cued in throughout the length of the song, the band mixes soft acoustic passages with more aggressive ones, moving from heavy more intense moments to soft atmospheric ones. The guitars are technically imaginative shifting from acoustic to electric with all the ease of a well-seasoned progressive metal band. The remarkably even mid-range vocals of "Nordus" are mostly clean and full with only a couple growling moments to speak of.

The band also obtained the contribution from an additional 10 musicians and a 21 member strong choir. In addition, to complete this studio album, they exploited more than 150 tracks and 600 separate samples. The results are as you would expect, the production is flawless, a truly phenomenal album from beginning to end.

The pace of the album is slow and leisurely so as to deliberately build the emotion "Tchort" is trying to invoke in the listener. At times the cadence is relentless, but always effective. The entire movement flows effortlessly alternating from soft progressive rhythms to varying patterns of aggressive double bass drum beats. I think I mentioned that already, didn't I?

The music will move you. You will experience moments of sadness, anger and happiness. The album's true power is derived from the dense, rich, and subtly textured music. Pay attention, this potent album will influence many progressive metal bands in the future, I'm sure of it.

Kudos to Tchort and his band, for releasing the most ambitious artistic album of 2001. Everything I love about progressive music is here; atmospheric passages, slow calming moments, aggressiveness and a good variety of vocals overall. The album radiates with confidence, style, originality and intensity. :)

This very good progressive metal album is very original and unique. There is only one track, lasting more than one hour! It starts with charming baby voices with a Bono- esque lead vocals. Amazingly, the lead vocals tone then almost never sound anymore like Bono of U2, except for a bit around the 45th minute. The lead singing often consist in intermittent & almost spoken pairs of words. The rather monolithic, SLOW and sustained rhythmic electric guitar has a good metal sound, although it is maybe a bit too dirty, reminding the typical sound of metal band "Pile Driver" in a less powerful and fast manner: the bass here does not support as much the electric rhythmic guitar; however, the sound remains quite metal of the 80's, unlike the rhythmic guitars of Pain of Salvation, which has more the grunge sound. There are many pleasant background organ of the 70's as keyboards; there are other more modern keyboards parts, and the presence of many pleasant symphonic arrangements-like makes me think if they are not emulated by keyboards. The track is not tedious to listen, because the airs and rhythms involved often change and are catchy and pleasant to listen. The album is not really guitar solo-oriented, although it contains a couples of very good ones, being more atmospheric, visceral and spacey than bombastic and melodic. The drums are really varied and refined: they are a strong point one this record. Right in the middle of the track, there is a long bit where a women sings with a Sinead O'Connor-esque voice; it is done in a very mellow and mysterious Middle Eastern atmosphere; there is a gloomy unidentified wind instrument that sounds a bit like a sad saxophone; the experience is memorable although it is a bit lengthy; I think the permanent humming combined with hazy & futuristic bubble sounds which evoke a huge boiling process in the background is essential to render the enigmatic character to this part of the track. There are some interesting distortion-free or acoustic guitar arrangements. This record is less structured, fast, nervous, accessible and emotional than progressive metal bands like Symphony X and Shadow Gallery; that's why it may belong to a class apart.

I have to give these guys (er., this guy - Tchort) credit. This is a superbly produced piece of progressive art. I'm not sure if it is actually progressive metal or something else, but it doesn't really matter I suppose. For older guys like me the words progressive and metal usually conjure up pictures of Ronnie James Dio and Ritchie Blackmore and "Lady of the Lake", so I'm probably not the right person to make that call anyway.

I picked this up at the recommendation of a friend after rambling on to him about how much I liked Ayreon's Human Equation. I'm not sure what this friend felt the connection was to this album, as I don't see one, but it's a great bit of music anyway. Conceived as a single contiguous work, the song fills the entire CD with no interruptions. Unlike albums like The Wall or Human Equation though, this one isn't even subdivided into smaller palatable portions, which is probably my only beef. While the overall composition is definitely worthy of an uninterrupted session, it's not the kind of record you're likely to put on for a casual listen, so it doesn't get played too often in my house.

Like I said the sound is largely metal with pretty strong progressive overtones, but there are a few interesting deviations. Around the middle is a short stretch of melodic male vocals with a driving, almost hair-band rhythm and a straightahead beat that is actually quite catchy. Unfortunately this is followed by about five minutes of what I believe is an oboe in a kind of hash-inspired dirge with some crazy chick chant-singing in a combination of accented English and gibberish. That's where the song seek would have come in handy.

The next few minutes feature a male voice that gets almost annoyingly close to launching into gutteral screech vocals, but manages to stay just this side of discernable before the guitars fade into that kind of tense and barely controlled tempo that bands like Opeth and some later Fates Warning do so well. The petered-out ending into a twisted kind of children's lullaby makes for a bit of a strange finish, but the experience is worth an hour of your time every now and then.

I guess I'm not really sure what this album is all about lyrically, but I have to say that it is one of the most interesting listens in the progressive metal category I have heard outside of some of the Ayreon albums in quite some time. A definite excellent addition to just about any collection. Four stars.

peace

One year after releasing their eponymous debut GC went back to studio to record their second album consisting of one 60 min long track only. Both Botteri brothers have left the band meanwhile and actually Tchort as the band leader was the only one left over from the original line-up. But in fact he managed to gather a whole bunch of musicians and vocalists, amongst them 8 classically trained singers (male and female) and an entire children's choir next to 4 regular band members to help him realizing this magnum opus presented here. All music and lyrics of this concept song/album had been written solely by Tchort which deserves big acknowledge alone. What's the concept exactly about never became quite clear to me but according to the booklet he calls it his musical legacy, saying that it's musically dedicated to his son Damien Aleksander (who's as well participating as baby's voice) "for bringing joy, inspiration and meaning to my life" and lyrically dedicated to Christian and Christopher Botteri "on an everlasting mental and emotional journey". And I think the latter expression describes best this record - not really an everlasting, but an hour long inspiring and haunting trip through all kind of imaginations and emotions.

I won't describe the music presented here in detail because I think this has been done elsewhere often enough already and much better than I could do. In short this composition obviously is divided into three parts, first one lasts up to 32:50 when the female oriental sounding voice starts singing and the last one starts after that strange but impressive excursion around 39:00. And as much I've to say that this middle part was always my least favourite one and that it seams to be rather disturbing and out of place, it serves very well as a kind of control point for orientation. The first part is after a quite mellow intro alternating between heavy doom metal riffs and more lyrical sections. Vocals are mainly clean ones apart from a few screaming ones which are presented by Roger Rasmussen who has been put into duty especially for that job. There are as well some THERION-type male choirs and orchestral arrangements also typical for that band to be found here. But this is by far not the only obvious influence here, others are for example some kind of psychedelic doom metal as done by related band IN THE WOODS, undeniable there's as well a touch of PINK FLOYD present to name at least one seminal band. But overall GC manages here quite well to create their very own unique sound and though there's a main theme as a kind of thread being repeated in different variations throughout this track it never starts meandering and keeps the listener's attention at any moment. The second part sounds completely different from the rest and really marks a kind of break. In some way it's taking up a bit the dreamy atmosphere from the introduction for the first part and though it might sound quite inappropriate I'm sure it's more than just a filler. The elegiac, oriental sounding and extremely high-pitched voice combined with sax tunes has in a way a rather mesmerizing effect though for sure needs quite a lot of spins to get used to. After vocals have reached almost painful frequencies some tunes of acoustic guitar are leading over to the third part which is certainly the most versatile and prog-ish one. Starting from around 40:20 there's one of the absolute highlights of this disk - an awesome solo played first on acoustic guitar accompanied by some tender piano tunes and then continued on electric guitar. After a short slightly psychedelic and odd sounding section the music gets much more into a symphonic and orchestral but nonetheless heavy vein, the oriental-styled female vocals return for a short while and the composition reaches its climax. Then there's some mellow acoustic guitar, tasteful keyboard sounds and baby voice and one would expect that it's coming to its end before heavy guitars are returning for 1 or 2 minutes and a lullaby played on a musical clock is finally closing the disk.

As a summary I can't do other than calling this work an unique and exceptional one and giving it a full-score rating. This record is certainly to be considered a must-have in any metal-oriented prog collection!

I can only agree with the last (and some more) reviews on this album: a masterpiece! I just got interested in this album by reading some reviews here on the site and decided to just order the album; without regrets.

However: sometimes it doesn't turn out this way. I also bought a lot of albums from Dream Theatre and King Crimson by reading their reviews, but I wasn't impressed. For me music is emotion. Therefore the music has to "touch me" in some kind of way, which for example DT's music doesn't, but Riverside's, Opeth's and Porcupine Tree's music does. Don't ask me why: tastes are not the same and one cannot dispute about personal tastes. For me I guess the music in itself has to be quite complex, but also not too complex (meaning experimental). I think Green Carnation found the perfect way to blend musical styles and genres, since this is definitely not a pure metal album!

Great concept of the album is that it only consists out of one 60 minute long track. In this track there's a big variety in moods and tempo's, varying between classical, acoustic to heavy metal riffs, but always for the sake of lifting the music to a higher surface. Tchort is a mastermind and this album only makes me more curious after other GREEN CARNATION and IN THE WOODS. albums. If I could only take ten albums with me to a deserted island right now this would definitely be one of them!

Much would I like to give this album 5 stars just because of one thing... the whole album is just one hour long song!!! I mean, this should clearly be THE album among albums, the song among songs, right?...right? Well...sadly no, it doesn´t come even close. Sad, but true.

Don´t get me wrong, the song is still pretty good, but if one is gonna try to do an hour long track, it might as well be the best thing ever! Others that have attemped this colossal odyssey have done quite the good jobs; Dream Theater´s Six degrees of inner turbulence, Edge of Sanity´s Crimson and personal favorite Beyond Twilight´s For the love of art and the making, keeping the epic not only good and well composed but full of fresh ideas, interesting interplay and with more than one "Oh my God" moments. This however, isn´t the case with Light of day, day of darkness. There are not many impressive moments thrue out this album, thought I must give it to Tchort (the main composer), the whole thing goes quite smoothly thrue out the entire hour and nothing seems out of place or too forced. Having said that, some variation would be nice, cause most of the piece is quite similar in style to...well, most of the piece is pretty muh the same! With some exceptions here and there, like simple acoustic passages (which are quite good), use of different choirs and a sax/female vocals solo. This last two however, aren´t really that good. The use of the choirs is rather weak for me, they could have done it so much better, with so much power, but the end result are multiple voices singing quite flat and uniteresting, and the sax/female vocals solo is down right bad. A sax in metal?...mmm, not my cup of tea really, and of many others. A cello perhaps, would have been so much better, and the femal vocals are just as uninteresting. Another big problem for me are the lyrics. It seems to me Tchort wanted to speak about everything here, but he ends up speaking about absolutly nothing, for the lyrics have no connection from part to part, which might be good in some cases (Yes anyone...?) but here it´s really a weakness. Also, the vocal lines are quite poorly done, no good melodys, no great singing, although I´m sure that was intentional for making the album have a more melancholic feel to it, so ok, why not?

As I have said before, this is not a bad song, you might like it quite a lot, but for me, there aer way too many flaws (yes, down right flaws) for me to even give this album 3 stars. If you make an hour long song, better do it more than right, do it exceptional.

First of all I want to thank "evenless" (Martijn) for introducing me to this amazing album. GREEN CARNATION actually formed in 1990 but never got off the ground then as Tchort left to play bass for EMPEROR, so the Botteri brothers formed a band called IN THE WOODS... .Tchort and the Botteri brothers would record only one album together as GREEN CARNATION called "Journey To the End Of The Night", GREEN CARNATION's debut in 2000. The Botteri brothers would leave after that release.That debut record was about the tragic death of Tchort's daughter, and needless to say it is filled with darkness,pain and sorrow. I need to say as a father that I can't possibly imagine what Tchort went through and is still going through.That kind of pain is only known by those who have experienced it first hand. This is the follow up record and Tchort dedicates the music to his new son, while lyrically he dedicates it to the Botteri brothers.Tchort describes this release as his "Musical legacy". And this record reveals the emotions and feelings of Tchort of what he's going through, and went through, but unlike the first album this is seen through the "joy, inspiation and meaning" that his son has brought into his life. So there is hope in this album, but also a lot of darkness and anger. In the liner notes is a picture of a little white casket with a young woman laying beside it, holding it, with her head resting on it. The other pictures in the liner are beautiful photos of nature. Musically this sounds more like IN THE WOODS... than anyone else although I was reminded of ANATHEMA during some of the quieter parts.This is a single 60 minute song that tells Tchort's feelings without being interupted.

The song starts off rather atmospherically with some eerie sounds as the soundscape builds with guitar and drums as we hear a child making noises. Reserved vocals come in at about 3 minutes that change to a full sound 5 minutes in with some good guitar riffs. Great ! Organ melodies come and go.The lyrics are so emotional as he sings "Insanity reached me it's hand". 8 minutes in the vocals are aggressive and the sound is heavy and angry. 14 minutes in we get some very heavy drums and bass that accellerates. Nice ! This is followed by a spacey, dreamy soundscape that suit the lyrics that are about a dream he had. 20 minutes in we get some BLACK SABBATH-like guitars and vocals and it gets punishingly heavy again. 22 minutes in it lightens up some with some incredible instrumental work.

Some nice organ work and riffs dominate until 25 minutes in it almost stops before we get the heavy riffing again as the light and heavy are beautifully contrasted. The drumming is fantastic here and throughout this song. We get some female vocals after 33 minutes with a reserved sax solo. She gets close to screaming during her vocal melody. At 39 minutes the male vocals and the heaviness is back. A long amazing guitar solo 42 minutes in and i'm reminded of ANATHEMA 45 minutes in. More heavy riffing and she's back 52 minutes in. The guitar is incredible and then we hear the child's voice again with synths that are broken by blazing guitar and pounding drums. The song ends with the sound of a music box playing.

There are some heart wrenching lyrics in this song, but I can tell you that the music is as good as the words. This is truly a masterpiece !

4.3 Stars.

This is a very coherent and accessible epic (except for that vocal solo in the middle) with simple, yet effective guitar riffs/themes and vocal melodies. The song really flows smoothly from one section to the next and the melodies and riffs are very listenable, making the huge song very likable at first listen. I would love to give this Heavy Metal masterwork a 5-star rating since it is a 60-minute long song which is very challenging to make, and Green Carnation has pulled it off! However, I just can't give it 5 stars as I just can't see it as a masterpiece for several reasons that I will discuss later.

A reason why this album is so smooth is that most of the music sounds similar to the rest of the album. A huge majority of the album is spent introducing new heavy metal riffs while those operatic vocals are usually present. Of course, there are some very refreshing parts, but the disc lacks a bit of variety sometimes which is crucial when dealing with a song this long. The song uses certain formulas that seem to be repeated a bit throughout, such as a slow acoustic melody being played and then a distorted guitar follows with the same melody, and avoiding guitar solos (though it can be also seen as a good and refreshing quality)

Other issues I have with the disc: the vocals are not very impressive, though they are no mediocre by any means. The ending is in my opinion a failure as it just cuts off a beautiful positive moment and it ends with guitar riffs played in the beginning of the album and a fade in to a musical box melody which sounds very weak musically.

Of course, my main issue is the middle part of the album. For almost ten minutes, the music stops and all that's left is a female vocalist and a saxophone. The saxophone sounds sad and slow while the vocalist sings in many different ways, including a moment where she screams her lungs off in a very disturbing way, making it sound like if a guy had a "zipper" accident in his crotch. Overall, I find that moment a bit out of place, very uneventful, and too peaceful and also too disturbing for this album.

Despite these flaws that prevent the album from being called a Masterpiece by me, it is still a highly recommended disc that will grab you at first listen and never let go. In my opinion, this isn't much of a "prog" album, even though it's a 60-minute long song. It is just dark heavy metal being stretched for an hour in a mostly successful way, with some acoustic passages to bring contrast and that beautiful synth driven passage near the end with the sound of a baby. All these 60 minutes are played with just one guitar solo, so keep that in mind.

Recommended!

An Excellent Concep Album!

I have been listening to this album (in its entirety) more than 10 spins already. Everytime I listen to it, I thought that I would be getting bored because the duration is very very long . 60 minutes plus! The whole album contains only one song. My prediction was not wrong especially when I found there were some repeating riffs and chords from this album. Quite strange to me that the repetition would make me bored and stop playing the CD .. but it has never happened to me as I always successfully completed the whole song even though on some occasion I had to pause due to mandatory breaks like a time for pray (to perform Muslim's shalat). But after that I usually continued the album until it really completed. Another strange thing is that I always want to spin again after the whole album is completely listened to. The more I spin the album, I come to think that this album must be something special which could have created magic into my ears and my mind. I salute the band on this!

Composition.

I think on composition, this album has perfected itself that it could produce a stream of music with good melody (not that catchy, actually) in such away throughout the passages of music the band has inserted great subtleties which enhance the nuance of the song. It's quite obvious there are combination of acoustic guitar fills, string orchestration and soft guitar riffs which then accompany vocal line, delivered in metal fashion. The arrangement has been made in such a way that from one segment to another, there are practically obvious distinction of textures even though the rhythm section (most of the time delivered through guitar riffs) are pretty much the same or similar. Usually, I listen to this album with decent stereo set but this time while writing a review, I put my Sennheizer headphone .. wow .. it's a nice stream of music I am hearing now.

On harmonies, I can say that the music produces balanced sounds of voice, guitar riffs, acoustic guitar, and string section while drumming is performed in variety of style from power metal double bass drum pedal in fast tempo and sometimes it takes a break in slower beats. The last thing on composition is on structural integrity. I know that this one track album sounds like one straight style but .. if you look into greater details, there are curved lines in its transition pieces which make it very clear that this is definitely a progressive music genre, for sure! There is major break at approximately in the middle of the track where there is practically silent segment followed with female chanting. It's a great break, I would say.

Musicianship

I truly admire Tchort's songwriting skills because from this definitely long track he could create the song that moves smoothly and not being interupted abruptly by any segment which might destroy the whole spirit of the music. The album is composed, written and arranged - both musically and lyrically - by Tchort . As he said it "Light of Day... is musically dedicated to my son, Damien Aleksander for bringing joy, inspiration and meaning to my life, and lyrically dedicated to Christian and Christopher Botteri - on an everlasting mental and emotional journey. This is my musical legacy - Tchort.

On band meber's virtuosity in performing their respective instruments, I do not find that this album demonstrates clearly any member's technical skills. It sounds to me that the whole music is pretty far away from musician's ego in performing their long solo part, for example. So, this is an album to enjoy regardless the virtuosity is technically high or just mediocre. It does not matter to me, because the band has successfully created excellent melody, rhythm section and grooves in a balanced mood. I don't see any musician's ego (I believe there was) demonstrated here.

Overall, each musician plays their role excellently in a balanced way.

On production, this album was crafted beautifully during studio recording because the sonic quality is really excellent as well.

Overall, this is a grandiose work by Green Carnation and I finally decide the this album deserves four stars+ rating. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

An hour long epic of conceptual prog metal sounds great, eh? Not so fast. Shakes and Pat have this one nailed pretty good and I'll just second them. This is an ambitious album with some great parts and decent moments but overall is not as impressive as advertised to this reviewer.

Never has an album cried out for an edit job of 20 minutes more than this one. As a 40 minute piece this would be a much better album. There are so many minutes of plodding in the first half, the second half of this album is certainly the better half. The space from around 40:15 to 44:00 is especially nice with some soft piano building into a lofty electric solo that is quite emotional. One impression of this album is that it reminded me a bit of the musical color of Sabbath's old song "Heaven and Hell." Good song of course, but it clocks in at 7 minutes. To me, "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" (even the title is cumbersome!) is like taking the musical ideas of something like "Heaven and Hell" and stretching them to one hour for the apparent prog cred of having an hour long piece, without making sure there is enough quality and variety to support the length. I don't feel there is but you'll note many respected reviewers disagree so decide for yourself.

The CD booklet is nice with lyrics and great photography. But a far cry from In The Wood's "Omnio." Many good moments with lots of filler in between, but far from essential. 3 stars.

This is one of the assets I discovered on progarchives. It got great reviews and lots of recommendations and that always makes a person curious. But it was also the one hour track that intrigued me. I do not only love epics but also collect them. And then of course a track of 60:06 is one you can't ignore.

Downside of these facts is that you approach it with high expectations. In those circumstances it's almost bound to become a disappointment. But I saw that coming so I tried to get into this album with an open mind and I'm glad I did because the first spin indeed caused a bit of a disappointment but after some more listens I grew into the complex song more and more and I think I'm ready for a fair judgement now.

The whole thing starts with quiet music when suddenly a young child starts babbling, the music gets louder and the vocals set in. This goes on for a while and just about after half an hour the music quiets down again and a female singer takes over. This sounds very much ok to me, it's variegated singing, intriguing and almost a bit enchanting. Then the music swells again, I really like the third quarter of the song, at about 2/3 the only real guitar solo takes its turn, after first listen I thought it was mindblowing but after a few times I got more critical and noticed it's not really the best solo I ever heard, still good but no more.

In the last quarter at first the song is quite heavy but towards the end it gets more and more quiet as to complete the circle. Rounding up I have to say I admire the composition, I think it's better than the execution without wanting to maintain that Green Carnation is a band that falls short in that department. The performance is good, very good even but not perfect. Final conclusion: I'm glad I bought it and I think it's fair to say that the average rating so far (4,3) reflects the right score for this magnum opus. So 4 stars by me.

Music is best when it results directly from inspiration that the composer has at the time of writing said music. These ideas and emotions propel the song indefinitely in different directions as the composer is led to channel them. The composer does not know how long the song will be ahead of time, but he does know that when he is finished, the length of the song will be appropriate.

Now here we Green Carnation's "Light of Day, Day of Darkness," a sprawling piece, lasting in excess of 60 minutes. In the progressive realm, it's not uncommon for a band to play long pieces, but 60 minutes is quite a bit longer than even the longest ones in our memories. Conveniently ending just after the hour mark, this piece screams (or proclaims convincingly in a reasonable tone and at a reasonable volume) "I planned this." Tchort must have had the ambitious goal to produce an hour-long piece ahead of time. I'm as reasonable a man as Tchort is ambitious, though, so I gave him benefit of the doubt here. Maybe he was so remarkably inspired that he, unaware at the time of its writing, wrote a glorious and powerful 60-minute piece.

Time and time again, though, I feel like it's not worth giving benefit of the doubt anymore, and I question my having doubts beforehand. Indeed, "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" comes off as largely written to achieve a goal set beforehand. That's not to say that it isn't replete with excellent riffage, melodies and so on. In fact, roughly 40 minutes of this thing are pretty darn good. Despite the rather flat tone and timbre of the vocals, we are provided with several strong melodies, and a growl so brief it's not even worth noting (yet here I am noting it). There are also riffs galore that lead the way along side the vocals. The drum work provides a firm foundation and implements a variety of beats that help keep things interesting throughout the first half of the piece. There are sparse uses of orchestral instruments and choir as well.

But Tchort was obviously not content with writing just another really good 40-minute piece. So, a little over half way through this track, which has been really solid in its writing so far, we are subjected to a rather strange middle-eastern influenced duet between a saxophone and a female vocalist. Out of place to begin with, it really wears out it's welcome as it goes on for five minutes before another instrument appears. The instrument, an acoustic guitar, takes us into a nice acoustic passage which later builds into the albums only guitar solo. The solo is a great, melody and emotion-oriented one and I could see it taking the song to its finale, but under the circumstances imposed by Tchort, we have another 17-18 minutes to muddle through. Within these minutes are some of the album's stronger bits, including what should have comprised the finale, but the momentum of the song was halted by the aforementioned duet and even the intensity the band tries to bring back fails to an extent as a result. On top of that, the place where the song should have ended ends up being a teaser ending (as it occurs at the 55-minute mark) and the band builds their way back into that same ending a second time (with inconsequential variation). And even that didn't get us to the 60-minute mark, so the piece ends with about a minute of music box music. A rather anti-climactic ending, I say. That music box might have actually worked out if the song was appropriately long and with that single finale, but hey, that's not how it went.

As another point of criticism, I must also say that the production sounds a bit stale. It's not as thick, atmospheric and luscious as it could have been given the technology at the time and I do believe it's over-compressed. The atmosphere is there, but it could have been more engulfing.

So, what many on the ol' Archives (and other prog fans as well) claim to be a masterpiece really is not. Green Carnation clearly know how to stroke a prog fan's bone, as well as their own, but others like myself are not so easy.

An only piece masterpiece... Dark, melancholic and powerful example of imaginative prog metal.

Mixing a lot of obvious influences (Pink Floyd, Anathema, Opeth, Black Sabbath...) Tchort orchestred and directed his fellow musicians to make this 60 minutes long song, a dark and beautiful ride through the sad feelings of a twisted mind, giving us a glimpse of the thoughts of this mind in form of music... ¡And what a music! The Opeth-like acoustic guitars, playing some folkie melodies are really well mixed with some stronger passages, with great riffs and rythms, where the vocal melodies shine... ¡Kjetil Nordhus made a great vocal performance here! Variated and full with sentiment.

The only problem I find with the album is that it's a little repetitive in the end... The second half of the song, after the marvellous part with the female voice and the sax, is maybe a little weaker than the first, but it's not a real problem, while the level is really high throghout the full 60 minutes. I also love the oriental influences we can hear in the end of the second half of the song... ¡And the Marillionesque keyboards in the end are also really original in this context and a good addition! The album is so full with details and worthy passages that it would me take too long to list them here.

Best songs:... Should I answer?

Conclusion: marvellous album, a prog metal masterpiece and a must for lovers of the dark and experimental side of metal. Complex, diverse and intense piece of music, wich wins with every hear you give to it. If you are into prog metal in the style of Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Pain of Salvation... Buy this one, is better than almost all the albums of these bands. If you are not, please listen to it... It's a work not to be missed, really.

My rating: *****

Awesome. Utterly awesome, no compromise. But not a masterpiece.

When i first heard of this album, one thing was running through my mind: an entire album of progressive metal? This is probably better than sex!

When i first ran it through on my iPod on a very long train journey to Glasgow, two things were running through my head: god damn this is a long train, and jesus this IS better than sex.

The second and thrid time i listened to this album my opinion of it gradually deterierated. Yeah, it is truly amazing what these guys have come out with here: a sixty minute metal tune that never gets boring and is very creative. However, there are a few things that let it down slightly: first off, the vocals. They are very bland in comparison with let's say Opeth or VDGG, but you can still bare them. Next off, it CAN get a little repetitive. I'm not too keen on the chord sequences in the section from 10 minutes - 20 minutes; they all seem rather generic. On the good side though, extremely good musicianship, tasteful guitarwork, phenomenal drumming, clever keyboard use and oh my GOD! The male choir! It sounds astonishing when weaved into the heavy works of Green Carnation, and i love it! I also love the girl's voice at about 30 minutes, on contrary to some of the previous comments - very nice indeed.

Now onto some technical analysis. The opener is fantastic and very progressive, even in comparison with some of the masterful progressions on this site e.g. Echoes. I find this bit very Floydian and a great listen. When the distorted guitars finally kick in with some really special vocal lines, your average prog metal fan is in heaven. It then goes through a lot of flowing rhythmical changes until the 20 minute mark, that of which include 7/4, 3/4 and 5/4 time signatures, tempo changes galore and a few cheeky half time sections. It then gets Floydian once again past the 20 minute mark and once again we are re-introduced to the metal vein.

At approx. 30 minutes, it starts to get interesting. The band stops abrubtly and we are introduced to a mysterious Bangra-esque violin, drone and female vox section that is, IMHO, the best section of the song. Beautiful, you have to listen to it yourself truly, and it is what the album/song is all about. At about 40 minutes we are brought gently into the metal heart of GC with a once again Floydian progression, first guitar, then bass, then drums and almost immediately after, a blistering overdriven solo that gets me every time. This part really takes the song to epic proportions. The keyboards are used very tastefully and the chord sequence is also a big step up from some of the previous in the track.

At almost the 50th minute we are brought into the final post-metal section of the song, and what away to finish! A few of the previous themes are used here and to great effect, once again elevating the epicity. The male choir are at their peak in the 10/4 part, and it is one of the highlights of the album, and i really haven't got a bad word to say about this section of this great exciting song. The experimentation is brought to a new level here, where the Bangra theme is brought back once again, along with the female vox and what appears to be a backing tabla (?). Nonetheless, the finale is really something, and bring the song to fantastic closure when one of the riffs from the first 10 minutes returns with a triumphant metal fist.

The only criticism i have with the ending, is that they seem really quite desperate to make the hour mark and really drag on the chimes for the last 2 minutes or so.

A really groundbreaking and fantastic album regardless of its flaws i.e. the vocals (bar the choir and the girl), repetitive chord sequences, final 2 minutes or so of chimes... 4 stars from me, and excellent album and a must have for any prog metal fan.

I don't have a problem with excess in my music, so long as that excess comes with copious amounts of creativity, artistry, and variety... qualities which this lauded metal epic possess very few of. It's an hour-long exercise in chugging banality sprinkled with a few genuine moments of excellence.

At a glance, Light of Day, Day of Darkness does have a cool, creepy vibe to it. There's a brooding sense of aggression and loss behind every passage. Vocals are decent, guitars are crunchy, at rhythm section lays down a strong and appropriate foundation. Musicianship is overall good (especially drums). Up to the first chorus we're given great, dark, moody and aggressive stuff, if somewhat typical for the genre.

The problem, is that one can fast-forward the track up to the 30 minute mark and hear almost the exact same thing. The melodies are repeated, as is the one (!) memorable lyric (See the unseen, hear the unheard-- pretty cheesy). Guitars remain distorted, crunchy, and rhythmic throughout, with solos drifting into the background. After the first display of the album's shtick (at about the 6 minute mark), it's all down-hill redundancy to its halfway point, and makes for what is essentially dark background music. Perhaps the worst element is lead vocals, which croon out a plodding monotone of trite, angsty lyrics.

During the second half we're given an 8 minute break with a nice bit of atmosphere and female vocals, ruined expectantly by the return of bland crunching and pompous, boring lead singing. At least there's a proper guitar solo shortly thereafter. The grand finale sees the return of the same plodding, crunchy timbre: quarternote^nth.

I call myself a fan of dark music... but this album is just boring and uncreative. It's one good idea uneccessarily stretched out. Even judicious editing (down to, say, 40 minutes) wouldn't save it because it would still be the same thing over and over and over again. Light of Day, Day of Darkness is about as over-hyped as they get, and at best holds up only to the occasional listen, and even then only for fans of the genre.

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 2 Lyrics/Vocals: 2 Style/Emotion/Replay: 2

Light of Day, Day of Darkness is the second full-length studio album by Norwegian experimental/ progressive metal act Green Carnation. While the debut album Journey To The End Of The Night (2000) was a very melancholic affair which lyrically evolved around the death of the daughter of bandleader/ composer/ guitarist Tchort ( Terje Vik Schei), this second album while still melancholic in sound has more positive lyrics inspired by the birth of Tchort´s son. The album consists of one 60:06 minute long song.

The music has roots in melodic doom metal but there are lots of progressive rock elements in the sound too. The vocals are clean male and more seldom female. With a song that´s 60 minutes long I expect to get tired somewhere along the way but Light of Day, Day of Darkness actually manages to keep me entertained the whole time. I don´t know if the album has seen a vinyl release but around the 32 minute mark there´s a short break which could indicate that. The guitar riffing style is slow and melodic most of the time and there´s also an omnipresent organ which is a big part of the sound. It sounds like there are quite a few different singers who contribute to the album but they all have enjoyable voices. Note the Dead Can Dance influenced female led part after the short break at the 32 minute mark.

The production is good. Warm and enjoyable.

Light of Day, Day of Darkness is a rather unique album and it´s very hard to compare it to anything else. Personally I wouldn´t call it a masterpiece but that´s of course an aquired taste. I´m willing to rate it with 3.5 - 4 stars though and call it a very intriguing album release by Green Carnation. I´d say this one is a must-hear even though it doesn´t really appeal to my personal taste.

This is the kind of album that suspiciously sounds as if it was written for me. Green Carnation has the majestic melodious doom metal sound of The Gathering's Mandylion mixed with the quiet and spacey atmosphere from Anathema's Judgement. Both bands with a strong Pink Floyd flavour in the sound, and so does Green Carnation. Unfortunately, there are a couple of things that reduce the enjoyment.

The album brings one continuous 60 minute piece of music and the band has been very successful at making it flow very smoothly and spontaneously. At no point does it sound gimmicky like Mike Oldfield's Amarok for instance. There are some parts where the music plods along a bit but I'm a doom metal enthusiast so that's no issue for me, I'm used to worse plodding then this!

The music is solid throughout but lacks true highpoints, moments of splendour, crescendos that build up a tension and release it with a devastating blow. Everything stays too much at a same volume, pace and intensity. There's no 'wow'-moment at any point. Only the guitar solo around 42 minutes gives a try. Another thing that bothers is that the chorus is repeated too much in the first half. The vocals are warm and melodic but are totally lacking in dynamics as well.

There's one more issue with this album and it's the female vocals halfway in. Who gave this poor woman the idea to sing higher then she possibly could? She's miles off her high notes. The effect is very amateur and grating at best. It's probably an attempt to sound like Dead Can Dance but it's a sad failure. This vocalist is no Lisa Gerrard and certainly no Diamanda Galas, who would have ripped this section apart! Besides, the melodies are very unremarkable. Worst of all, this whole album is mastered as one track so you can't even skip this part. Ripping to mp3 and cutting it up seems to be the only solution to avoid this.

Light Of Day might be an attractive album to try modern metal because it has no gruff vocals, but it is misses the dynamics and imagination to reach true greatness. It's a solid 3 stars album and it could maybe have been 4, but the hysterical female vocals in the middle simply shatter one star to bits.

This is an unfortunate but probably all too common case where less would probably be more. If this album/song had been trimmed down to about 35 or even 40 minutes I would not hesitate to give it 5 stars and call it one of the greatest progressive metal epics of all time. However, there's just a bit too much here, and especially towards the end of this album I often find myself looking at the time remaining and inwardly groaning.

The good parts, however, are pretty darn good. The music is dark, haunting, and atmospheric, but still rocks enough to have some great headbanging moments. It's very dynamic as well; the different sections and motifs flow together well and there's a good balance of heavy and "light." The vocals throughout are very good, they fit the music well. Most are clean, though there is some growling interspersed throughout. Honestly, the best way to get a feel for what the music sounds like is too look at the cover; it captures the feel of the music very well.

As mentioned above, though, it ultimately feels like the band just runs out of steam. After about 35 minutes, there's an interlude featuring some soft music and female vocals that goes on for a bit too long, and the album never really recovers. In my opinion, the music after this break simply does not measure up to that before, lacking some critical element that leaves it feeling far less memorable and even at times boring, which is a very bad thing indeed when we are dealing with a track of this length.

That said, the strength of the "good parts" make this well worth your time and money, and I'm content to call it a flawed masterpiece.

4/5

Very Ambitious, and They Almost Pulled It Off

Green Carnation's LIGHT OF DAY, DAY OF DARKNESS was one of the first albums suggested to me when I came to PA in 2008. I acquired the album not long afterward and it has sit in my library waiting for review for a long time. The reason for the delay is that I'm not sure exactly what I think of this. At some level, this hour long song / album / epic is brilliant. But there has always been something not quite right. I couldn't put my finger on it. But while reviewing the almost perfect and similarly ambitious CRIMSON by Edge of Sanity, the difference between realizing an ambitious project and not quite nailing it finally came to me.

First of all, LODDOD is a continuous piece that is mostly doomy metal a la Katatonia or mid- tempo Opeth with some nice low register clean vocals provided by Tchort (formerly of Emperor). There are a few black metal allusions here and there, but the influence of Pink Floyd is much more evident (find the "Goodbye Blue Sky" bit for fun). As many have mentioned, there is a middle section with a solo female vocal accompanied by a single violin that is extremely spare and splits the metal sections in two. While the idea was interesting, the execution is very rough, with the vocalist clearly struggling and missing pitch at the climactic moment.

Like Katatonia, this album sounds great superficially but gets a bit repetitive and bland on close inspection. Unlike CRIMSON, whose extreme variety of sounds, vocal timbres, and tempos all make sense within the context of the song, LODDOD varies from soft mid- tempo melancholy to harsh mid-tempo melancholy. When riffs return to tie the piece together, it seems more redundant than summarizing. And most importantly, where CRIMSON packs a massive amount of ideas into 40 minutes, LODDOD stretches it to 60, with less meat on the bone.

Goth metal in general is way too bland for me. Anathema, the Gathering, the whole crowd, I believe, impressed by creating a new sound that made sense. Adding metal guitars and drums to goth works extremely well. But the sound alone can't carry an album. You have to have the songs. Green Carnation had about an EP of good song material here.

Despite the criticism, I do really enjoy this album. Every few months it serves as the soundtrack of my workday and functions very well. I also would rather listen to a band taking some risks, reaching for the sky, and missing a little, than a band playing it too safe. A little more edge and some trimming of the fat and this would have rivalled the great metal albums. As is, it's still a great part of any prog metal collection.

Tchort's stab at the old Thick as a Brick album format delivers some pretty but rather forgettable progressive metal combined with some decidedly nonstandard and rather variable lyrics. To be honest, I think the album veers into cheesiness a little often for its own good - the female vocals partway through the composition, as others have noted, require the singer to sing higher than she's really able to handle, whilst the use of a children's choir just pushes the saccharine undercurrents of the album to the forefront. I understand that the piece is Tchort's meditation on the death of his daughter and birth of his son, and whilst it's laudable that he'd use such personal material as fodder for the album, on the whole I don't think it succeeds as material for general enjoyment.

My expectations come from my 2020 discovery of the band through their 2020 release, Leaves of Yesteryear, which I really loved.

"Light of Day, Day of Darkness" (60:06)

This is a difficult song to review because it is not broken down into parts as many bands do (including commons-membership band In The Woods). I will have to say that there is very little in the first 24 minutes that wows me; it is all more simplistic and straightforward (and less engaging, less-charged) than I was expecting. The vocals and music are quite underwhelming. The instrumental section beginning in the 25th minute, however, is awesome; it's as if the band has finally clicked into full sync and full and enthusiastic engagement. Even the group vocals that follow are more spirited than anything that came before. Since the Bandcamp edition that I'm listening to won't let the album exist as one 60 minute song, has it split into two parts, I'd give the first half, (32:45) a score of (55/65)

The second half (27:20) opens with six minutes of minimalist Latin soundtrack mood music over which guest vocalist Synne Soprana vocalises Clare Torry style. Fellow metal band HYPNO5E used the same palette and style as these first thirteen minutes to great effect in their own 2018 masterpiece soundtrack Alba - Les ombres arrantes. At 13:11 a series of "church bells" signals a shift toward more thick metal-like walls of sound--as well as the first time we here this lead vocalist with his Greg Lake-like tone and presence. All instruments play in sync during the sixteenth and seventeenth minutes until some guitar effects and growlish-chorale vocals enter and take us deeper into the darkness. Porcessed lead vocal at the end of the eighteenth minute gives an eerie robot/machine-like effect. Then the sound palette suddenly shifts over the bass and drums to a Middle Eastern style wiht sitar, string synths, and operatic female vocalise. By the 20:00 mark, we have somehow seemlessly morphed back to metal (the appearance of the Hammond and slide guitar helps). Machine gun bass drum in the 22nd announces a kind of crescendo. A prolongedly slow start leads to a very entertaining and satisfying middle and sad, pull-on-your-heart-strings ending. I can't say this is great music but I like it; it's eminently listenable--and truly proggy. (50/55)

Total Time 60:06

B+/four stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection.