LIGHT OF DAY, DAY OF DARKNESS

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.

Share this GREEN CARNATION review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Negoba
• Report this review (#499779)
• Buy GREEN CARNATION music online with PA partners
• Show all GREEN CARNATION MP3/Stream
• Go to GREEN CARNATION page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Light of Day, Day of Darkness page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for GREEN CARNATION related discussions