The title says it all; this is an acoustic album, sweet, mellow and full of emotions.
Green Carnation has never been a predictable band, and so they always manage to surprise us; this new release is more than a good record is a statement of modern metal music and all his different branches.
With an acoustic guitar leading the way, Green Carnation takes us in a ride through catchy melodies and beautiful arrangements, violins, violas, Chellos, piano and some other tiny details make every song deeper than the last one; there are some touches of electric bass and stylish electronics in the production to rap everything together.
Listening to the intro in the first track you may think you bought a pop/rock album, but that just lasts about 10 seconds, then the vocals appear and it’s clear that you are listening to a mix of doom metal and Pink Floyd; Sweet Leaf has a great percussion that keeps a very accurate tempo, and the vocals are always powerful but not in an angry way.
The burden is mine… alone, has a very gloomy guitar leading the way, fallowed by the track Maybe? This is probably one of the best tracks on the album, integrating an array of instruments and back up vocals that create a unique atmospheric sound.
Alone is a track whose lyrics are based on the poem “Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe, this song has a folk sound to it that really catches you by surprise; while 9-29-045 is the song that really shows the band progressive side, 9-29-045 is a 15 minutes track that is divided into three parts, going from progressive sounds to a more melodic rock into a melancholic space rock that hint at Pink Floyd.
Childs Play part 3 is a piano based song with no lyrics, nice song but not really as impressive as the rest. Acoustic Verses finishes with a long track that really sums up the album, High Tide Waves manages to integrate every aspect of the record into one track, with ups and downs in the tempo, mainly being lead by the vocals and the violins this track can clarify the album in the 7:49 minutes it lasts.
Green Carnation has done a superb job with this record; this Norwegians know how to make an acoustic song sound complex and beautiful.
