ALBUM REVIEW: Green Carnation – A Dark Poem Part III: The Messiah Complex


The culmination of a three-album project that began last year, A Dark Poem, Part III: The Messiah Complex (Season of Mist) finds progressive Norwegians Green Carnation at their most adventurous and exploratory. Continuing from the themes of alienation, distrust, and childhood trauma covered on The Shores Of Melancholia, plus the family crises and depression of Sanguis, the band’s ninth full-length studio release adds systemic collapse, and a helplessness and lack of control in a world of growing technological fear to their list of woes. Continue reading →


Wintersun – The Forest Seasons


Certainly one of the most interesting spectacles of the 2017 release calendar; a new Wintersun album always comes with high expectation, if not just purely for the circus that seems to follow any recording/release cycle. If a long wait for previous album, the cult classic Time I (Nuclear Blast) wasn’t enough, another five-year wait also saw a highly ambitious and demanding (but ultimately successful) series of crowdfunding campaigns to release a follow-up. That the result is not the anticipated Time sequel, but a new unique piece may have been a blow to some fans, but Wintersun have never been ones to follow convention by any stretch; which is why it is surprising that The Forest Seasons (Nuclear Blast) sounds comparatively basic and safe. Continue reading →