{"id":511010,"date":"2026-04-03T15:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/511010\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:59:08","slug":"review-green-carnation-a-dark-poem-part-ii-sanguis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/511010\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Green Carnation – A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Published by Claire<\/a> on April 3, 2026April 3, 2026<\/p>\n

\"\"Album art by Niklas Sundin<\/p>\n

Style: Progressive metal, gothic metal (mostly clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Katatonia<\/a>, Pain of Salvation, Anathema, Opeth, Paradise Lost, In the Woods\u2026<\/a>, Amorphis<\/a>
Country: Norway
Release date: 3 April 2026<\/p>\n

Some albums feel familiar from the first spin. Listening to them is like slipping on a well-worn favourite sweater, or tracing the rings of an aged tree stump. Like some kind of reverse d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, this experience often heralds the discovery of albums that will go on to become staples in my library. Pain of Salvation\u2019s Remedy Lane, Zeal and Ardor\u2019s Stranger Fruit, El-P\u2019s I\u2019ll Sleep When You\u2019re Dead: the genres may vary, but the sensation is the same, of a deep and immediate resonance. The latest addition to this collection is Green Carnation\u2019s A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis.<\/p>\n

If you happen to be new to Green Carnation, or didn\u2019t catch the five<\/a> previous times<\/a> that I\u2019ve written<\/a> about them<\/a> for this publication<\/a>, here\u2019s a quick primer: first formed in Kristiansand, Norway in 1990,1<\/a> the band have a storied pedigree spanning dalliances with doom, death, and gothic metal, many lineup changes, a hiatus, and band members whose other credits include Emperor, Subterranean Masquerade<\/a>, and In the Woods\u2026<\/a> to name but a few.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In 2025, Green Carnation announced a forthcoming trilogy of albums to be released across the following two years. The immediate familiarity I felt upon hearing this latest installment may be in part because the album carries on where last September\u2019s Part I left off\u2014with the band\u2019s signature stately, doom-tinged prog metal sound. But there are minor iterations on the formula: with founding member and songwriter Tchort absent from this album\u2019s lineup,2<\/a> bassist Stein Roger Sordal assumes primary lyric-writing duties. And where Part I lingered in atmosphere\u2014as the band set sail in moody, introspective waters\u2014Part II: Sanguis is more volatile. It smoulders from its opening bars with a fiery power that matches the striking album cover. The opening title track traces the story of Sordal\u2019s childhood in a home shadowed by abuse, unflinchingly given voice by Kjetil Nordhus\u2019 fluid, expressive baritone, streaked with threads of harsh vocals.<\/p>\n

However, Sanguis also sees Green Carnation expose some of the band\u2019s raw and tender edges, as they fit not one but two ballads into the album\u2019s tidy thirty-seven-minute runtime. On \u201cLoneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold\u201d, Sordal opts to give voice to another vulnerable lyrical exploration, this time about a friend struggling with suicidal thoughts. His vocals are backed only by a barren clean guitar melody. Perhaps the most effective aspect here is the negative space the instrumentation creates, allowing the skyward clawing guitars that open following track \u201cSweet to the Point of Bitter\u201d to land with near-seismic force. And closing out Part II, \u201cLunar Tale\u201d glimmers with gentle keys and flute before ending in an atmospheric if somewhat anticlimactic fadeout.<\/p>\n

As is their wont, Green Carnation never let any one instrument steal the spotlight. Rather, the five band members interlock like well-worn, smooth gears, steadily bearing the weight of the album\u2019s musical and thematic heft. The result is a sound that\u2019s collectively upheld rather than individually led. Toothy guitar tones and warmly retro keyboards interweave in long, lyrical lines, parting and rejoining with an easy familiarity, and distinct flickers of brilliance emerge so naturally you almost don\u2019t notice: the bright bassline in \u201cFire in Ice\u201d rises to prominence just long enough to leave its imprint, while Jonathan Perez\u2019s percussion on \u201cLunar Tale\u201d moves with elastic energy.<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more than its predecessor, Sanguis feels like an installment rather than a self-contained statement. Its short runtime and less consistent thematic throughline give the album a fragmented quality, as if we\u2019re catching glimpses of a larger emotional arc rather than being guided cleanly through it. The snippets of spoken word that bookend \u201cLoneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold\u201d and \u201cFire in Ice\u201d, while inoffensive, don\u2019t add much. And the latter track\u2019s lyrics, veering from the album\u2019s deeply personal subject matter into more social commentary, skew heavy-handed with reference to social media bios and exposure.<\/p>\n

And yet, even with a few loose threads, Sanguis never comes apart at the seams. That initial sense of familiarity proves well-founded: Green Carnation remain masters of a sound that\u2019s lived-in, deeply felt, and deployed with both authority and vulnerability. Proving a compelling second act on the stage set in A Dark Poem Part I, Sanguis\u2019 resonant emotional flashpoints coalesce into something stirring, if not entirely self-contained. Like that well-worn sweater, it may not be pristine, but it fits instinctively. And for now, that\u2019s enough to keep drawing me back in.<\/p>\n

Recommended tracks: Sanguis, Sweet to the Point of Bitter
You may also like: Throes of Dawn, October Falls, Subterranean Masquerade<\/a>, Communic
Final verdict: 7\/10<\/p>\n

A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis by Green Carnation<\/a><\/p>\n

Related links: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

Label: Season of Mist<\/a><\/p>\n

Green Carnation is:
\u2013 Kjetil Nordhus (vocals)
\u2013 Stein Roger Sordal (bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals)
\u2013 Bj\u00f8rn Harstad (guitars, effects)
\u2013 Endre Kirkesola (keyboards, synthesizers, organs, effects, backing vocals)
\u2013 Jonathan Alejandro Perez (drums)
With guests:
\u2013 Ingrid Ose (flute)<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n