Green Carnation seem to be as well known amongst Metalheads for their band member's other projects as for their own music - mostly because some of those other bands read like a “Who’s who” of Norwegian Metal. Their own music though is of a very high quality and tends to be both mellower and more progressive than the band members’ other projects would indicate.

Green Carnation have tended to change in sound and/or style from album to album to a much greater degree than most other bands do, and in fact each of the four albums that they have recorded are significantly different. The main generalisation that can be made about their music is that they make very good Progressive, Melodic and Atmospheric Metal - and that they have a Doom Metal influence that has tended to become much more diluted with each passing album.

They started off as a Death Metal band in the early 90s, but then disbanded after recording one demo when their guitarist Tchort left to join the legendary Emperor - where he replaced Mortiis as bassist and played on their seminal “In the Nightside Eclipse” album. The remaining members formed the influential Black/Doom Metal band In The Woods. After leaving Emperor, Tchort remained in the Black Metal field, joining first Satyricon (touring with them but not recording) and then the ultra-grim Carpathian Forest and forming Brutal Death Metal band Blood Red Throne, both of which he currently combines with being a fulltime member of Green Carnation.

Tchort reformed with the Botteri twins after In the Woods disbanded to record the first Green Carnation album "Journey to The End of the Night", with vocals being provided by several guest vocalists including Vibeke Stein of Tristania, Atle Dørum (Drawn), and Synne Soprana of In The Woods .The album was inspired by the death of Tchort’s daughter, and has a generally depressive atmosphere that is heavily rooted in Doom Metal, and which has a lack of concession to the casual listener with it’s 17 minute long songs.

In the period between this and their second album "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" there were major line up changes that perhaps partly explain why this album sounds so completely different to their debut. Original drummer Anders Kobro rejoined, but both Chris Botteri and X-Botteri left the band, leaving Tchort and Anders with a totally new line-up that forms the nucleus of the band that we have today. Introducing the present lead singer Kjetil Nordhus, (who is now also the clean male vocalist for Gothic Metallers Trail of Tears, as well as the singer for Melodic Death Metallers Chain Collector) on lead vocals and bassist Stein Roger Sordal, who has become a major songwriter for the band on subsequent albums.

"Light of Day, Day of Darkness" sounds unsurprisingly different to the first album. This is the album that most Green Carnation fans consider to be their masterpiece. The whole album is one hour long song that combines influences from every genre of Metal and which mixes both mellow and heavy parts with great success to form a stunning progressive soundscape.

Despite it being the fervent wish of many of their fans for every subsequent Green Carnation album to be a "Light of Day, Day of Darkness Part 2”, the band chose instead to continue to evolve their sound rather than try to recreate past glories. “A Blessing in Disguise” created controversy among their fans by being far more straightforward and accessible than it’s predecessor with normal length songs, catchy chorus lines and even a few more mainstream “Rock” rather than “Metal” influences creeping in to their sound.

Their newest album “The Quiet Offspring” continues this trend, even though it does sound substantially different to “A Blessing in Disguise”. A review of this album can be found by clicking on the link in the discography section below. Anders Kobro left the band due to musical differences after it was recorded - although he continues to collaborate with Tchort in Carpathian Forest and with Ktejil in Chain Collector.