''Acoustic Verses'' is the fifth full-length

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band

Green Carnation Green Carnation is a Norwegian progressive metal band from Kristiansand, formed in 1990. Green Carnation's trend of music has continuously changed on every release one by one; from straight forward death metal in their demo, to death-doom, then ...

. It was released on January 30, 2006 via Sublife Productions. The album features three songs included on their 2005 EP '' The Burden Is Mine... Alone'': "Sweet Leaf", "The Burden Is Mine... Alone", as well as the cover of

Jon English Jonathan James English (26 March 1949 – 9 March 2016) was an English-born Australian singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He emigrated from England to Australia with his parents in 1961. He was an early vocalist and rhythm guitarist for S ...

's 1978 international hit "

Six Ribbons "Six Ribbons" is a 1978 song credited to Australian musicians Jon English and Mario Millo. The song was written by Jon English and was included on the Against the Wind (Soundtrack), soundtrack of the Australian miniseries, ''Against the Wind (minis ...

" (only in the special edition).

Reception

The album was met with positive reviews

Blabbermouth.net Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in October ...

rated it with an 8 and describes it as "it's as lush, orchestrated, and enigmatic as any 'electric' album from this quizzical band". Laura Taylor of

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

said "similar to

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...

’s ''

Damnation Damnation (from Latin '' damnatio'') is the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed, or in some cases, not committed on Earth. In Ancient Egyptian religious tradition, citizens would recite th ...

'' in some respects, ''Acoustic Verses'' covers more ground, perhaps in part because of the number of songwriters involved, but the album’s stylistic experimentation is very much in line with the Green Carnation’s proven pattern".

Background

''Acoustic Verses'' was yet another stylistic shift for Green Carnation. On the album, as the name suggests, the band played all

acoustic instruments Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the adven ...

, showing off a softer, warmer style for the band while retaining the progressive and darker feels they established since their debut. Thus, ''Acoustic Verses'' represents an important and only change with respect to the previous works of the group, and in which practically all their members participated in its composition.

Track listing

; *Note: *Track 5 is split up into 3 different parts : # "My Greater Cause" # "Homecoming" # "House of Cards" Discogs listing
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Personnel

Green Carnation *

Kjetil Nordhus Kjetil Nordhus (born 31 May 1975 in Kristiansand, Vest Agder) is a Norwegian singer, composer and music producer who is currently the vocalist in Green Carnation and Nightshadows Lament. Music Nordhus has been a singer and composer in a number of ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Terje Vik Schei (a.k.a.

Tchort Terje Vik Schei (born 7 July 1974), better known by his stage name Tchort, is a Norwegian musician. He is known for his time spent playing bass for the black metal band Emperor and for leading the progressive metal band Green Carnation. He has ...

) –

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Michael Smith Krumins – guitars * Stein Roger Sordal –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, guitars * Kenneth Silden –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Tommy Jacksonville –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Bjørn "Berserk" Harstad – guitars Guest musicians * Bernt Moen – cello *Leif Wiese – violin *Gustav Ekeberg – viola

Recording information

*Engineered and mixed at Brown Sound Studios, except track 4, mixed at Jailhouse Studios. *Violins, viola and cello recorded at Jailhouse Studios. *Drums recorded at Dub Studios. *Mastered at Lynor *Artwork by Jon Tønnessen

References

External links

Allmusic album review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acoustic Verses Green Carnation albums 2006 albums