photo by Lars Gunnar Liestøl
(On April 3rd Season of Mist will release a new album by Norway’s Green Carnation as the second installment in a three-album trilogy. Our Comrade Aleks discussed the first installment with vocalist Kjetil Nordhus last fall, and now we present a second more recent discussion between them which focuses on the new record — and includes lots more news, as well as a stream of a brand new second single from the new album, “I Am Time“, that’s premiering today.)
As you remember, the Norwegian veteran progressive band Green Carnation returned after a significant hiatus in autumn 2025 with an announcement of the trilogy A Dark Poem. As A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia was discussed in our interview here with the band’s vocalist Kjetil Nordhus four months ago, we sequentially follow the plan and provide a new one focused on the trilogy’s second part, A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis.
The band’s initial plan was to create three different albums which would complement each other, and until now it seems like everything goes according the plan. At least Sanguis follows closely to The Shores of Melancholia and yet provides some new ideas and quite a refreshing experience.
Hi Kjetil! How are you? How is it going with promotion of your new album A Dark Poem, Pt. II: Sanguis?
Hi Aleks!! All good here. Busy times, but that is just what we were hoping for. While doing the promotion for A Dark Poem, Pt. II: Sanguis, we are also finishing the mixing of Pt. III. So – lots of stuff happening at the same time.
Good to hear it! Do you take part in the mixing of Pt. III? Does the process differ from ones you tried on Pt. I and Pt. II?
Yes, some of us participate more than others, naturally. In the Green Carnation camp there are actually five sound engineers, with band members Stein Roger, Bjørn, Endre, and our extra live guitarist Trond being or having been working with live or studio sound, in addition to our actual live sound engineer Ruben. Haha. So, especially Bjørn has done a great job together with mixing engineer (and keyboardist) Endre Kirkesola. And that goes for all three albums.
A Dark Poem Pt. I was released in September 2025, so what was the feedback? Did everything go as you all expected?
It has been almost overwhelming, to be honest. After putting so much effort into something, like we have done since 2018 to be able to release these albums, of course it is a sweet feeling when people seem to understand and appreciate what have been trying to do. I don’t think most bands have a very specific expectation towards how an album will be received, but we have felt very confident that we have released a very good album, and the same goes with Parts II and III.
Part II complements Part I in some ways, but after all, I started to wonder how did you decide how to split the entire material you wrote into three different parts? For instance, how did you pick songs for the new release?
We wrote all the songs for all three albums between 2018 and 2024 and then came the task on “composing” three different albums that could a) stand alone and b) work well together too. I don’t think too many people felt there was something “missing” after having heard Part I, and I do think it is more than possible to listen to Part II without having heard Part I. But we do hope that the parts work well together too. And we think and hope that after having released Part III “everyone” will understand that these songs are indeed connected…
photo by Lars Gunnar Liestøl
Okay, then I’ll save the question of how the albums differ from each other for next time… But anyway, Part II – how did you know that these six songs would fit it? Were there any doubts or compromises? Did you force yourself to make each Part more different than another one?
There were many doubts, of course, but never any compromises. One of the challenges with Part II was to make it work alone, but also something that would fit after Part I. We were discussing whether to “dare” to have a very quiet song as number two on the album and another quiet song to finish the album, but I think it works very well in both senses, it suits Part II and it sounds fitting when you listen to Part I and then Part II.
Some lyrics of the songs from A Dark Poem Pt. I are based on your experience, yet most of them were written by Stein Roger, and Part II has the most personal lyrics he struggled to share. How did both of you managed to focus on these topics and reveal it your audience?
A part of the process when we “composed” the three albums, was to try to place songs that fitted together, not only musically but also lyrically. For example, on Part I we are looking more “out” while we are looking more “inside” on Part II. The songs are indeed extremely both personal and sometimes also very dark, but after the “all guns blazing” approach on Part I it felt natural to gather these songs on Part II. Also – when listening to the first album first and then straight into the second, I do think that the silence of “Loneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold” comes in a perfect place. Like “Lunar Tale” does too.
Stein Roger and myself have discussed the lyrics a lot before, while they were written and after. I don’t want him to hand over more of his personal grief to our audience than he is comfortable with, but we have decided not to do any compromises in this project, neither with the lyrics. They are so important for the songs.
Usually, music comes first and lyrics follows. Did you work the same way on Part II? Did Stein write lyrics which would fit the music, or did you build all the instrumentals around the texts’ plots?
A bit of everything, I would say. Sometimes the lyrics, or a theme, can come first, but in the majority of the songs on A Dark Poem, the music has come first. The poem Ophelia by Arthur Rimbaud has in many ways been the starting point for us when writing this, which has influenced the mood even in early ideas for the new songs, so that has “helped” us along the way.
I’d say that there’s a humanistic element in your songs in general, and A Dark Poem sounds very “human” after all. Do you see the way you touch these topics as a universal one? Do you feel that it may speak with listeners in different situations?
Absolutely, I think even in the most personal lyrics on the trilogy there will be elements that many people will recognize, either from their own lives or from someone close to them. I think we have always been dealing with themes like this, and there is something comforting for other people to learn that they are not the only ones dwelling with this or that, and the same goes for us when we get feedback from people connecting to our music and what we say in our lyrics. So – even the most personal issues are universal. Sadly, often.
I searched for this answer in interviews I found online, but still all I got about Tchort is that he didn’t take part in recording, yet he’s part of Green Carnation. May you shed some light on this topic or is it personal?
Of course. Since January 2025 he has been fully back in the band, after a couple of years break. He needed some time to sort out a few issues in his personal life and asked for a leave but wanted the band to continue both playing live and writing music in the meantime. His return was after we finished the band recording for the trilogy, thus he doesn’t play on the albums, but he has been extremely eager to rehearse the new songs for live shows, and it is great to have him back. The only issue since January 2025 is of course the work visa issue to the US, so there we had to play with “only” two live guitarists instead of three, like we do normally nowadays.
How do you complete your set list having two new albums? Do you plan a special show to present new stuff for your audience?
It depends on the show length of course. Many festivals want us to play around 60 minutes as long as it is not a headliner show, so that would mean some songs from Part I and some from Part II. After Part III we will make a live set that can vary from 45 minutes up to 90 minutes. AND – on September 12th 2026 we will do a once-in-a-lifetime show in the main concert hall in our hometown of Kristiansand, Norway, where we will perform all three albums, including guest artists (and a full symphony orchestra and an opera choir) live (!).
Are you going to shoot the entire show and release it as a DVD?
We are honestly not sure yet. We have agreed to plan the actual show first, with the huge number of musicians and singers on stage during the evening, and if it is possible to film it and release it in some sort of format after, we will discuss it then.
Normally, I would skip this question, but I did a massive retrospective overview of Therion’s discography and learnt a bit how many issues one may face working with an orchestra for the first time. How do you cope with it? How do you organize all preparations regarding this epic work?
It is certainly very different from our usual way of recording. But luckily through many good contacts we have been able to use the very best people in all aspects of that cooperation. So, I would say we have been incredibly lucky to be able to fulfill our visions here to the full. It has also been necessary to plan very well in advance, something that was natural for us to do on the entire trilogy project. For example, a symphony orchestra plans their activities one to three years in advance, and it would never have worked for us to approach them a few weeks before a recording and ask them to join.
I read that you recorded one more album during the recording of A Dark Poem. Did you mean that you have enough new material outside the trilogy?
Well, that is not completely correct. We wrote and recorded (and released) one more album after having started working on A Dark Poem. That was Leaves of Yesteryear, which was released in 2020. We knew that the trilogy was going to be a hell of an effort to finish, so we needed an album to let the world know that “Here we are, we still exist”. But, saying that, there is a lot of music that didn’t make its way onto A Dark Poem too, everything from almost complete songs to musical ideas and themes. We have no idea what to do next, when it comes to new music. But luckily we’ll have new music for people to hear for quite a while still.
I see! Then thanks for the interview Kjetil! I guess that we covered the most important topics regarding Green Carnation’s current status, and I hope that we’ll do another interview when Part III is out! Thanks again! Any final words?
Thank you! Looking forward to talk to you again in a few months time 🙂
https://orcd.co/greencarnationadarkpoem1
https://greencarnationsom.bandcamp.com/album/a-dark-poem-part-i-the-shores-of-melancholia
https://www.facebook.com/GreenCarnationNorway
https://www.instagram.com/green2carnation/