Formation and early years (1990–2001) Green Carnation is the creation of former
Emperor bass player Terje Vik Schei (
a.k.a. Tchort), founded before Tchort joined Emperor in 1990. It eventually split, with the remaining members X-Botteri, Cm:Botteri and Anders Kobro creating
avant-garde metal band
In the Woods.... Green Carnation's first album,
Journey to the End of the Night, was not recorded until 1999 and was released in 2000 through German record company
Prophecy Productions. The release was a
folk inspired
doom metal album. The Botteri brothers, Alf Tore Rasmussen, and Geir Solli left the band after recording the debut album, and then Anders Kobro from In The Woods... joined up with Tchort. Together, they spent nearly two years making the foundational arrangements for what eventually became
Light of Day, Day of Darkness, a single track, 60-minute
progressive metal epic which is one of the longest single songs in
metal. It established the legacy of the band. They then did a pre-production in the studio with Tchort on guitar, Kobro on drums, and Endre Kirkesola on bass. This was enough to convince guitarist Bjørn Harstad, also of In The Woods..., to join the band in time for the final recording of the album, accompanied by Stein Roger Sordal on bass,
Kjetil Nordhus on vocals, and
Bernt Moen of
Shining on keyboards.
Light of Day, Day of Darkness was released in 2001 via Prophecy Productions in Europe, while the US release was handled by The End Records.
Genre branching and new identity (2001–2006) Following this release, the band released their 2003 full-length album
A Blessing in Disguise through French record label Season Of Mist. The album consisted of a blend of progressive metal/
rock elements, slightly
gothic tinges, and
hard rock elements and brought the band into another musical terrain. Lyrically it leaned into the traumatic childhood of primary lyricist Sordal, whom
Metal Injection describes as the band's "emotional core." Bjørn Harstad left the band after the recording of A Blessing, a decision he made due to his other work commitments. Unfortunately Bernt Moen also decided to quit the band due to obligations with other artists and solo projects after the Blessing in Disguise tour of 2003. Two years later the band followed up with the album
The Quiet Offspring, introducing Kenneth Silden on keyboard and Michael Krumins on guitar. The album was released through
Season Of Mist in Europe and
The End Records in the US. This album brought the band into an even more hard-rock style of music and is seen by many to be their most commercial-sounding release. At this point, they made the decision to replace Anders Kobro with drummer
Tommy Jackson (Jacksonville). Jacksonville was a natural choice since he had been a long-time friend and partner of Stein Sordal's other projects, Soxpan, Sordal and Plutho ++). Later in 2005, the band released an EP entitled
The Burden Is Mine... Alone. This EP marked the debut of
bassist/
guitarist Stein Roger Sordal as a lead vocalist in the band, with the song that shares the name of the EP and the song was written and performed entirely by him. Drummer Tommy Jacksonville also debuted as songwriter and lyricist on the EP. He wrote the song "Transparent Me" for the album. This release also worked as a taste of what was to come with their following full-length album. Early 2006 marked the release of their fifth full-length
Acoustic Verses. This album was yet another stylistic shift for the band. On the album, the band played all acoustic instruments, showing off a softer, warmer style for the band while retaining the progressive and darker feels they established since their debut.
Hiatus (2007–2014) According to Tchort's writings in the booklet to
Acoustic Verses, Green Carnation's next studio release was going to be the second part of "The Chronicles of Doom" trilogy, which began with
Light of Day, Day of Darkness, and is going to be titled
The Rise and Fall of Mankind. In February 2007 Green Carnation recorded their second live DVD,
A Night Under the Dam, where they played the entire
Acoustic Verses album as well as a few other songs. The DVD was recorded under a 30-meter-tall dam in the Norwegian mountains and was the last release to be seen by the band's current line-up. On August 17, 2007, Tchort announced that due to the poorly organized American tour and subsequent financial and motivational losses, the line up of Green Carnation had split up. He stated that he would "continue writing music under the name Green Carnation, but probably will never play live again with the band." The expected album,
The Rise and Fall of Mankind, has been postponed with no current release date, but Tchort has said that the album will be released sometime in the future. However, the announced album title was eventually discarded for unknown reasons after the group's long break.
Reunion (2014–2024) On February 20, 2014, the band members announced that they would reunite for a second version of
A Night Under the Dam on July 31, 2014 . In the same press release, they further announced their availability for festivals and shows. A short documentary about the reunion show has been released on the Norwegian website Eternal-Terror. On September 10, 2016, Green Carnation made its debut at
ProgPower USA (PPUSA) at Center Stage in
Atlanta, Georgia. The band played "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" in its entirety to a sold-out venue. This performance received rave reviews and many claim it to be one of the best performances ever at PPUSA. On August 24, 2018, the group released their third live album,
Last Day of Darkness, in DVD/CD format under the
Prophecy Productions label. The show was recorded at the
Kilden Centre,
Kristiansand on November 26, 2016. The band later announced the recording of their first album in 14 years titled
Leaves of Yesteryear. On March 5, 2020, they released the title track as a music video and a single for digital download. On May 6, 2020, the band did a live listening party via
YouTube to introduce the world to their sixth studio album. Produced by Green Carnation and Endre Kirkesola,
Leaves of Yesteryear was finally released on May 8, 2020, via
Season of Mist. The album was recorded and mixed by Endre Kirkesola, while the mastering was done by mastering engineer Maor Appelbaum. On November 13, 2020, the band released the single "The World Without a View", only available as a
streaming video and digital download via
Season of Mist. The song was released digitally on December 18, 2020. In December 2021, the remastered edition of the 2006-album
Acoustic Verses was released, with new cover art and additional songs. It was followed by the single release of "Time in a Bottle", a cover song, originally written by
Jim Croce.
Trilogy (2025–Present) Around the time of the band's second hiatus, in the mid 2000s,Tchort announced the notion of a trilogy of albums to other members of the band. The idea was parked until 2014, when the band signed to produce the trilogy as part of its new record deal. Songwriters Sordal and Nordhus went into retreat for days at a time, working on songs for the albums, which were recorded primarily between April and December 2024. It has been followed by
A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis, released on April 3, 2026. ==Band members==