Green Carnation - A Dark Poem, Part III: The Messiah Complex (2026)

Bringing their latest trilogy to a close, Green Carnation saved the best for last with the lush and bombastic “A Dark Poem, Part III: The Messiah Complex”. Featuring nearly 40-minute of proggy goddess, this Norwegian outfit showcases their excellent compositional abilities with one massive orchestral piece to further elevate their rich and complex sound. If you liked the previous two installments, this is a natural progression and a closer for the band’s most ambitious and expansive ideas to date.

Opening with the dreaminess of “Unconditional Artificial Chemistry”, the band creates a 60/70’s Prog backdrop with lush arrangements, crafty guitar work, and the melodramatic vocal talents of Kjetil Nordhus. Moving into “The Messiah Complex”, the tempo shifts a bit into even more melancholic territories, slowly building up as engaging instrumental passages and trippy atmospherics are deployed. As the masters of creating captivating atmospheres, Green Carnation is off to a great start with this one.

Being our favorite track in this release, “Broken Souls, Common Enemies” has a certain playful edge thanks to an excellent bass guitar melody that is flanked by lush clean vocal harmonies and some harsh screams thrown into the mix. Closing with the very cinematic and playful “A Dark Poem - Orchestral Suite”, the band delivers on a whole new level with masterful arrangements that are quite moody and yet progress very organically.

While the grandiose and marathon-esque vibe of the band’s 60-minute piece “Light of Day, Day of Darkness” was something hard to match, with “A Dark Poem” as a whole, the band has brought more musical maturity into the mix, creating a more cohesive, expansive, and dramatic release(s) that has been nicely rationed to listeners. The trilogy as a one cohesive piece of work is outstanding, and “The Messiah Complex” is the perfect closer for the band’s ambition. We can’t wait to listen to all three releases back to back, to be fully immersed in Green Carnation’s hivemind.

Rating: 94/100