It's still incredible to me two decades later how strong of a six-year run Green Carnation had between 2000 and 2006, the kind that warps my perception of time with how the band seemed to so quickly reinvent themselves from their now almost forgotten extreme metal beginnings into a prog/goth mix that feels uniquely theirs and release so many albums that didn't rehash the same sound in such a quick succession before going on hiatus. Following that run up proved quite difficult, and the band's first attempt was, while a good album in its own right, having a re-recording and a cover in a 5-tracks album did make for a weirdly lean amount of actual original material. Half a decade later, a more sizeable attempt had "Part I" in its title.
Now that there's a "Part II" out and I've come to find out that they're part of a trilogy so a "Part III" is on the horizon, and given how quickly the sequel followed the original, it doesn't seem like it will be a long time; it's safe to say that there's plenty of Green Carnation material out or announced for us to bite into. Though, as per the "building blocks" metaphor in my teaser, that is more because of the entire trilogy rather than its individual parts, with A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis's 37 minutes being the kind that would've felt on the shorter side by themselves.
Sanguis is not only shorter, but seems to push the prog side of the side, with the keyboards pushed to the forefront among the instruments, often reminding me of a lot of neo-Opeth's stuff. Having a metal albums focused on vocals and keyboards isn't all too common, and neither is having the epic long track as an opener rather than a closer. The title track does seem to create an album that peaks early, followed by the only song with someone other than Kjetil on lead vocals to create a throwback to The Acoustic Verses, it does make the listening experience out of context feel a bit weird, which is what I'd imagine watching only The Two Towers would feel like. That's especially obvious by the closing track being among the mellowest of the bunch, with it having flutes courtesy of a returning Ingrid Ose being the only guest musician on the record, feeling like it requires closure through a follow-up.
It's a bit tough to judge Part II on its own, especially since Part I felt like it worked better as a stand-alone, and with Part III still on the horizon, it is the kind of album where some retrospective look is required but as of now impossible. Still, I can't imagine anything here being disappointing to anyone already a Green Carnation fan that's accustomed to Kjetil's vocals and the band's keyboard-heavy doom-tinged prog.
